Kansas City Beer – Kansas City Beer

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:

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

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