Blanc Burger + Bottles - King of kings

Hey fella, how do you feel about gourmet burgers? Young, respectful lady, do you enjoy many micro brews featured prominently? If you answered coherently, your answers were most likely “I feel good, I tend to like them better than room temperature UV + Pink Lemonade drank at my local house party”. In that case, we are recommending a gathering spot for you – Blanc Burgers + Bottles.

This is the very first of our reviews featuring local watering holes and rightfully so since Blanc has been anointed King over the Burger and Bottle fiefdom (if you don’t believe us, fine…just check the articles below). Sometimes we tend to be a bit biased, but even our non-beer friends love the food, atmosphere, and beers we’ve introduced them to at this glorious place. Here are some highlights:

• 110 beers in bottle (if you can find Hitachino beers you know you’ve hit the sweet spot) featuring such personal favorite breweries as Avery, Lagunitas, Bells, Boulevard, Left Hand, Dogfish Head
• Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout – nothing more needs to be said
• Burgers that include Au Poivre, $100 (think deliciousness + awesomeness), mahi mahi, kobe, bison, kangaroo (had it once, sans boxing gloves and bad attitude)
• A giant black board that details the daily specials
• A fry selection that includes truffle fries, sweet potato fries, and onions rings the size of your best friend’s bulbous head, all in mini shopping carts
• Local ingredients and businesses used for mustard, cheese, etc (extra points for repping their “hood”)
• Manager named Brian, an overall high quality dude who isn’t afraid to kiss babies and dole out free apps to get you to come back, and who mysteriously ends up with cases of awesome beers incorrectly
• Bar Manager named Ryan who is lead singer in a pretty sweet band named “Heroes + Villians”, who indirectly got us not sober with Dallas at the Riot Room

In all seriousness, we’ve drank at some pretty sweet establishments in both KC and Chicago and most lack the rare quadfecta of overall quality, selection, atmosphere, and humility (don’t fret Map Room, Villians Bar and Grill, or Riot Room – we’ve got reviews coming soon and you all graduated at the top of your class). If you enjoy a great bottle beer selection, some very knowledgeable folks in terms of beer and food pairings, manners, and hot skanks (I made up the last part), then please check out Blanc – I’ll bet the deed to Imbibilicious's place that you aren’t disappointed.

Don’t believe me? Why don’t you take a look at some of the hot publicity heaped on this place as of late:

http://tags.draftmag.com/?s=blanc+burger (Draft magazine – also named one of “the best beer and burger spots” in the May/June issue of the mag)

http://www.kctv5.com/video/23068181/index.html

http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=4147 (the Duke University of the 2010 Burger Bracket)

Our advice – grab your sack o nickels and order a $100 burger + a Rogue Hazelnut Brown. Wolf it down and then tell Brian and Ryan that we should get free beers for being “right”.

Blanc Burger can be found at two locations, but our favorite is the Country Club Plaza location at:

4710 Jefferson St.
Kansas City, MO 64112
816.931.6200

Overall grade: A

Brew Review - Rogue Chocolate Stout

A “wise” man once said, “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams”. That semi-creepy man also happened to be a great purveyor of chocolate and the possessor of both a Wonkenator and a farty bubble machine. There are no additional jokes in me saying that my first thought upon initial sip of the Rogue Chocolate Stout was seriously of poor Augustus Gloop, who met his end as he attempted to further his downward spiral into Diabetes.

I’ve always had a fond place in my heart for Rogue, but this beer kind of shocked me – possibly because I’m a relative new comer to the Stout genre. The smell was so hardcore chocolate that I literally thought it might be too “dessert-y”…mix in a bit of caramel and coffee and this was one step away from a brownie. The taste was a good balance of roasted malts, morning coffee, and chocolate aftertaste. As is important with stouts, the tongue coating was great and long lasting meaning I enjoyed the aftertaste for awhile between gulps. Rogue = awesomeness.

Is it weird that both Willy Wonka and Johnny Cash were the first two things that popped into my head when drinking the Chocolate Stout? Is it coincidence that Rogue, W Squared, and JC are all icons in their own right? I think not, I’ll thank you for asking. My first thoughts were of the darker material that peppered Cash’s later works, during which he was in bad health and mourning the death of June Carter Cash. “Ain’t no Grave” from American VI was the final material that he recorded with Rick Rubin (coolest white dude...ever) before his death. Much like the beer itself, Cash’s voice, tone, and sound all point to something infinitely dark and oppressive, yet the lyrics themselves are light and spiritual. This beer, based on color, smell, and consistency represents something dark...a true stout - Yet, the aftertaste points to something much less ominous and much more pure. The end result of many of Johnny Cash’s masterpieces.

Prost!

Serving Type: Bottle
Glassware: Boulevard Smokestack Series Goblet
Color (hue and head): Black as night with a tan 1 inch head
Clarity: Ink
Aroma: hardcore chocolate with caramel tones, thick, all in the nose (even my nose)
Taste: roasted malts, coffee with a thick chocolately aftertaste…good tongue coating
Grade: 91 (A-)
Musical pairing: All that needs to be said: Johnny Cash – “Ain’t no Grave”
Surroundings: Your ma’s house