Rock-themed Johnson County brewery (finally!) open. Now owners must keep up with lines
Six years.
Endless months of planning, changing course and waiting have finally come to an end for the owners of a new rock-themed brewery in downtown Shawnee.
Brent Anderson and Nathan Ryerson opened Friction Beer Co. at 11018 Johnson Drive last weekend. Anderson said they’ve welcomed steady crowds eager to taste their strawberry blond ales (named Dr. Feelgood) and coffee milk stouts. ($4 for a half-size, and $7 for a full glass.)
“Honestly, it surpassed all expectations to the point where I was kind of terrified. … We had lines past the elevator,” he said, gesturing to the back of the space. “It was like, ‘Hang on. Be gentle, everybody.’”
The new taproom — decorated with posters, boomboxes and sheets of music — moved into the old Hartman Hardware building.
Anderson, a drummer and music lover, didn’t want the music theme to be too on-the-nose, but rock fans can find Easter eggs, nods to artists and songs, to appreciate.
He pointed to a wall covered in cassette tapes spelling out the letter “F,” perhaps his favorite touch.
“I was like, ‘Wherever we go, I’m doing the wall,’ and people love it,” he said.
The name comes from the owners’ aim to be “social lubricants,” as their glowing neon sign says, in the community. They hope Friction creates a spark in the neighborhood.
They brew several kegs of different beers in the back, also serving canned cocktails and wine. While both have loved beer for years, their journey began when Anderson left his job as a creative director for Boulevard Brewing Co. in 2016.
After bonding over brews at a soccer match, the pair began looking for locations — a process that took more than four years. They looked at spots in the Crossroads and the West Bottoms, and the pandemic only complicated the process, Anderson said.
In 2021, Ryerson and Anderson announced they had found their spot and began the construction process, “completely gutting” the old building and transforming it.
An upstairs lounge and rooftop patio aren’t yet open — expect them next year, Anderson said.
Downtown Shawnee is growing increasingly popular for bars, also home to Transport Brewery, which opened in 2019, and cocktail bar Drastic Measures, a James Beard Award finalist. Drastic Measures’ sister bar, Wild Child, is set to open this summer.
Anderson enjoys the camaraderie with other local brewers. He hopes his brewery will soon become an area destination — the place you take your out-of-town friends to give them the full Kansas City experience.
“I want you to walk in here and go, ‘I don’t have this where I came from. This is a unique local approach,’” he said. “‘I want to buy the T-shirt because I feel that is something I can’t get elsewhere.’”
Friction is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursdays to Fridays, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
