Restaurant Crawl - Tallgrass Tap House

We all know that Kansas the known as the Wheat State, but usually when we think of wheat products it would be bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and other baked products. Those are certainly favorites of mine. But at the Tallgrass Tap House in Manhattan, they also serve a wheat beer.

This was the third and last stop on our Restaurant Crawl with the Kansas Nutrition Council and Kansas Farmers and Ranchers. It was a perfect ending to a great evening of food and beverages. Here we were served soft and flavorful breadsticks and Rooftop Radler beer. This beer is a wheat beer blended with lemon lime soda, similar to a shandy. This restaurant is on Poyntz Avenue and had a familiar location but different look - it is the site of the former Joann's Fabric Store! Now the location is the restaurant-brewpub-test kitchen for the Tallgrass Brewing Company.

The brewmaster told us of the history of Tallgrass Brewing Company,

which was founded in 2006 when the owner's wife asked "what do you want to do with the rest of your life", and the home brewing hobby turned into a microbrewery. The idea and the business grew rapidly and is the largest craft brewer in the state. In 2015 Tallgrass moved into new, much bigger facility and is pushing for production to distribute nationwide. The brewmaster explained that beer is water + yeast + hops + grain. Two practices are unique to Tallgrass. One, it is one of the few craft beers packaged in cans. They believe the quality is retained better as there is no light or oxygen to reach the beer. Also, it is easier to ship. The second interesting practice is the names of the beers. Buffalo Sweat is the top seller. Others include Wooden Rooster and Bert's Berried Fruit.

Beer wasn't the only wheat fact we learned, though. The Kansas Wheat Commission was the co-sponsor of this stop. A wheat farmer from
Chapman was on hand to explain wheat growing in Kansas from fall planting to summer harvest. He also told the history of Turkey Red Wheat, the variety brought from Russia by the Mennonites to start Kansas' Bread Basket of the World claim. This hard red wheat makes an excellent all purpose flour and can be used for a wide variety of baking products. It has a higher protein content and stronger gluten than other types.

Wheat fields around here aren't turning golden yet, it is still early for that. But Rancher Husband predicts an early harvest this year. Harvest usually happens in southeast Kansas mid-June (a good Father's Day activity for many families). Driving through the country side you will see beautiful green waves of heads of wheat, waiting for the ripening by sun and wind.

So concludes our Restaurant Crawl. I enjoyed the food and the facts we learned. And of course, I'm anxious to go back to Manhattan to visit my favorites again!