It all started on a long drive to see friends in Oklahoma—well, really, it started the way any good brewery origin story does: with years of meticulous recipe testing at the homebrew scale. But that drive was important, too, because on that trip in 2012, the idea for what would become Kansas City’s BKS Artisan Ales truly began to take shape.
At the time, Mary Rooney was a marketing manager at a logistics company, and Brian Rooney had an insurance job. However, as they tell it, Brian’s homebrewing had “escalated” into more than a hobby, with many of his beers earning medals at regional competitions. So, after asking a number of probing questions from the passenger seat, Mary pulled out her laptop and started working on the beginnings of a business plan.
Looking back, the Rooneys say that finding a location was the most difficult part of the process—in part because they were determined to open a brewery in Brookside, the neighborhood they called home. (BKS is shorthand for Brookside.) After searching for a bit more than a year and spending close to another year building out the small production space and sparse yet inviting tasting room, the Rooneys launched BKS in December 2017. It required a city-ordinance change and the enthusiastic support of a local developer—who saw the potential in a former alcohol rehab center, of all places—but today their commute is a mere 15-minute walk.
