It will be 20 years ago this November when John McDonald, 1976 graduate and founder of Boulevard Brewing Company, put down his hammer and picked up a pint glass of Boulevard brew.

McDonald, Osbourne native and School of Fine Arts graduate, had been a carpenter for 15 years when he decided to share the beer he had been homebrewing in his woodshop with the rest of Kansas City. It was a career change that McDonald said he would never have anticipated, but it was one that changed beer in the Kansas City area for years to follow.

Boulevard Brewing is now the 8th largest craft brewer in the nation and caters to 17 U.S. states. Its signature Unfiltered Wheat is the number one craft seller in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

“It’s interesting because when I was at KU I really didn’t drink a whole lot of beer,” McDonald said. “I had already gotten that out of my system growing up in Western Kansas and I knew I was going to flunk out of school if I partied too much.”

After being awarded the Lockwood scholarship for his promise in the visual arts in 1976, McDonald moved to South America and taught in Ecuador where his travels introduced him to a variety of beers.

“I kind of got away from drinking regular, American domestic beer. I started looking at successful brewers and thought, ‘Wow, I can do that.’”

Though McDonald isn’t hammering and sawing anymore, he said having a degree in Fine Arts was beneficial as a business owner.

“I’m a process kind of person and making beer isn’t that different from painting and carpentry,” he said.

New to the Family

Just two weeks ago, McDonald hit a new mile marker in his career: He introduced Boulevard’s first Pilsner, a traditional light-bodied German lager.

Boulevard Pilsner, retailed at $5.99, sits cozy next to other domestic six packs such as Miller Light and Budweiser at Lawrence liquor stores since its debut on August 10. The Lawrence community was second in line to taste Boulevard Pilsner after it was launched in Kansas City in July and more than 2,000 cases were sold.

“In this town people are craft beer savvy and Boulevard Savvy,” Jeff Jensen, owner of Jensen Retail Liquor, 620 W. 9th St., said.

Jensen said Boulevard Pilsner had been selling well since it arrived at his store. The only complaint Jensen said he had heard was that Pilsner wasn’t sold in cans. The Pilsner is currently sold only in long-neck bottles in packs of six.

“I like it,” Jeff Herrera, Prairie Village senior, said. “It’s a real beer with a dark taste but not nearly as heavy.”

Collin Baba, Wichita senior, said he tried the pilsner on a whim two weekends ago at a Kansas City bar.

“It definitely had nice earthy flavors,” Baba said.

A flavorful yet delicate lager was exactly what McDonald and his brewers at Boulevard Brewing were going for when they began experimenting with Pilsner recipes nearly 10 years ago. It was only last year that McDonald and his colleagues thought the timing was right for the release of Boulevard Pilsner.

“Two or three years ago it didn’t make sense because we were going to have to directly compete with Anheuser-Busch, but now they’ve sold out and are no longer an American company,” McDonald said.

Anheuser-Busch, once based in St. Louis, was purchased by global giant InBev in July of 2008.

McDonald’s Vision

McDonald said he was optimistic about the future of Boulevard because more customers were demanding local products. He said he foresaw the brewery growing, but specifically in a local and regional way.

“The brewing world has become very global in nature but people like us believe it should be a local and regional thing,” McDonald said. “I feel really optimistic that small breweries are part of what’s good about America. In the U.S. we have a more hybrid brewing culture than any place in the world. Places like Germany and Belgium, they don’t have new breweries opening like we have in the U.S.,” he said.

Clint Wedel, a Lawrence resident who has been brewing his own beer for 15 years in Lawrence, said he thought Boulevard Pilsner mirrored the quality of European pilsners.

“What’s fresher and younger than 40 miles away?” Wedel said.

He said he was glad to see the expansion of Boulevard products such as the pilsner.

McDonald said the vision of the brewery was still the same as it was when it opened in 1989: Make really good and fresh beer in Kansas City.

“Having a business shouldn’t just be about making money, it’s got to be something you’re interested in and have a passion for,” McDonald said. “If you’re interested in it and you work really hard, it still doesn’t mean you’re going to succeed but at least you’ve got a chance.”

McDonald admitted that even at his age he’s still learning.

“Life is a continual learning process,” McDonald said. “When you’re 56 years old, you’re still learning, and often times the hard way. Just work hard and hope for a little luck.”

— — Edited by Abby Olcese