09/05/2026
THE LITTLE KCK BREWERY THAT TOOK TEN YEARS TO BECOME A REALITY đșđ„
Sometimes the best brewery stories arenât about million-dollar production facilities or breweries shipping b**r across the country.
Sometimes theyâre about four guys from Kansas City, Kansas who started making b**r together, kept at it for years, dealt with jobs, kids, a pandemic, government shutdowns and even some serious spine problems â and eventually turned their homebrewing hobby into a real neighborhood brewery.
Thatâs Strawberry Hill Brewing Company.
đ Strawberry Hill Brewing Company
601 Central Ave
Kansas City, Kansas
And this place is seriously local.
Founders Larry Murray, Ben Murray, Joe Collins and Philip Kuzila were all raised in Kansas City, Kansas. The whole thing grew out of a group of friends who got into homebrewing after Larry and his neighbor Derek Kempf started experimenting with b**r. The first attempts werenât exactly legendary â their first kit b**r was apparently horrible â but instead of giving up, they started learning, buying equipment and brewing all-grain recipes. Eventually they were creating their own b**rs.
Their turning point came after getting positive feedback at the 2019 Nano Brewfest, which convinced the group that maybe this crazy homebrewing hobby could actually become a brewery.
But getting from that idea to opening the doors took YEARS.
The brewery was originally expected to open much earlier, but life had other plans. Children, day jobs, the pandemic, government shutdowns and â unbelievably â spine injuries all got in the way. In fact, three of the founders dealt with spine issues, and they eventually named their fermenters Lumbar, Thoracic and Cervical. đ
They finally opened in September 2024, ten years after the original concept started taking shape.
And the location makes perfect sense.
The building at 601 Central Avenue was family-owned and sitting vacant, and the founders saw the Strawberry Hill neighborhood beginning to come back to life. With places like Slapâs BBQ and Splitlog Coffee helping bring people into the area, they decided this was exactly where their brewery belonged.
And this isnât some giant brewery trying to be everything to everybody.
Itâs a true neighborhood microbrewery.
The taproom is small, casual and personal. The brewing equipment is right there. The owners are involved. You can bring in food from nearby restaurants, grab a b**r and actually talk to the people who make the stuff.
And the b**r?
Thatâs what really got our attention.
Their lineup covers a bunch of styles, but thereâs a definite emphasis on balanced, approachable b**rs. Their b**rs include the Long Road Ahead oatmeal stout, Wyandot IPA, Gaslight L***r, Bramber Ale and BĂ€r Berliner Weisse, along with rotating and specialty b**rs.
The Long Road Ahead is especially important because itâs the b**r that started the whole journey. Their WyPA â a nod to Wyandotte County â shows the breweryâs commitment to putting Kansas City, Kansas right into the b**r itself.
And the story keeps getting better.
The brewery was named Best New Brewery by The Pitch KC in 2025, beating out other new breweries in the Kansas City area.
Thatâs pretty damn impressive for a brewery that spent years quietly working toward opening its doors.
This is exactly the kind of place we love finding on B**r Guyz trips.
Not necessarily the biggest.
Not necessarily the most famous.
Just good b**r, local people, a great story and a neighborhood that gives a s**t about its brewery.
Strawberry Hill Brewing Company is a damn good example of Kansas City, Kansas craft b**r.
đș B**r Guyz verdict: Put this little brewery on your KCK b**r list.
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