Hold The Pepper: 23rd Street Brewery

23rd Street Brewery is just that...a brewery located on 23rd street.  Well, okay; 23rd street ends at Iowa Street and becomes Clinton Parkway but that is splitting hairs.  Besides, it is a better name than 75th Street Brewery as it was formerly named and owned by the Kansas City company.  

This place is great for the sports fan, especially local sports fans, as it is stuffed full with sports memorabilia.  There are also several large TVs broadcasting your favorite sports games.  The menu is very diverse and they of course craft their own beers.  But we are here for none of that (at least not officially).  We are here for the wings!  

The wings were of good color and well sauced, topped with cracked black pepper for a distinguished look.  We were told that the difference between the mild and hot was more black pepper but there was no discernible difference between the two.  However, there was just way too much black pepper and it over powered the other flavors.  Black pepper is often added to mild sauces (e.g., BBQ) to make the sauce spicier but to make a buffalo style wing sauce hotter you really should use additional cayenne or crushed red pepper.  These wings definitely could be hotter and use a lot less black pepper.   

Wing Nutz judge's individual scores were very consistent across the board.  Appearance came in with a score of 6.25; texture and tenderness rated 6.75; flavor rated a 4.75; and, when you weigh it all out that is a total score of only 5.5.  Perhaps the chef had an off night. I have had their wings before and this was not representative of my earlier experience.  Hey, everyone can have an off night, but don't do it when we come to judge your wings!

Just to finish this post off, the garlic flavored dipping sauce that comes with the wings is really, really good.  The blue cheese dressing we requested later was really, really bad.  But again, our judging rules dictate you cannot dip wings in condiments while judging - only celery, carrots, and water can be  used to cleanse the ol' palate.  It probably wouldn't have mattered much if any anyways.  Advice: hold the pepper!