One of the hottest trends in today’s beverage market is cocktails in a can, known in the trade as RDT, or “ready to drink” beverages. And Boulevard Brewing Company, one of the first micro-breweries to produce craft beer and the largest specialty brewer in Kansas City, Mo., is joining this new wave of perfectly mixed, delicious drinks with its release of Fling Craft Cocktails.
Based on the theme, “Live a Delicious Life, Have a Fling,” Boulevard launched its new product at Kauffman Stadium for the Kansas City Royals’ opening day on March 28. In early April, it was released for distribution to a wider market. “The rollout was fantastic,” Natalie Gershon, vice president of marketing, told Beverage Master Magazine. “We were blown away by the amount of enthusiasm for Fling. The experience of rolling out Fling helped us to realize that the side hustle we produced was something people wanted.” This initial offering includes low-calorie, low-carbohydrate varieties of all-natural, ready-to-drink cocktails in 4-packs of 12-ounce cans: Blood Orange Vodka Soda, Cucumber Lime Gin and Tonic, Margarita and Mai Tai.
Boulevard Brewing Co., founded in 1989 by entrepreneur John McDonald, and credited with paving the way for craft beers to thrive in the Kansas City market, is uniquely posed to become a player in the RDT market. Over the past 30 years the company has built a brand known for innovative, well-crafted beers and a state-of-the-art facility. From its humble beginnings in a vintage 35-barrel Bavarian brewhouse, the company is now housed in a 3,600 square-foot building that includes six, 1000-barrel fermenting tanks, and a capacity to produce 300,000 barrels of beer annually. In 2017, as high-end canned beers increased in popularity, Boulevard announced a $10 million expansion with a 24,000 square foot Canning Hall adjacent to the brewery that includes a high-speed canning line capable of filling up to 350 12-ounce cans per minute. The line is able to produce a variety of can sizes and package configurations. All of this led to the creation of Fling, a product whose time had come in today’s competitive craft beverage market.
According to Jeff Krum, president of Boulevard Brewing Co., the new product line took a year to develop. “We needed to talk through what we wanted to produce and how we wanted to create a product that would best embody not only who we have been for the last few decades but also something that would point us in a direction for the future.” The project, it seems opened a door to unlimited possibilities. “As we decided that we’d launch four flavors, we quickly realized we had more good ideas than we had space for,” Gershon said. “However, that’s probably one of the key points about the venture into canned craft cocktails that excites us most – a seemingly endless opportunity for innovation. Ultimately, we chose what sounded most delicious for the season and selected a mix, from super approachable and health conscious to more complex.”
Boulevard tapped local vendors for three of their products: 360 Vodka from Holladay Distillery in Weston for its Blood Orange Vodka Soda; Builders gin from North Kansas City’s Restless Spirits Distilling Co. for or its Cucumber Lime Gin & Tonic; and Agave from Mean Mule Distilling Co. in Crossroads Art District for its Margarita. For the Mai Tai, Boulevard features rum from a Virgin Islands company. “We wanted to create something that was as exceptional as all of our beers,” Gershon added. “In doing so, we realized that we didn’t need to take the time to produce vodka, gin or other spirts in Fling, but instead had a backyard of amazing brands to partner with in Kansas City.
Fling Craft Cocktails is Boulevard’s first venture into products outside of beer. “Fling was our way of taking the step back and seeing what else was out there,” Krum told Beverage Master Magazine. “We knew we loved beer, but we also knew that we don’t always drink beer. After a while, we realized we have everything necessary to make canned cocktails at Boulevard. It was really the Boulevard team taking a leap of faith and realizing that, although we never want to replace the cocktails in a bar, we could be a voice in the canned cocktail segment of the industry.”
Indeed, in its 30-year history, innovation has been a guiding principle at Boulevard Brewing Co. “I want to do something different,” McDonald told his potential investors when starting his brewery. “I want to make big beers, a variety of beers, beers with color and flavor and aroma and body, beers for real beer.” By all accounts, McDonald has achieved that goal. Today, besides their initial offering of Boulevard Pale Ale as the flagship beer, the company produces dozens of fine ales and lagers. Year-round beers include the Pale Ale, Unfiltered Wheat Beer, Single-Wide IPA, 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat Beer, Bully! Porter, KC Pils, Heavy Lifting IPA, Frequent Flier IPA, Tropical Pale Ale, Space Camper Cosmic IPA and Easy Sport. Seasonal beers include: an Irish Ale, Early Riser Coffee Porter, Hibiscus Gose, Ginger Lemon Radler, Bob’s ’47 Oktoberfest, Nutcracker Ale and Snow & Tell. Artisanal beers include Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Long Strange Tripel, The Calling IPA, Bourbon Barrel Quad, Dark Truth Stout and The Sixth Glass.
While much of Boulevard’s sales come from within a 50-mile radius of Kansas City, the popularity of the beers has spread through the Midwest and beyond. The beer is sold in 38 states and the District of Columbia, and in nearly a dozen countries. Boulevard’s beers are known for their full flavor, distinctive characteristics and unsurpassed quality. In 2014, Boulevard became a part of the iconic Duvel Moortgat family, a Belgium-based collection of artisanal breweries dedicated to the highest expression of the brewers’ art. The Brewers Association currently ranks the American arm of Boulevard’s parent company, Duvel Moortgat USA, as the 12th largest craft brewery, and the 18th largest active brewery in the United States based on 2014 sales volume.
Boulevard Brewing Company, with its landmark location in downtown Kansas City and state-of-the art facility, is a premier event destination. The building’s first floor features an experience area with exhibits about beer and Boulevard, plus an expanded shop. The second a large deck with city views. The brewer offers private suites for rental, ranging from to a 3,600-square foot Muehelbach Suite that can accommodate 225 guests to the more intimate Brewer’s Tap Room, which accommodates 35 guests. The brewery offers several tour options; information is available on the company’s website at www.boulevard.com.
Known locally as “Kansas City’s Hometown Beer,” Boulevard is actively involved in the community, and supports hundreds of local and regional groups, non-profit organizations and charities with beer donations and other promotional or logistical support. One of their key partners is the Kansas City Royals, a member of the American League, Central Division. Boulevard beers have been available at the Royals’ home, Kauffman Stadium, for more than 20 years, and today Boulevard is the “official Craft Beer” of the baseball team. Boulevard is also a big enthusiast of live music, and partners with venues to host events, sponsors festivals, and “play tunes in our spaces to keep the good vibes flowing.”
Like many breweries and distilleries today, Boulevard Brewing Co. is an active proponent of sustainability. The Kansas City campus is a zero-waste facility, and utilizes green roofs and solar panels to conserve energy. But to Boulevard, sustainability is more than buildings and day-to-day practices, said Gershon. “For almost 20 years of our business, our beer was packaged exclusively in glass. And, at that time, there were no glass recycling solutions in our hometown and many of our surrounding markets. As is typical for John McDonald, our founder, he decided to do something about it. Ten years ago, Boulevardians got together and founded Ripple Glass, now a separate venture, to create a glass recycling solution in KC. Ripple has since expanded to many more states and offers communities a more sustainable solution for the planet.”
As Boulevard Brewing Company looks to the future, they plan to expand distribution, as well as create more canned cocktail variations. And like many other breweries, they have high hopes for the canned cocktail market. “With canned cocktails from brands like Southern Tier, Gosling’s, and Dulce Vida, there has been a demand for something new and fresh in the market,” Krum said. “People want to drink beer and take it to BBQs, tailgates, and parties, but they sometimes also want to drink something else. Like canned and bottled beer, a ready-to-drink cocktail is convenient and keeps people in the moment.”
Stay tuned, as the craft canned cocktail movement is quickly gaining traction. The global research firm, the Mintel Group, predicted that RTD spirits-based cocktails in the U.S. would rise by 24 percent between 2017 to 2022. And it’s no wonder: with RDT cocktails, all you have to do is chill, open and pour. It doesn’t get any easier than that!