About Crane Brewing
Crane Brewing Company is a Community Microbrewery located in Raytown, MO in the Kansas City Metro. We brew a wide variety of Favorite Beer Styles, but our focus is Traditional Farmhouse Ales, Sour Ales, and Wild-Fermented Beers. We have a Gorgeous, Rustic Taproom located right on the Rock Island Trail. We are the closest brewery to the Kauffman Sports Complex and The Kansas City Zoo. We currently distribute to special bars and stores throughout the Midwest.
Crane Brewing - Tradition, Evolving.
Crane Brewery Tours
Learn about the history of Crane Brewing and how we make our beer. This tour takes everyone from Water and Grains to Cans and Kegs. It is all about having fun and sharing our love and passion for making great beer and sharing it with our friends.
Meet the team
Michael Crane
PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER
I started homebrewing in December 2009 with a Mr. Beer Kit and I quickly became obsessed with brewing and the craft beer community. For about 25 years I owned Funblock Tables manufacturing play tables for kids, store fixtures and classroom storage furniture. Prior to Funblock, I was a commercial photographer and had a studio downtown in what is now the Crossroads. I met Chris Meyers through the homebrew community and Jason Louk was my CPA for many years. Together we started Crane Brewing in 2015. Although as a homebrewer I made a lot of sour beers and Crane Brewing is well known for sour beers, my favorite beer is Odd Bird.
Chris Meyers
VICE-PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER
Chris studied and worked in the field of Veterinary Medicine for years before discovering his love of brewing beer. Being a fan of great beers and a homebrewer, he often considered opening a brewery. Having many supportive friends already in the industry, helped him develop a plan. Chris met Michael and Jason and it became apparent that they enhanced each other’s efforts and that they needed to do it together. Chris has enjoyed using his business and science background to build the brewery over the years, and looks forward to continuing growing the community of support. Chris oversees Operations at Crane Brewing including working with Production, The Taproom, Distribution, Sales, Events, and Partnerships. He has also been a Board Member of the Missouri Craft Brewer’s Guild for the last several years. Chris has been with his wife, Kimi, since 2007 and they have raised 3 kids who have grown up around the brewery. Chris’ favorite beer that Crane Brewing makes is Small Ball Saison. It is a Session Saison that is Dry-Hopped and Bottle Conditioned with Brettanomyces.
Jason Louk
CEO
Jason is a partner with Marr and Company, PC, a public accounting firm in Kansas City, MO. His primary focus is tax and business advisory services and his industry experience includes manufacturing, professional services, nonprofit organizations and employee benefit plans. He passed the Uniform Certified Public Accounting Examination in 2000 and has also completed the Accountant’s Ethics Examination. He graduated from The University of Kansas in Lawrence with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration.
Bryan Stewart
HEAD BREWER
Prior to Crane, Bryan was the head brewer and operations manager of another Kansas City brewery for about 4 years. Before that, he worked at a couple of other breweries in both Kansas City and Fort Collins, Colorado. Bryan also spent time in both radio and print media as a reporter and editor in a life before beer.
Bryan is our Head Brewer, professional cat herder. Also sends a lot of emails that no one reads.
His favorite beer of ours is a toss up between Oddbird Corn Lager and Small Ball Brett Saison. And Windfalls Saison. And the occasional Berry Weiss.
Melissa Simon
Director of sales
Melissa, or “Mel”, has been working in the beer business in Kansas City for nearly a decade. She is originally from Lake of the Ozarks but moved to Kansas City to attend college. After graduating with her business degree, she worked in a few different industries before she realized that the craft beer industry was her home! She began working in sales & marketing for a local brewery and then joined the Crane team in June of 2022.
Melissa is now our Head of Sales and manages our wholesaler partners, new business development, and runs our Kansas and Missouri markets. In her free time, you can find her playing sand volleyball, watching the Chiefs games, and eating hot wings.
Her favorite beer of ours is our Migration Patterns IPA. She’s a sucker for hoppy beers and especially those that are Midwest or West Coast styles.
Michael (Guapo) Hope
Taproom Manager
An incomparable product of Raytown, Guapo began his career early in the hospitality game tantalizing patrons at Royals stadium with exquisite Stadium Club cuisine in the luxury suites. Then spent the next few decades perfecting his craft in fine dining, beginning in Leawood, Kansas.
His adventures in the restaurant business led him to Springfield where he grew up in the industry, literally and figuratively spending time engaging with some of SW Missouri’s finest restaurateurs and chefs growing his love for creating delectable, dining experiences for his guests.
Ultimately his love for his family brought him back to us in Raytown. Guapo was one of the first to help Hy-vee with their market grill concepts in KC. And his passion for making a difference directly in business growth and customer engagement brought guapo to Crane Brewing Co. in 2019.
Guapo never meets a stranger. His customers quickly become friends, his co-workers become family! His favorite Crane beer is If…Then… He loves the dark roasted malt and caramel flavors that come through.
MacKenzie Magwire
Events and Promotions Manager
MacKenzie patiently waited six years in the entertainment/college athletics world until Crane had an events/marketing position open. She started out as a semi-regular with her parents who are super regulars when the taproom was filled with mismatched tables and chairs. During these six years of waiting she worked in the Omaha beer industry, concert world and majority of the time in college athletics. She was Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions at Northwest Missouri State University (Go Bearcats!) and the Director of Marketing and Promotions for Central Arkansas Athletics (BearClawsUp!). She is proud of many things such as being a part of a D2 National Championship, but she is most proud of being the designer of the Scottie Pippen Basketball Court at UCA (look it up, it’s beautiful)
Now six years later she is finally the Events and Promotions Manager at Crane Brewing. She runs our social media, assists with graphic design and is the coordinator of chaos.
Her favorite beer is Berry Weiss and any hazy/danky IPA we make.
John Lindquist
Bartender & Production Assistant
John has worked a bunch of places in different fields–sales, office work, labor, but none of them really fit him personally until I started working at Crane! He primarily bartends, but he also helps maintain the draught system and assist with packaging. On occasional very special, very long days he might do all three. John is also the nicest person at the brewery! His favorite beer has got to be Omar. John is a sucker for cats as well as dry porters. (If you see him behind the bar, please tell him about your cats!)
Meet the team
Michael Crane
PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER
Chris Meyers
VICE-PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER
Jason Louk
CEO
Bryan Stewart
HEAD BREWER
Penny Clevenger
Bartender
Michael (Guapo) Hope
Taproom Manager