Enjoy the Journey, Alice!

Posted on by Matt Pachmayr

Full bar, 230+ varieties of beer, Ring of Honor, knowledgeable staff, Monday $3 pint night

 

2013-03-26 16.17.25

 

Sure, we prefer to spend our time and money at locally owned bars and restaurants. Sure, it’s our mission to write about each and every wooden bar and leather booth, to expound upon the culinary and bartending culture blooming in Kansas City, and show how its history led it there. So if we have to step into a chain restaurant or bar, then we want that place to embrace Kansas City, and to celebrate the things that set us apart. The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium serves 230 varieties of beer, including selections from every area brewery. For a town that, thanks to the wily ingenuity of its City Boss Tom Pendergast[1], never saw prohibition, we welcome any establishment that celebrates libations. Although the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium exists in that chain-haven known as the Kansas City Power & Light district [2], it doesn’t feel like an ordinary outpost of a successful business. The Flying Saucer feels like a part of downtown Kansas City’s fabric—a business that’s earned its success through great specials, great beer selection, great atmosphere, and great food.

 

Founded in Fort Worth, Texas, by Shannon Wynne in our lord’s year of 1995, the Flying Saucer has expanded to 17 locations throughout the U.S., including their newest landing in downtown St. Louis, Mo. When the Flying Saucer rolls into a new town, certain things are always the same: a Ring of Honor for drinking copious amounts of
beer, beerknurds, bartenders and servers with a deep knowledge of beer, and a focus on local craft beers.

Members of the Ring of Honor must first pay $18, which crowns you as a “beerknurd.” Next, the beerknurd must drink 200 beers to obtain the prized plate that The Flying Saucer hangs up on the wall with a quote of the beerknurd’s very own. While you chase the mythical 200, you can keep track of every beer you’ve ingested with your beerknurd membership.

Not sure about what beer to drink next? Just ask your server or bartender—they have educated opinions.

“Anyone can drill 80 holes in a wall and lay down a draught system,” Wynne tells the River Front Times. “I think one of the things that set us apart 15 years ago was the training.” With a selection this large you will have questions. You’ll discover beers you like, beers you don’t like, you’ll drink too many IPA’s[3] and swear them off for two years only to get harkened back by a Myrcenary Double IPA from the Odell Brewing Company. Yes, the Flying Saucer has great specials: $3 pint night on Monday, $1 off all draughts from 4-7 Tuesday – Friday, a brewery glass collection night on Wednesday, and a focus on local Missouri and Kansas pints on Sunday, but the greatest thing about the Flying Saucer is the beer knowledge. This place asks you to join them down the rabbit hole of beer expertise, but beware of the journey, Alice; you might wake up a year from now and 200 beers later with no memory and a plate upon a wall that says, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”