Wild Kingdom

It's good to be king. And right now, Mike and Nate of Thank Heaven For Beer/Wilderness Brewing Co. have to be feeling like royalty. With just about an hour left in their Kickstarter campaign, the entrepreneurial duo has already exceeded their fundraising goal, which will allow them to open the nanobrewery they dreamed of.

When I blogged about their Kickstarter campaign before, I was genuinely optimistic and excited for them to raise the money they needed to accomplish their dream. And now that the funding has been reached, I am even more optimistic and excited to see their progress as they build their brewery and begin creating artistic and unique brews for beer geeks like myself to enjoy.

I anticipate this won't be my last blog post about Wilderness Brewing Co. I have every intention of following their progress, and once their beers are available, I have no doubt they'll be making an appearance (if not multiple appearances) in my Beats and Beer Friday posts.

Mike and Nate, my sincerest congratulations go out to the both of you. And if you are ever in need of an outsider's taste buds to test your batches, I am ready and willing to sacrifice for the cause!

If you are on Twitter, make sure to go tweet Mike and Nate and give them your congratulations.

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Help Wilderness Brewing Co. become a reality

As a craft beer enthusiast and a supporter of local businesses, I was intrigued when I first heard about Wilderness Brewing, a project from Kansas City locals Mike Reinhardt and Nate Watson. The two run the website Thank Heaven For Beer, and have been avid homebrewers for years.

The pair has decided to transform their hobby into a legitimate, money-making endeavor, but to start a fully functional brewery, there's one thing they need (and don't have): money.

Nate and Mike took to the Internet and decided to bring awareness and raise funds for their brewery using Kickstarter, an increasingly popular method of online fundraising for new small businesses and entrepreneurs. Their ultimate goal is to raise $40,000 by August 4. They've already raised $11,830 (as of 9:30 AM on Thursday, 6/23), which is great, but there is obviously a long way to go and they can use as much help as possible.

I can't say that I've met Nate and Mike, or had any of the beers that they created. But after watching their video on Kickstarter (which is also embedded below), I saw a true passion for what they are doing, and I have a lot of respect for that. Obviously, there's a special place in my heart for craft beer, so supporting a new, local microbrewery is a no brainer for me.

I highly suggest you go check out the Wilderness Brewing Kickstarter page. Check out the video, and if you can spare some money to pledge to this cause, you definitely should. Let's help these guys make their dreams a reality, and bring some new beer to Kansas City in the process!

You can also find Wilderness Brewing Co. on Facebook.

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