Blog – Page 2 – Kansas City Beer

April 19, 2018

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!

Follow City Barrel on social media for updates:

February 11, 2018

Kansas City Beer Checks out St. Louis Beer

A last-minute trip to St. Louis was just what I needed to get back into the beer scene back here in Kansas City. I took a break to deal with some personal issues, but beer is my first love so I couldn’t stay away for too long.

I only had one day to explore the St. Louis beer scene with three friends, but was able to get three breweries in. Our first stop was Urban Chestnut at their midtown location. I’m not personally a big fan of German beers, but I can appreciate it. I actually did end up enjoying the ones I got in my flight, especially the Wolpertinger, a boozy, bourbon barrel-aged weizenbock. The location reminded me of Cinder Block Brewery with wood decor and plenty of fun card and board games to play.

« ‹ of 10 › »

Not too far away, our next stop was The Schlafly Taproom housed in a castle-like building. The turn-of-the-century building had a lot of character especially the brick exterior. I got a flight because I like to try a lot, and my favorite was the Blueberry Coffee Stout. The blueberry wasn’t overpowering and added a nice flavor to the coffee. The styles of beer and rich-in-history building was similar to Stockyards Brewing, although Schlafly was much bigger and had a full restaurant.

Schlafly Tap Room

« ‹ of 12 › »

Our final stop was 4 Hands Brewing. Typically, it’s a good idea to save the best for last and although I think we did, when it comes to beer drinking, the last can become the blurriest. We had drunk too much in our previous breweries so we were only able to enjoy one quick beer at 4 Hands. We didn’t even make it up to the mysterious upstairs, so we’ll have to plan another trip and make this the first stop. The bar itself was tucked away on a dead end street making it a good spot to have a work break or meet up with friends for a chill night. The wallpaper was a silvery version of their logo and they had plenty of cool souvenirs. If you like Big Rip Brewing‘s atmosphere, you’d like it here. Thanks to Heath and Rich for the hospitality!

4 Hands Brewing

« ‹ of 7 › »

This trip wasn’t a beercation and I was the only major beer nerd in the group, so I wasn’t able to get all the stops I wanted to in (Perennial Artisan Ales, Side Project, etc.), but that just leaves it open for another trip, this time focused on beer. Who wants to join?

September 4, 2017

KC Beer Fest

With an appropriate date (09/09), the 9th Annual KC Beer Fest will kickoff on Saturday beginning at 2pm for VIP and 3pm for General Admission. The festival will host more than 50 breweries pouring more than 200 craft beers including rare tappings from Bell’s Brewery, Boulevard Brewing Company, Crane Brewing, Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, Firestone Walker Bre wing Company, Martin City Brewing Company, Perennial Artisan Ales, and more.

Attendees will enjoy unlimited samples of beers from local and national breweries, lawn games, food trucks, and local artists as Flying Saucer and Power & Light District host the event that will shut down Grand Boulevard between 13th and 14th Streets. Many of the local breweries haven’t even been around since the inception of the festival including Cinder Block Brewing, Crane Brewing, and Torn Label Brewing Company, but old favorites like Boulevard Brewing Company will be pouring as well.

A portion of all ticket sales will be donated to Drink Local Think Global, a nonprofit with a mission to provide clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. There will also be raffles and giveaways from the group to raise additional funds.

VIP tickets are $65 now through Friday, September 8, $70 day of the festival. General Admission tickets are $40 now through Friday, September 8, $45 day of the festival. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit KC Beer Fest’s website at: www.kcbeerfest.com

See you there!

February 23, 2017

HopCat Grand Opening

HopCat has chosen Kansas City to open their twelfth location and they’re opening this Saturday with a Grand Opening all-day party.

HopCat derives its name from the hepcats of the jazz scene in the 1940s. You can see the love of music throughout the first floor with commissioned works of art that focus on some of the greatest musicians. Each floor has a different, unique style, just like each of their current 12 locations are different to accommodate and adapt to each city. So while they may be a chain, if you visit another location it won’t be quite the same as the KC one.

The beer selection is phenomenal. Tyler Goebel, HopCat’s Beer Program Manager, has hand selected each of the 100 taps on the first floor and 30 local taps on the second floor patio area. They’ve built a reputation with breweries, small and large, that they have great beer knowledge and will serve it properly. Two exclusives to Kansas City will be on tap this Saturday: COOP Ale Works Hot Chocolate DNR, available in the Oklahoma City area only except this keg and Brickway Brewery‘s Barrel-Aged Epic Blackout Stout, a 17% stout with only 3 kegs in existence and HopCat will have one. Other breweries that will have beers tapped include Crooked Stave, Founders, Moonlight Meadery, Crane Brewing, Torn Label, and Lagunitas. They plan on having collaborations with local breweries and doing small and large tap takeovers for several breweries.

Their food menu includes elevated pub food that’s made fresh and incorporates beer in a lot of the dishes. Their “Crack Fries” are battered in light beer before sprinkled with black pepper seasoning and have been named in Food Network’s America’s 10 Best French Fries.

With all that food, there’s bound to be waste, but HopCat is pretty big into sustainability. About 90% of what would normally go in a landfill is either composted or recycled. It’s a key point in all their locations, but they had some extra help in Kansas City from Bridging the Gap training employees how to be more sustainable.

Their Grand Opening will be this Saturday, February 25, starting at 11am. They are located at 401 Westport Rd, in Old Westport, Kansas City, Missouri 64111. Free crack fries all day for everyone but the first 200 guests get a card good for a free order of the fries every week for a year, rare beers on tap, giveaways, and a happening time!

We have a ticket for two to their VIP Grand Opening on Friday, February 24, a HopCat can-shaped glass, and a free Crack Fries for a year card to giveaway so visit our Facebook page for details. Follow HopCat on their social media for updates and other cool stuff: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Thanks to Chris Knape, Joe Prate, and Tyler Goebel for taking the time to take us on a tour and share the information with us.

Here are some photos of HopCat. They were still adding the final touches, so we’ll be going back to get more once they open.

Hop Cat

« ‹ of 11 › »