Bar Hopping in North JoCo

It seems that JJSKCK has run into the same issue as Stella and I have on occasion, where to drink near our house. JJS mad a list of all the bars he's gone within 10 minutes drive from his house and rated them based on 5 criteria; ambience, clientele, location, service and beer selection. He rated them on a 5 point scale on each of the criteria, added them up and got a total. Since he lives relatively close to la manse du Vard it is an extremely useful list. His winner was Waxy O'Sheas (11900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Shawnee) with Birdie's coming in second. I've been known to grab a pint or two at Birdie's and they do quite the business on Friday and Saturday nights. I was surprised to learn that Waxy's won the JJS seal of approval as I have never even considered going there. JJS did a great job, though I think he rated Maloney's a little too low but many of my extra points would go towards location since it's quite close to me. Anyway, if you live in North Johnson County, JJS' list might cause you to seek out a new place for a beer. For more bars in North JoCo you can consult the 87th Street Bar and Bike wrapup. And for a completely unrelated post, but interesting for the neighborhood, check out Meesha's post about the Merriam land grab and empty shopping center.

Dance Day

Boulevard's Harvest Dance is hitting store shelves today in the big bottles. It won't be available in the Li'l Smokie size this year. It's coming out a week later than I would have liked this year because it's a perfect beer for Thanksgiving. But, that's not important today, because it's out now. The wait is over.

I really like Harvest Dance and stored some from last year. We had an aged bottle at the last Gents meeting and the aging actually made it better and more mellow. I'm going to buy them 2 at a time this year so I can store one for each one I drink.

Harvest Dance is also going to hit some taps this year so look for it in your favorite beer bar. There's a good chance your bar of choice will have it if they had Two Jokers on tap. Let us know in comments where you see it on tap or where you find it in the liquor stores. Time to dance.

In the Land of the Blind, the Man with One Craft Beer on Tap is King

Not every bar is the Flying Saucer. Not every restaurant has a tap selection like Barley's. Not every dive is as dive-y as Swagger. This wasn't exactly a revelation and it certainly won't surprise anyone... but some places just don't have a whole lot on tap worth drinking. My formative years were spent in bars where the most interesting thing on tap was Boulevard Wheat. I thought we had hit the big time when Goose Island 312 started showing up at my local watering hole. The passage of time may make the heart grow fonder, but I can't really call those the good old days when it comes to beer. Most establishments have come quite a ways in the past five or six years in regards to having a variety of craft beer on tap. I recently made a number of stops around the KC area at bars I'd never thought to visit before, mostly because I didn't think I'd be able to find a decent beer there. What could have been a soul crushing bar crawl through KC's Bud Light soaked underbelly, actually left me rather surprised...

All Star Pizza, Parkville

I don't get up to Parkville often. Well, I drive by Parkville occasionally, but I hardly ever stop. I hadn't heard of All Star Pizza before, but I'd gotten an email earlier in the week about how the owner put in a new set of taps and is trying to bring more craft beer in. I had a friend coming to town from St. Joe and I told him to meet me there and we'd go check it out. Originally, the plan was to go to the Flying Saucer for trivia but this happened to be the night of the K State game at the Spring Center so we changed plans. All Star Pizza is a smaller sports bar/pizza kitchen with 16 taps. There was the usual Bud, Miller, Blue Moon, Boulevard Wheat, Pale Ale, Fat Tire and a few other New Belgiums. Nothing mind blowing but there was Affligem Blonde, Ellie's Brown and a keg of Hoptober. I got a pint of Schlafly Winter ESB, which was quite good, and ordered the Boulevard Battered Chicken Tenders because I enjoy the convenience of fried chicken in finger form. I'm not being facetious here, really, I like chicken tenders. I ended up trading a chicken finger to Adam Westcave for a slice of pepperoni pizza. The pizza was solid, I'd go back and try it again some time, but I'm already looking for excused to go back for the BLVD Chicken Tenders though.

I left All Star Pizza impressed. There wasn't anything mind blowing about their selection but considering 11 of their 16 taps were craft beers and we enjoyed the food, that was a win in my book. I did notice my receipt listed by Winter ESB as a Schafley beer, nothing terribly amusing about that but a similar thing happened at our second stop...

The Tap Room, Saint Joseph

I'll be the first to admit, St. Joe shouldn't be on anyone's list of craft beer destinations. It certainly isn't on mine. However, I was in town the day after Thanksgiving and decided to stop and get a beer, a friend suggested The Tap Room is worth visiting. I had a lot of trouble with the name of this place... If you're going to call yourself The Tap Room you'd better have a good beer selection, but having lived in St. Joe, I knew better than to expect anything close to what a place called a tap room should be. When we walked in I immediately saw a couple familiar faces at the other end of the bar, it was Bud, Miller and Coors. The Tap Room had 8 taps and a sink full of ice and Miller Lite cans. There wasn't much notable except for the New Belgium 2 Below and a silver Goose Island tap head that said Matilda at its base. Matilda isn't a rare beer by any means but there aren't that many places in Kansas City that have it on tap, I was shocked to find it in St. Joe of all places... I hastily ordered a Matilda and got a Bud Light shaker pint shortly thereafter. Part of me wanted to ask for a snifter but I decided to buck up and enjoy my generous pour of Matilda instead.

Two of my St. Joe friends, Bartles and Jaymes, were at the bar with me. Bartles got a pint of 2 Below and Jaymes asked for a bottle list. The bartender, who I'm pretty sure celebrated her 21st birthday earlier that week, just gave Jaymes a confused stare. It finally clicked for her and she started rattling off their bottle offerings, they had the usual suspects: Bud Light, Stella, Newcastle (all of which were also on tap...) and Shoo Fly Pumpkin. Jaymes ordered the Shoo Fly and seemed surprised when he was handed a Schlafly Pumpkin...

The Tap Room didn't really live up to it's name but I still had a good time there. I'm not convinced the management (not to mention the employees) know what they're doing, or even what they want to do, with their beer selection, but it's definitely the best I've seen within a 30 minute drive of St. Joe. I'd go back again, but only because it's the only place in St. Joe where you might find something exciting on tap. Our stop at The Tap Room is what made me think of the line about how in the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king... well, in St. Joe, the man with one decent craft beer on tap is king, even if he has Bud Light on tap, and in cans and in bottles as well. Oh, and his bartenders pronounce it Shoo Fly...

Lewellyn's Pub, Overland Park

Continuing my weeklong run of trips to bars I'd never been to before, I met up with Fancypantsbeer for a completely platonic visit to Lewellyn's on 151st in Overland Park on Saturday afternoon. I had no idea this place even existed before I was told to look for the old church with beer signs in the windows near the corner of 151st and Metcalf. Sure enough, it's a bar that is in an old church building. It's a pretty neat setup they've got, and the place looks more like a renovated barn than a church on the inside. The draft selection isn't too bad, I didn't count while I was there but I remember there being around 20 taps. The selection was the best I'd seen all week, there was Lagunita IPA, Schlafly Christmas, McSorley's Black and a lot more taps, at least three of which were ciders. There was a cooler with several Smokestack bottles and some of the Schlafly 750s as well as Duvel and some other import bottles. I had a Schlafly Christmas and then got a big bottle of Biere de Garde before I realized I was drinking in an old church with a guy I met on the internet and headed back to civilization.

151st and Metcalf isn't exactly a destination for most folks, and I doubt I'd make the drive that often when there are other bars a lot closer to me, but Lewellyn's was pretty cool. It was definitely different... Next time I've had my fill of drinking $7 beers in Westport or in a strip mall in the suburbs I'll gladly make the trip to Lewellyn's for a change of pace. The same goes for All Star Pizza and The Tap Room, their selections aren't as broad as the Foundry or Flying Saucer but it's nice to know there are alternatives out there in parts KC that'd I'd written off as craft beer deserts.

Know of any smaller, lesser known bars or restaurants that have a tap or bottle list worth mentioning? Leave a comment and let us know.

A Night in Wichita

The Vard family traveled to my hometown of Wichita for the Thanksgiving holiday. We got down there Wednesday afternoon and set up camp at my parents' house. After dinner with my parents at a Greek/Mediterranean restaurant called Adrian's (good not great, they were a little heavy handed with the mint on my braised lamb shank, but my mom's pork loin was great), not to be confused with the Adrian's in Overland Park. As we ate dinner the cold hit Wichita. The temperature, which was mid 60's when we hit the city limits dropped into the 40's in the time we were eating. We froze most of the way back to my parents' house listening to Mike Kennedy call the WSU vs. Virginia basketball game on the radio. We watched the rest of the basketball game while the kids played with all of the toys from my youth and once the game was over, Stella and I left my parents to put the kids to bed because we were going out for a night in Wichita.

We headed first to The Anchor, Wichita's beer bar. I didn't say best or use any other modifier because, to my knowledge, The Anchor is the only beer bar in town. Anchor has 48 taps, soon to be 60, with many more bottles. It's located just outside of the bar district in town, Old Town, by the tattoo parlors and across from the drunk QuikTrip (I call it the drunk QT because it's literally across the street from Old Town and is full of drunks from midnight to 2 am). It reminds me of Harry's Country Club without the roadhouse schtick, maybe a Harry's Country Club if placed on Metropolitan in KCK.

We quickly found a seat along the wall and had a waiter on us immediately. He brought us a food and beer menu and left us alone. The beer menu was printed on unlaminated sheets of paper, presumably from Word, with beer names and lengthy descriptions of each. The beers were separated into styles. I quickly found the saison section and chose Big Sky Elephant Rock Imperial Saison, which I had never heard of and obviously knew nothing about. Stella decided on a simple Nutcracker on tap. Of the 48 taps, only about 5 of them were something out of the ordinary. But, for Wichita, having those 5 beers on tap would definitely make the Anchor a destination. We placed our order with a waitress different than the waiter who brought us the menu. She seemed shocked that we weren't going to eat anything.

While we were waiting for our beers to arrive another waiter, different than the other 2 asked us if we were going to order food. We told him no and he took away our menus, including the beer one. I went to Untappd on my phone to log my beer and was surprised that it wasn't on there, so I added it, but I either misremembered the name or the menu was wrong. I logged it as Slow Elk which is really Big Sky's Imperial Stout. I'll never know if my memory is faulty or the menu was wrong. It doesn't really matter though because I really enjoyed the Elephant Rock. It was sweeter than most saisons and did pack a punch at 11% ABV. It almost had a shandy quality to it with the lemon flavor, but it was much better than any shandy I'll ever drink.

Unfortunately for us, the wind coming from the north was blowing straight in through the door every time it opened which had the effect of lowering the temperature at our table 20 degrees and blew the smell of the food at the table next to us right into our noses. We were all of a sudden cold and hungry and really hoping no one else would enter the bar.  We drank our beers pretty quickly to escape the cold which was a shame because The Anchor was a pretty great place. Had we known the back room existed we may have stayed for another beer.

Next up was my favorite bar in Kansas, Mort's. Mort's was only a block north of The Anchor and our parking place, but the north wind was so cold that we opted to drive the block. Mort's started out as and could probably still be described as a cigar bar. They sell cigars, but no one was smoking them on this night. Mort's should more accurately be described as a martini bar and, by far, the best one in Kansas. We found a seat away from the main door but right by the other door. Mort's is a very small place, probably an indoor capacity of 50. They have a pretty big patio which could probably seat another 50 and on a summer weekend night a seat could not be found. But, on a cold Wednesday in November the indoor part was only half full including a one man guitar band.

The martini menu is extensive with probably over 100 concoctions. These aren't highbrow martinis in most cases. Many of them utilize Apple Pucker, Goldschlager and the like. But, they are cheap, barely a martini over $7 and on this night a whole section of martinis, The Walk on the Wild Side ones, were $2 off making each of them around $4. If Mort's had an online martini menu I could tell you what we had for the first round, but they don't and it probably doesn't matter. They were both wonderful, although Stella's tasted like Kool-Aid.

Mort's also has popcorn that you can serve yourself. The star of the popcorn is the jalapeno seasoned popcorn. Stella mixes it with the regular (which is a basic movie theater style popcorn) because it's a little hot. I like the jalapeno straight up, it has a sweetness you wouldn't expect, but it does get a little hot. We must have eaten 8 trays of the stuff.

For our second round I had the martini I have cloned in the Bar du Vard, a concoction called Kentucky Martini. I make it with equal parts Maker's Mark and Amaretto di Saronna. The actual recipe is unknown to me, but my version is just as good as the Mort's version. The one man guitar band was playing songs like "Linger" and its ilk from the 90's. It seemed as if nothing about Mort's had changed since I spent nearly every weekend there in the late 90's. Even the prices remained the same as our tab was $20 even for 4 martinis and all the popcorn we could eat.

I don't know if a better time can be had in Wichita. I'm no longer an authority on Wichita. But, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better 2 bars in town within walking distance of each other and quality drinks. If you ever find yourself stuck in Wichita for an evening or weekend, The Anchor and Mort's shouldn't be missed.

Brew Masters Tonight

Set your DVR's for the premiere of "Brew Masters" on Discovery tonight at 9. The show will be about craft beer and will follow Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head, around as he travels around drinking beer and stuff. You caught me, I don't have any idea what the show is going to be about other than beer and Sam. It should be entertaining for those of us with an interest in beer, since you're reading this I assume you're in that club.

Speaking of Dogfish Head, I had some Festina Peche from Dogfish Head the other night. It's a peach beer that's real light and would be perfect in the summer. Well, it'd be perfect if I liked it a lot, but I didn't. The peach flavor is there but not that pleasant. As the beer warmed it got a little better, but nothing I'm going to want to buy again. I love Dogfish Head and all their beers deserve a taste.But, there's a definite risk you're not going to like it. I've run into that with Midas Touch and I look forward to running into not liking another one, I'm looking at you Aprihop. While you may not love all their offerings, they're all well made and deserve to be tried.

Frambozen

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. New Belgium Frambozen has once again reached Kansas City, Missouri. The annual struggle to actually be able to buy enough to get through Christmas has begun. I know where 4 cases are at this time that I will reveal in comments once I've secured my year's bounty of raspberry brown ale. Please follow suit and leave in comments where you found yours.

Rock Bottom Biersch

Rock Bottom Brewery and Gordon-Biersch Brewery have combined to become Craftworks. There should be no change in branding of any of the restaurants already in existence. This makes Craftworks the largest operator of brewpub and craft beer focused restaurants.

To be honest, I don't think this is going to be a big deal to anyone. I'm just using the news to reiterate my wish for a Rock Bottom Brewery in town. We have a shortage of brewpubs in town with just Gordon Biersch, 75th Street, McCoy's, Granite City and Amerisports. Only 2 of those are locally owned and having another chain isn't going to make many craft beer drinkers happy but it will provide more choice.

Granite City, Amerisports and Gordon Biersch don't ever do any kind of outreach to the craft beer enthusiasts, aside from tapping new seasonal beers. You can live near one of these breweries and never hear anything about them. But, Rock Bottom reaches out to homebrewers and craft beer enthusiasts by holding special beer events for each. Maybe Gordon Biersch will learn from Rock Bottom and start doing a little something other than their seasonal tappings to generate enthusiasm for craft beer. Maybe not.

Rock Bottom has multiple seasonals so they have many tappings throughout the year. They have more selection of beers than the other chains that are in town. They're just a more interesting brewpub than the other 3 brands. I wouldn't mind if one of the Old Chicagos in town changed to a Rock Bottom. Better yet, though, I'd like to have one built in downtown Overland Park. Let's get this done.

Beering Kansas City

If you don't follow me on Twitter or missed my tweet this morning, KC Beer Blog is changing its name to Beering Kansas City for today in honor of Sporting Kansas City. We'll change it back tomorrow. If you're coming here for soccer related content I only have one thing for you, the Wizards if they were beers.

Black Tie Event

Most of Kansas City set out this evening to celebrate the 21st Anniversary of Boulevard's initial voyage to Ponak's. While my original intentions involved some 21st Anniversary Fresh Hop in a commemorative pint glass at the Flying Saucer, things took a much more formal tone as the night went on.

You see, when you grow an epic Movember moustache and hang out with Kansas City's infamous bare-back brothers, you can't help but end up with some of the best beers in the world on your table. You may see the price tag on a beer like this and scoff. As someone who dropped money on a bottle of Utopias, I was reluctant to have anything to do with this beer. As someone who hates barrel-aged beers, I was ready to write this off completely. For the love of god, find this beer and get it into your body as soon as humanly possible.

The official description of Mikkeller Black Tie is an imperial stout brewed with honey and aged in scotch barrels. At just around 11%, it will almost get you to the Four Loko zone. It's the type of beer that causes a man to stop drinking for the night because nothing else can compete. Drinking Mikkeller Black Tie is a lot like going to high school prom. It's a strapping young male. You're looking to have a magical night while not coming off like too much of a whore. Then it just happens. You lock lips and know you are about to be ruined.

Caffeine's Code Red

We're flirting with danger here. Somebody's going to get hurt. Grandstanding politicians like Chuck Schumer are going to trample someone who's only mistake was getting between him, his soapbox and a camera. It doesn't matter if the cause is a seemingly good one or a bad one, Schumer (or one of his colleagues) is going to hurt someone soon

How do we stop this scourge of politicians getting in the way of the citizens living their lives? Take responsibility for your life. If someone does something you don't like, but causes you no harm, ignore them. If someone says something you don't like, ignore them. If someone eats something you think is bad for them, it doesn't affect you. If someone drinks something you think shouldn't be drank, well, that seems like their problem. Don't run to the government to stop them. In fact, defend them from government action. If you don't, someone's going to get hurt.

Today, it's a Four Loko ban. Maybe tomorrow it will be Jack and Coke, Maybe the next day it will be your morning coffee. Once the politicians get their hooks in demagoguery, it's difficult, nay impossible, for them to stop demagoguing, whether the demagoguery is real. Have you flown lately? It's easier to get into prison than it is to get on an airplane. Does this make us safer? No. What is the purpose? To make politicians and lobbyists rich. It doesn't matter if thousands of people have to have their junk touched or penetrated by x-rays, politicians are getting their beaks wet.

That's why it's up to you, on this 21st birthday of Boulevard, to stand up and say no. Stand up and say you'll take a miniscule risk that a terrorist attack will happen. Stand up and say you think people should be able to drink Four Loko. Stand up and say The Dude should be able to buy weed at Walgreen's. Stand up and say, Fred Phelps and his clan sure are dumber than a bag of dicks but letting them speak only hurts them. Stand up and say it's okay for your neighbor to eat a Double Down for lunch and a Hardee's Thickburger for dinner. Because if you don't, the politicians are going to get you.

Cheers to 21 Years

Kansas City's better beer bars, restaurants and other Boulevard accounts are going to be toasting to the brewery's 21st Anniversary tonight at 10 p.m. Some venues, such as Swagger, already have a keg of the fresh hop anniversary Pale Ale on tap. Boulevard sent some commemorative 21st anniversary pint glasses out with the fresh hop kegs so you can toast in style.

If you weren't able to find a bottle of the semi-rare 21st Anniversary Fresh Hop Pale Ale last week, this might be your last chance to get some (assuming the kegs go as fast as the bottles). It might also be your last chance to get Schlafly Coffee Stout (on tap at the Saucer) before the FDA bans it...

Blanc Burgers* on the Plaza, Swagger in Waldo, Harpo's in Westport** and Flying Saucer in Power and Light are all toasting to Boulevard at 10pm tonight. I'd assume Barley's in Overland Park will have a keg as well but I was unable to confirm one way or the other.

*Sorry folks, bottles only at Blanc.

**Not sure if this is a keg or just bottles... I just know they're having a "21st Anniversary tasting" at 10pm

Where will you be toasting to Boulevard's 21st Birthday? Leave a comment below and let us know if there are any other tasting parties going on around KC.

Deschutes in Missouri Soon?

Ahh, intrigue. The story goes, a Deschutes sales rep was enjoying a pint at a beer bar in St. Louis, the International Tap House in Soulard. The rep then left behind a business card on which he had written "Coming to Missouri soon!". And yes, he did actually use the exclamation mark.

A picture of this business card immediately found its way onto Twitter along with rampant speculation about when it would show up. The official word from Deschutes, as reported by Evan Benn of STLToday.com, is "'We are planning on expanding your way, but there is no date set yet.". So there you go.

Since a brewer to brewer collaboration with Steven Pauwels of Boulevard and the head brewer of Deschutes is widely rumored and likely to come out in 2011, distribution to Missouri would be a nice bit of synergy with the collaboration. Not that Deschutes needs much extra publicity when coming into Missouri, because it's wonderful and well known brewery. It will be a welcome change to go to a Missouri liquor store and be able to purchase some Black Butte Porter or Obsidian Stout.

Gents 10 - Showdown: Bell's v. Breckenridge

I saw the case being wheeled across the floor of McCoy's into the Cigar Room where we were standing around finishing up the KC Gents meeting. We didn't know what to expect and when it was opened, we immediately knew what was in the case in "Pulp Fiction".

We started off the tenth meeting of Gents, the one with the most participants yet, with a sub meeting at The Riot Room. I hadn't actually been there since it was the Hurricane and that was 15 years ago so I can't tell you what changed. But, the taps have definitely changed. The bar is a circle of greatness requiring you to walk all the way around it t decide what you want. I went with Founders Breakfast Stout. But, I could have had Schlafly Biere de Garde, Avery Maharaja or New Belgium Sahti or any number of great beers. Chimpotle, McCoy, Paul A. Ner and Yeti were already there and enjoying various great beers. When Duff showed up a couple of minutes after me we were the only 6 people in the place at 6:30. They had a local show at 9 so no one had shown up yet. We basically had the place to ourselves, it was almost like we were the gang in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and we acted as such.

After our beers were finished we made our way to our reserved room, the Cigar Room, at McCoy's where JJSKCK, Nate and Ozbrau were already waiting. We ordered dinner and rod_leviathan and Danner showed up. I had the chicken fried steak special which was $7.99 and simply wonderful. It really hit the spot. A favorite among the gathered Gents was the fish and chips, at least 5 people ordered that. Sadly, I think 3 people had the chicken fingers, which are apparently delicious, but, for me, seem like child food. Then the showdown started; Breckenridge v. Bells.

The Scores
Bell's Two Hearted Ale 11 - Breckenridge Lucky U IPA 0 
Breckenridge Avalanche 7 - Bell's Amber 4
Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout 7 - Bell's Kalamazoo Stout 4
Bell's Porter 9 - Breckenridge Vanilla Porter 2
Bell's 25th Anniversary 7 - Breckenridge After Rakin' Autumn 4


The issue was still nominally in doubt before we got to the big beer matchup. Of course we didn't know that at the time because we were tasting these things blind. We had a pretty good idea that it was Two Hearted that went unanimous and the porter's were easily distinguished. The vanilla in the Breckenridge was really flavor forward and everyone agreed it was a good porter, but only Paul A. Ner and  me voted for it. When the beers were named many in the room were surprised that Avalanche beat Bell's Amber pretty soundly. There was a time in the late '90's that Breckenridge Avalanche was my favorite beer, back before I liked IPA's or had that many different styles of beer. I still like it and look forward to a blind tasting of Avalanche v. Boulevard Amber.

Bell's Hopslam 11 - Breckenridge Small Batch 471 0
This is certainly not an indictment of Small Batch 471, it just went against one of the best beers in the world. This matchup is analogous to the best tennis player you know facing Roger Federer. Your guy doesn't have a chance. Small Batch 471 is your guy. The only problem is 471 costs pretty close to the same thing as Hopslam . If you ever have a choice between the two (and you won't except for 2 weeks out of the year) you're a fool if you pick the Small Batch 471.

Bell's was the big winner of the showdown 5 -2 (57 votes to 20). Bell's was a pretty safe bet to win this one, but that's what we thought about Great Divide v. Schlafly. That's why we play the game.

Then we broke out the big beers and out of market beers. We had some Odell Deconstruction which Paul A. Ner highly recommended and I must agree with his assessment. That was phenomenal. Bell's 9000, though, was my favorite of the night. Nate said it reminded him of Raison d'Extra from Dogfish Head. I'd never had the Raison d'Extra but I love Raison d'Etre and I could definitely taste that flavor in the Bell's 9000. I'd love to have some of that on hand at all times. Danner brought some Van Twee, a collaboration between Bell's and DeProef. Van Twee is a Belgian dark ale which has a little bit of the Belgian farm funk with some cherry and heavy malt flavor. Just great. We also had some Boulevard Dubbel, a test brew from Boulevard, that had a real heavy licorice flavor. Dark Truth was passed around as well as a Bourbon Barrel Quad (which seems to be the official beer of Gents, it's made an appearance at nearly every one of our gatherings). Danner even brought me a Danner Nutcracker and I was heartbroken later when I found that someone drank it. We mixed up a batch of Gents Kollaboration #3 which tasted like a chocolate ale, it was really quite good. I wish we'd have written down the recipe.

Gents Kollaboration #3

Then Eans showed up with a bottle of '09 Harvest Dance that was simply wonderful. It was a lot better with the year of aging. I kind of can't wait to open mine up at Thanksgiving. I had a generous pour of Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron which isn't my favorite Dogfish Head Beer, but it's a nice example of a pretty good wood aged beer. Midas Touch also touched some glasses, but not mine because I'm not a fan. Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard made an appearance, I don't think I got a taste.

JJSKCK's traditional order of milk and cookies

Then Fancypantsbeer showed up. He was just getting into town from Chicago and he sat and talked with us awhile. I lost track of where he was and next thing I know, I see him pulling his suitcase across the floor of McCoy's towards us. We all gathered around to see what he had. And then we saw inside, loaded like guns in foam with bottle cutouts, Mikkeler Chipotle Porter, Goose Island Night Stalker, Three Floyds Moloko Plus, Three Floyds BrooDoo and Hitachino Nest Nipponia. We only had a small segment of the Gents left and 5 bottles to drink. We got it done. The Chipotle Porter, which sounds pretty awful, was excellent with a nice little pepper and smoky flavor. I should have made a bigger effort to get some Night Stalker when it was available in town a couple of months ago. Three Floyds Moloko Plus was a simply fabulous milk stout. The Broo Doo, a harvest ale, makes the Breckenridge Harvest seem like a crime was committed. It's really a shame we don't have access to Three Floyds. Hitachino Nest Nipponia, yeah, I don't remember if I had it or not.

Being a part of this Gents must be what it's like to be John Mayer's wang. We had some of the best beers available in the US, like John Mayer's wang has been a part of some of the finest ladies in the US. I fear Gents 11.

BLVD 21st Anniversary Day

Today is the first day those of us in Boulevard's home market will be able to get our hands on Boulevard's 21st Anniversary Pale Ale. Folks in Iowa and other areas in Boulevard's distribution system have had this on shelves for a couple of weeks. But, sour grapes are just that..sour, so let's sweep them under the rug and focus on the 21st Anniversary Pale Ale. It's nice that Boulevard is entering the wet hop fray with Great Divide and Sierra Nevada. From the Boulevard website:

Boulevard 21st Anniversary Fresh Hop Pale Ale is brewed in loving tribute to our flagship Pale Ale. When Boulevard founder John McDonald first brewed Pale Ale back in 1989, it was considered edgy, even over-the-top, and consumed by only the most dedicated craft beer loyalists. Today, pale ales literally pale in comparison to the latest trend of “imperialized” beers that are bigger, bolder, and even more flavorful. Our brewmaster, Steven Pauwels, says he hopes that Boulevard’s 21st Anniversary offering will have the same effect on beer lovers that our original Pale Ale had two decades ago.

21st Anniversary Pale Ale should be priced at the limited edition pricing of $11-$14. If you find it for less be sure to tell everyone in the comments section or over on our Facebook page. Deliveries are going out this morning so you'll want to call your favorite local liquor store this afternoon to make sure they have it because you don't want to make an extra trip.

Why no extra trip? Because Boulevard Dark Truth in big bottle and Li'l Smokie size are being released on Tuesday. Dark Truth is one of my favorite stouts of the winter and you'll want to have some on hand to welcome in the cold weather we're sure to be in store for this winter.

Kudos to the beer connoisseur that pull out the weekly triple of drinking 21st Anniversary, Dark Truth and Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Tuesday at 7 PM.

KBS Kicks Off Waldo Pizza Cellar Series

Alright beer geeks and lovers of barrel aging, this one's for you. Waldo Pizza is starting a Waldo Pizza Cellar Series and to kick it off they will be tapping a keg of 2009 Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) they've been storing since last year. Because of the small number of taps at Waldo, they can't give a definite time for the tapping, just that they will tap it once their keg of Founders Backwoods Bastard is gone. That's right, they have Backwoods Bastard, which is bourbon barrel aged Dirty Bastard, a Scotch Ale, on tap right now. Priced at $4.95 for a 12 oz. goblet the Backwoods Bastard is quite a rare find in KC.

They are aiming to tap the KBS Monday night, but it is dependent on finishing the Backwoods Bastard. If you're in the Waldo area you might want to drop by today and tomorrow and have a goblet of Backwoods Bastard just to make sure they get it all drank so the KBS can be tapped at a reasonable hour. Then once the KBS is gone, regular Breakfast Stout, which I really enjoy, will be going on tap. While these barrel aged beers aren't my thing, I might be persuaded to join in the festivities tomorrow night if only to get some regular Breakfast Stout.

I look forward to more from the Waldo Pizza Cellar Series, let's get this one kicked off with a full house.

UPDATE: KBS will be tapped at 8PM tonight and will cost $7.95 per 12 oz. goblet.

Blood Into Wine

About a month ago I got an email from the world famous Wes Port. The email had no subject line just like every other email I've received from Wes and just contained one sentence "You've got to Netflix Blood Into Wine". After a quick perusal of what exactly "Blood and Wine" was I dutifully added it to my queue.

This perceptive documentary tells the unusual tale of Maynard James Keenan, the hard-rocking, eccentric front man of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer who abruptly left Los Angeles in the mid-1990s to start a world-class vineyard in Arizona. Aided by wine guru Eric Glomski, Maynard tills the unlikely soil of the Verde Valley despite scoffing from wine snobs and rock fans. Will Maynard's wine, named after his mother, pass the taste test?

 A movie about winemaking featuring a rock star (a very smart rock star) is a big win. It has a couple of comedy segments, a talk with Milla Jovovich, a bit with Bob Odenkirk and a quite funny wine tasting with Patton Oswalt. I devoured the whole DVD, watching all the deleted scenes including a great one about bottling wine following the entire process from barrel to bottle. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with Maynard and Eric talking about wine, farming and punk rock. I got a nice education about what it takes to grow grapes in Northern Arizona (lack of water is a feature not a bug) and turn those grapes into a drinkable wine. The whole thing was entertaining and informative.

Sour and Babb

It was a rare Saturday evening where I had some time to myself around dinnertime. Stella had taken the kids shopping and I was free to get some dinner on my own. I really wanted a burger but didn't have any cash for Shake Shack (every single bit of cash I've had in my pocket for the past 3 weeks has been spent at Shake Shack, they only take cash). So I plumbed the depths of my memory for someplace with a good burger that I could pick up and bring home. Then I remembered Kent Babb (Chiefs beat reporter for the Star) made a big deal a couple of weeks ago proclaiming the BBB burger (now named the Babb) from Coach's (103rd and Wornall) the best burger in town. He even had a second from my Twitter friend and poutine hound, Fancypantsbeer (he actually just proclaimed it a very good burger). So I decided I had to try it out.

This particular Saturday night was featuring the big Mizzou - OU football game. I wasn't going to sit in Coach's around all of those Mizzou fans for fear of being seen as one so I decided to get a to-go Babb. I called in the order from Royal Liquor down the street. I passed on the Shiner Holiday Cheer because I thought it was from last year and decided on the New Belgium La Folie thinking it might pair well with the Babb's bleu cheese.

I got the burger and beer home in a mere 10 minutes and quickly turned on the TV, took some pictures (the things I do for you people), got the beer poured and sat down for a dinner in front of the TV. The Babb was as good as advertised, not the best in town (Eans from Blanc can relax), but it's definitely the best you can find in a sports bar. If that's not high enough praise for you, I would put it above BRGR Kitchen but below Beer Kitchen and distantly behind Blanc. The bleu cheese was not sparse and covered the burger patty guaranteeing you a little bite of bleu cheese with each bite. The bacon was a little soggy (I'll blame that on the time it took to drive it home) but quite flavorful and really gave a nice salty taste to combat the bleu cheese. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium, was tender and flavorful. I really couldn't have asked for more.

Not only was the burger great, but I paired it perfectly with the La Folie, a sour brown. I was a little upset with the purchase because the 22 oz. bottle cost $13 and I would rather have a good number of beers for that price but in the interests of trying something new, I threw down the cash. I don't drink a lot of sour beers but I do kind of like them, Sofie being my favorite. La Folie was much more sour and drinking it felt like eating sour pop rocks. The carbonation sat on my tongue and popped and popped and popped, it was unlike any other drink I've experienced. I found it to be just a little too sour for my taste. Luckily, matched with the Babb's salty sour combo it was enjoyable but not my favorite thing. I'd much rather have a Sofie (but it has the advantage of being a sour saison instead of a sour red, maybe my style preference guides that). Your mileage may vary.

What I can recommend is the Babb and Coach's in general. I don't know of a sports bar in South KC that rivals Coach's for quality of food and number of TV's. Plus, it's the place to go to watch a Packers game and where I saw my favorite shirt of all time, "The Packers may suck but the Vikings swallow". Every time I think of that shirt, I get a warm place in my heart for Coach's and now whenever I have a bleu cheese burger I will inevitably compare it to the Babb from Coach's.

Holiday Cheer

This is truly the best time of year for beer. In all the hubbub over Nutcracker's release I missed that one of my other favorite winter seasonals was released, Shiner Holiday Cheer. I actually saw it a couple of weeks ago at a store I don't trust and thought it was left over from last year. But, Royal Liquor had it out the Friday before last. I found some this week at Tipsy's and brought it home.

It was just as good as I remembered. The peach flavor is there, but not overpowering. The pecan adds just the right amount of nutty flavor. I just really love it. It's a nice alternative to the heavy malt flavor your going to find in nearly every other winter seasonal and may be the perfect beer for a warmer winter afternoon. Plus, you can probably find it for $6.99/sixer like most other Shiner beers. You may also be able to find Holiday Cheer on tap around town, I know Barley's in Overland Park has it. Holiday Cheer is my favorite Shiner of the year, give it a try, I'll bet it's yours too.

Little Smokies Day

It's election day and things are going to change around KC. That's right, you'll be able to drink your Boulevard Smokestack beers 12 ounces at a time. 4 packs of Smokestack beers are hitting store shelves all around the KC area today. You can get Double Wide, Tank 7 and Sixth Glass in the new, drinking friendly 12 oz. 4 packs.

Go pick some up after you vote and get ready to drink as you're watching election night coverage. Pop one open as the polls close on the east coast and the Republican landslide begins (make sure you comment below where you got yours and what you paid). Depending on which party is your home team you'll probably want to drink every time Christine O'Donnell is mentioned. If you can make it long enough for the west coast returns you'll probably need another 4 pack to find out if weed is finally legalized in California or if we'll have new congressional leadership with the ouster of Harry Reid and Republican control of the House. Much drinking will ensue tonight, so make it 12 ounces of Smokestack magic at a time. You'll be participating in more change than the election today will bring.