Surrounded by local Kansas City breweries and an urban winery, St. Louis-based Brick River Cider Co. is now open and serving up the newest adult beverage du jour in Kansas City’s Crossroads. Founder Russ John opened his first location in an old firehouse in St. Louis in 2018 and expanded to Kansas City late last year. The brewery makes its gluten-free hard apple cider and distilled apple brandy on site with fruit from John’s family orchard in Elmwood, Nebraska. Averaging around five percent alcohol by volume, Homestead, an unfiltered, cloudy and semi-sweet hard apple cider, is considered its flagship brew. From there, guests can choose from the Homestead Peach, the Cornerstone, an off-dry hard cider, and Sweet Lou’s, a hard cider spiked with blueberries. With room to seat over 150 people in the tasting room, they are also offering a dozen local craft beers in addition to cider-based cocktails. Come ready to drink and eat, as there is a substantial food menu here featuring fish and chips, mushroom risotto, pulled-pork macaroni and cheese, burgers, wings, flatbreads and much more.