Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Kneeland.
Hi Jeremy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I, like many brewers, started brewing beer in my garage. My wife, Sunni Kneeland, bought me a brewing kit and said “here, brew your own beer”, and so the obsession began. Around 2014, brewing beer every weekend in my garage was how I spent many hours. Brewing new styles, new flavors, and repeating brew days to perfect a recipe. I then joined an area homebrew club, ZZ hops, and the passion started to run deeper. I began to attend local festivals where we could serve our homebrew to the masses. People would try my beer and say, “where can I buy this?” and “you should really start a brewery.” As I started to attend festivals, I knew I needed a name for my hobby brewery, so I did a little research to see what the history of beer and alcohol was in Kansas City. As my research took me into prohibition years, I ran into many stories about Tom Pendergast. Tom, an early mob boss or faction leader, did a lot in the early years for Kansas City (for better or worse). One thing was for sure, he kept Kansas City, the Paris of the Plains, in the libations during the “dry” years. Until this research, did not know the mob history of Kansas City. Learning about Tom, the boss of the Goats, led me to name my garage hobby, The Goat Brewing Co. As I continued to brew beer in my garage, I would give my beers that paid tribute to Kansas City history, Tom Pendergast history, or a general mob theme. My wife joked with me often as I spent money upgrading equipment and buying new accessories that “this brewing thing is just a hobby, right?”. Right. As time went on, the ‘what if’ plans of someday opening a brewery, started to take shape. “When we open The Goat Brewing Co, we are going to X, Y and Z”, were many discussions in the garage. In, 2019, my wife finished her master’s degree in nursing, becoming a Nurse Practitioner, This giving us enough financial support to try a business venture. At this time, my wife says, “Shit or get off the pot.” It’s time to do this, if you really want to do this. So, we began writing a business plan, looking at locations, trying to round up money, etc. In January of 2020, we had found a family member and a couple of small investors to get us the money we needed. We found a location and began negotiating with the landlord. We had a meeting with the city to look at the location to determine if we could open a brewery in this spot. Mid-February, we found out that due to the proximity to a residential district, we were going to have to petition the City Council for a Ordinance Variance. Our first meeting to work on the variance, was set for March 17th, 2020, but never happened. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and shutdowns starting on March 15th, our meetings were cancelled. Which was a silver lining as we had yet to sign any leases or spend any money. With our fingers crossed that we would come out of this outbreak, we proceeded with our city meetings via Zoom. It ended up taking until September to get everything taken care of, but we did eventually receive our variance. We signed the lease October 1 and started demo and reconstruction. With the help of many friends, we were able to open The Goat Brewing Co on March 5, 2021.
We designed the location to have a natural brick, wood, metal, kind of a warehouse, feel to it. We took into consideration a lot of things we liked or didn’t like about breweries we’ve had visited. A big part was the decision to sell cocktails and whiskey. We have a very nice cocktail list, none of which are batch made or kegged. All hand made when ordered using quality ingredients. My friends and I are also fans of whiskey, so we have a very good list of whiskey and host a Whiskey Wednesday event every week. Food was not something I intended to do in the beginning but, we discovered early on that we needed to have food. With some experimentation, we arrived at serving paninis, flat breads, sausages, pretzels, nachos and more. Like our beer and drinks, our food is made to order. We are almost 5 years into this and having a blast. We work hard to stay ahead of the trends to keep our customers coming back. We offer trivia, bingo, work with food trucks to bring special food offerings, karaoke and live music. We have 5 TV’s to show all of the sports.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been several challenges along the way, the city ordinance we had to get a variance for, the challenge of providing food to our customers, Covid, when we opened we could only have 50% capacity. It is a challenge everyday trying to give your customers a reason to come see you. The economy has been all over the place with Covid challenges, inflation and tariffs. It is a daily challenge to budget for the next day.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the owner, manager, brewer and beertender. People ask me which of the jobs I prefer and I can’t pick one. They all satisfy a part of who I am. I love owning this, it is mine, it is ours, there are several people who helped get The Goat Brewing Co open and help to make it what it is today. I have a great team that I get to work with and manage daily. Brewing the beer is where this passion started and I love doing it still today. And bartending, that is the icing on the cake. That is when you get to see the customers enjoy what I’ve created. I truly have a great staff. My staff helps to come up with new beers, cocktails, new events and activities. They are here for me whenever I need them.
The Goat Brewery is know for having a wonderful, clean and comfortable, inviting space. A couple of things that set us apart from other breweries is our wide variety of styles; from lagers to stouts, sours to IPA’s, we also make hard ciders and meads. A second thing is our delicious handmade cocktails. We also offer non-alcoholic cocktails, beers, tea, juice and our own craft sodas. We are a family friendly environment and have a bunch of card and board games.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Keep an open mind and be prepared to change direction. Planning is important, but you have to be flexible and open to change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thegoatbrewingco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_goat_brewing_co/
