Bootleg Bourbon Balls reveals its secret to World Cup chocolate (and booze) lovers

With its decadent flavors and speakeasy past, Kansas City holds a secret, said Lisa Fitch. And she’s eager to share it this summer — one bourbon ball at a time — as visitors like Netherlands’ Orange Army descend on the region.

“Kansas City has one of the most vibrant Prohibition-era histories in the country,” explained Fitch, whose Bootleg Bourbon Balls shop in Riverside’s Eastbrook Plaza sits not far from the path many travelers are taking from Kansas City’s airport to fan activities downtown and at Liberty Memorial.

A banner outside Bootleg Bourbon Balls calls Orange Army travelers to the Eastbrook Plaza; courtesy photo

Fitch and her team were decked out Thursday in Team Orange shirts, as orange banners, a Team Netherlands flag, and orange-accented furniture adorned the brand’s “Chocolate Speakeasy” space at 1837 NW Vivion Rd.

“It’s hard not to have fun when you’re dealing with chocolate and bourbon,” Fitch told Startland News.

A special orange balsamic caramel — the Team Oranje — and Fitch’s “Rosie the Rum Runner” bike — painted and detailed in orange by the Groody Brothers — completes their vibrant sales pitch to visitors and locals alike who might want a taste of history with their FIFA World Cup revelry.

“This city was full of speakeasies, bootleggers, and people who believed that good spirits shouldn’t be kept a secret,” Fitch said. “When you combine that rich local history with what we actually make — bourbon balls where we literally hide the booze inside the chocolate — our Chocolate Speakeasy concept was born naturally.”

The Bootleg Bourbon Balls chocolate speakeasy at 1837 NW Vivion Rd in Riverside; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

The storefront opened in 2023 when her operation moved out of a shared commercial kitchen, later transforming the space with those throw-back speakeasy vibes, she said.

“It’s playful, it’s a node to KC’s rebellious past, and it perfectly captures what we’re about: handcrafted indulgence with a little bit of secret sauce,” Fitch added.

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Lisa Fitch, founder of Bootleg Bourbon Balls; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

A book about female bootleggers sits inside the Bootleg Bourbon Balls storefront; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

In addition to courting travelers, the chocolate whisperer is giving her speakeasy password to the women of Kansas City for Bootleg’s Dames and Decadence Tasting Experience, where six guests experience a pairing of bourbon balls with the local spirits — from distilleries like Tom’s Town, Restless Spirits, and Union Horse — used to create them, while also learning about the city’s Prohibition history and the importance of women in it.

“As a woman-owned business, I wanted to create something that felt personal and purposeful — not just another tasting event,” she explained. “Dames and Decadence was born out of a desire to bring women into the full story of what we do here.”

Click here for more information on and to buy tickets for the Dames and Decadence Tasting Experience

The tasting experience events happen twice a month on Thursdays.

“We’re not just selling chocolate,” she emphasized. “We’re inviting you into a world where indulgence meets history and where women get to own that experience fully. It felt natural that a women-owned business would create a space where women are at the center of that story.”

Bourbon balls from Bootleg Bourbon Balls in Riverside; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

For the event, the speakeasy space features candlelight and jazz music and the women get a chance to enjoy four bourbon balls like Flapper’s Delight (a nutty concoction of toasted pecans, couverture white chocolate, and honey, blended with whiskey from West Bottoms Whiskey Co., hand rolled in a pistachio topping) and Dame’s Dish (couverture 72% dark chocolate blended with J. Rieger & Co. whiskey, featuring a whiskey-soaked maraschino cherry tucked inside and rolled in sugar and sprinkled with red luster dust). The treats are accompanied by a sampling of the whiskey used to make them and hearing the tasting notes from the local distillery.

“The goal is to connect women and make them feel safe and not intimidated,” Fitch explained. “Because when you go to bourbon tastings, it’s normally more men, and men — nothing against them — just naturally take that over as if they’re connoisseurs and they’re more knowledgeable about bourbon than you are. They tend to not ask questions. And for us as women — what’s really important — is that we have that ability to sit and ask questions.”

“We have that time to say, ‘Take a pipette of water and add that to your glass of whiskey,’” she added. “‘Let that sit for a minute, let it open, and see how that changes. Add an ice cube. I don’t care. This is about you. This is about you enjoying the experience.’”

From the archives: How Lisa Fitch is taking her ‘notoriously naughty’ bourbon and rum balls to the masses

Bootleg Bourbon Balls — the Riverside Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Business of the Year — also has a couple of new seasonal flavors for the summer season, which Fitch teased might make an appearance in the Dames and Decadence tastings. The Key Lime Looker features European white chocolate, roasted Macadamia nuts, Key lime juice, lime zest, and KeKe Key Lime Pie Liqueur, rolled in a graham cracker crumble topping. And the Molly Pitcher Club Mojito has couverture white chocolate and toasted pecans that are blended together with Mean Mule Distilling Co. Silver Agave, fresh mint,  and freshly squeezed lime juice, hand~rolled and finished in powdered sugar.

“We might save those as a little surprise,” she noted, “because we always do a little surprise dessert at the end.”