Crossroads distillery asks KC to make a toast in honor of founder lost in weekend motorcycle wreck
July 22, 2025 | Tommy Felts
Update: A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to support the family of the late Jeff Evans. Click here to learn more or to donate.
With doors temporarily closed early this week (July 21-22) to mourn the loss of co-founder Jeff Evans, the team behind Mean Mule Distilling is asking its community to “grieve with us, raise a glass with us, and share the stories and laughter he gave us.”
Jeff Evans, Mean Mule Distilling; courtesy photo
Evans passed away in a motorcycle accident over the weekend, the popular Crossroads-based distillery announced Tuesday in an Instagram post.
“It’s with shattered hearts that we share the loss of our founder and friend,” the note read. “Jeff was the heart and soul of Mean Mule. His spirit, humor, and craftsmanship shaped everything we are. Alongside his wife and our cofounder, Meg, Jeff built more than a distillery — he built a community.”
The business was closed Monday and Tuesday at 1733 Locust St., but expected to reopen Wednesday, with Mean Mule encouraging people to submit “Jeff Stories” to be shared with Evans’ wife and team.
Click here to add memories of Jeff Evans.
Click here learn more about a GoFundMe campaign to aid the Evans family.
“Our team needs time to grieve and process this immense loss, but we … welcome all who knew and loved Jeff to come by in the coming weeks,” the post read.
“Supporting our business is supporting us. If you’d like to honor him, find a bottle or can of Mean Mule at your local shop and make a toast to him.”
Click here to shop online or here to find Mean Mule products locally.
Potential memorial service details are expected to be shared at a later time.
“We don’t yet know what the coming days, weeks, or months will look like, but we’ll keep you updated here as we find our way forward,” the post said.
Evans’ fellow entrepreneurs were among the first to express shock and begin sharing condolences on social media Tuesday.
“So incredibly sad. I’m heartbroken,” wrote Jordan Fox, the serial founder of Foxtrot Studio, Garden House Cafe, and High and Dry Cactus. “Jeff was an immense presence and an absolute joy to be around. He truly cared and he let you know that. He was a true friend to so many and I know that the response to this will be felt and seen throughout the community because he was a real, quality human.”
Click here to contribute to the Jeff Evans crowdfunding campaign.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Royals change stadium plan to keep Oak Street open to traffic, but fate of businesses is uncertain
Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. The Royals’ original plan was to place the team’s corporate offices and entertainment venues on Oak Street, which would close the…
Royals Crossroads ballpark plan revs parking debate; how ‘creatures of comfort’ would need to adapt to a new downtown
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Kansas City PBS/Flatland, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, The Kansas City Beacon, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story. Here’s the essential message that the Kansas City Royals have for folks fretting about…
Drug side effects could kill you; meet the KS lab team using DNA testing to save patients
A clinical reference laboratory in Olathe is working to make DNA testing for genetically optimized medications more routine and accessible in healthcare, Dr. Ziyan Pessetto shared. Sinochips Diagnostics — founded in 2019 by Dr. Jiawu Song, along with Pessetto and Dr. Andrew Godwin — was conceived with the vision to make pharmacogenomics (PGx) an integral…
PHKC planning to open its retail incubator in mid-May; here’s a first look inside the east side space
A new space for entrepreneurs to test-run their retail businesses is envisioned as a 12- to 16-month stepping stone to their own permanent storefronts or locations, said Dan Smith, and the resource could be open as soon as this spring. “We’re preparing entrepreneurs to open their own brick and mortars on the east side,” said…