City Barrel

While out on a midweek, beer fun day with my dad at Casual Animal Brewing Company, we ran into James Stutsman, Grant Waner, and Joe Giammanco of City Barrel Brewing Company. City Barrel is an upcoming brewery that will be open at 1728 Holmes, in the Crossroads, later this year. If they were there checking out the competition or just planning for their brewery, I don’t know, but they were kind enough to give me three of their beers to try. (It’s a friendly beer community here in Kansas City, so I’m sure they were just enjoying some Kansas City beers.)

The first is an unnamed sour that was bottled and unlabeled. It is, as the style indicates, sour on the front. Vanilla and peach take over on the back end making it like a peaches and cream style sour. Personally, I’m a sour fan and a fan of the unusual so I really enjoyed this one. (I did not get a poured picture of this one.)

The second is an IPA called Trouble. When you think IPA you usually think hoppy, but this one (and the NE IPA listed next) is a mellow, juicy IPA. An orange zest flavor is prominent and there’s a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.

The third is a New England IPA called Rad AF. More bubbly than Trouble, but still the same orange zest flavor. It’s hazy and that combined with the orange and bubbliness, is reminiscent of a mimosa. Who doesn’t love brunch?

I didn’t have specifics of each beer, just their style, so I’m not able to provide exact IBUs and ABVs. The brewery isn’t open yet and doesn’t have a system running, so I assume these were brewed at home and are just samples of what they will be brewing.

The first two were shared with mostly non-beer nerd friends and family at a game night and they were all impressed, so it seems like this may be a good gateway brewery for non-beer nerds. I look forward to what else they’ll have to offer, especially sours and other creative beers.

Thank you to my friends and family on game night for letting me take pictures, trying new beers, and letting me annoy you with my beer talk! Thank you to City Barrel for the beers; I can’t wait to try some more!

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