Stone 15

Stone's 15th Anniversary beer, Escondinian Imperial Black IPA has made its way to Kansas City's shores. It won't be in retail stores (only in Missouri) until at least tomorrow, but probably Friday. There's not going to be much to go around and for a greater than 10% ABV bottle that retails around $6 demand shall be high. Plan accordingly.

This is KC's first shot at a Stone anniversary beer (unless the 14th anniversary beer was around for Stone week). Every year Stone produces a one time beer to celebrate their anniversary and this year they've made it an imperial black IPA. At over 10% ABV it might be one of the biggest beers they've made and should definitely be worth getting your hands on.

Stone 15 will also be available on draft over the next month or so. Restaurants and bars will be holding special tapping events in most cases so keep your radar up to find out where and when. As always, leave comments, Twitter me, OnTap it, post on the KC Beer Blog Facebook page, post it on your favorite crocheting message board, whatever, to get word out where you see the Stone 15. Your fellow beer travellers appreciate it.

Nebraska in KC

Nebraska Brewing is soon (as in this week) to be available in Big 12 country, Kansas City. A limited, but still great, selection of brews will be on shelves here (on the Missouri side) by week's end hopefully. Infinite Wit, IPA and Hop God beers can soon be purchased at your favorite Missouri side liquor store with Wick for Brains Pumpkin Ale on the way soon. This is a good day. I'll update this when I have some more information.

Update 1: It appears the first 3 beers are only in kegs so no bottles for now...but soon.

Update 2: Kegs probably won't be in bars until next week. Beer Kitchen may be the first to tap one.

Update 3: Bottles won't be available for at least a couple of weeks.

Tour de BBQ Fun

You're signed up for the Tour de BBQ aren't you? Wait, you're not? You know you want to be. Would you rather sign up while drinking a Boulevard? Well now you can. Tonight at Bike Source in the Ranchmart location (95th and Mission) the Tour de BBQ is holding a registration/get your bike fixed up party with Boulevard giving away some beer. The get-together goes from 5:30 - 7:30 and is a great opportunity for you to get signed up.

Lips Tasting

New Belgium has really turned a corner with me. I dislike nearly 100% of their regular six packs, but really enjoy most of the Lips of Faith beers especially the newest ones. The best thing about the Lips of Faith series is that they produce enough of each one that I can go to the store right now to get any one of them (excepting Oh La La). We get so wrapped up in buying all the limited release things that come out we (at least I) lose track of the beers that are always in the stores.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 7 Barley's in Shawnee is having a New Belgium Lips of Faith beer tasting for $12. The Abbey Super Cru, Super Cru, 10/10/10 Metric Ale, Oh La La, Le Terroir and Belgo IPA will be available for sampling. Also, a New Belgium representative will be there talking about the beers and he may have a Lips of Faith beer that has yet to be released in KC. This seems like a pretty good event where you can find a great beer you can pick up from the store whenever you want.

Nommo Day

Today's the day that Boulevard Nommo Dubbel will be hitting store shelves in KC. Nommo should be widely available and not difficult to find, so don't panic, it will be around for a while. It should cost the same as Tank 7 or other regular Smokestack brews.

Nommo appears to be a little controversial. I loved it and really look forward to going out and getting some today. I haven't had it on tap though, and I've heard it's not that great on tap. I'm interested in seeing if I'm just an outlier, or it's bad on tap or it's great in the bottle or somewhere in between. In any case, I like it in the bottle so I'll be fine.

Tailgating at RJ's

Like the Chiefs? Don't have tickets to the game or want to watch a road game with like minded Chiefs fans? RJ's Bob-be-que in Mission has a great deal for gamedays starting with the last exhibition game this Thursday. $25 gets you 5 drink tickets (update: this includes all bottles, draws and well drinks; on tap will be Free State, Sam Adams and Spaten Octoberfests as well as Boulevard Wheat and Boston Lager) plus a buffet with chips and dips, hot dogs, burgers, ribs, wings and sides and a good seat for the Chiefs game on the RJ's patio.

RJ's is one of my favorite places in town namely because it's pretty close to my house and they have very good barbecue, it's my chosen neighborhood bar. $25 for 5 beers and all you can eat ribs and wings during a football game is a great deal. RJ's also has a pretty good beer selection so you're not going to be forced to choke down Bud Light or Miller Lite. You'll be able to watch the Chiefs with some Free State on tap, Boulevard and Tallgrass. The bottled beer selection, while not wide ranging, is certainly more extensive than any other barbecue restaurant in town and more extensive than can typically be found in Mission (though I've heard the new bar in the former JJ's Other Place spot, Sully's, is trying to be a little more beer centric than its predecessor). 

I'm not sure if this is the best deal in town, but it does seem really cheap for the amount of beer and all you can eat ribs (and really good ribs at that). If you know of any Chiefs gameday specials that rival this leave it in comments. The RJ's tailgate parties start 1 hour before game time.

The Bullock of Beers - Boulevard Nommo Dubbel

I don't usually read other reviews of beers before I write one but I couldn't help it this time. I was holding my bottle an extra day to drink during my fantasy football draft. In the meantime, Drunk Monkey and Flenker each posted their reviews. Since we all got our bottles from the same place and didn't pay for them I could tell they were tiptoeing around saying they didn't love the Nommo. After having many different iterations of the Boulevard Dubbel over the past year that I didn't enjoy, I was ready to write this post comparing it to bad decisions I made in my fantasy football draft last year and how bad decisions result in bad products (and I had a bad fantasy football team last year). But, actually drinking the Nommo Dubbel changed all that.

B4TW - Lagunitas IPA

We missed the beer for the weekend last Friday because of a power outage at the Bull E. Vard mansion. I hope you were able to decide upon something for yourself. This week, in honor of a great meal and time last night, Lagunitas IPA is the beer for the weekend.

IPA is the number 1 IPA in California, it's the number 1 IPA in Chicago, there's no reason it shouldn't be the number 1 IPA in KC or at least number 2 behind Boulevard Single Wide. The Lagunitas flagship beer isn't a hop toothpaste type of IPA, it actually features the hop in it's most attractive light rather than just beating you in the mouth with hops. It's probably a little too easy to drink as a full six pack goes down pretty easy but leaves the chance of you sleeping in your front yard because you took a wrong turn in your house.

IPA will be on tap tonight in the Power and Light Beer Garden (as well as Undercover Shutdown, Lucky 13 and Hairy Eyeball). It's also available at nearly every liquor store in the KC metro area so it shouldn't be that hard to find.

Lagunitas Night

Have you ever seen the movie "Big Night"? In it a pair of brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) own a little Italian restaurant in 1950's America. The restaurant struggles because the brothers (immigrants from Italy) are trying to be true to their Italian heritage. To create buzz for the restaurant they invite Louie Prima for an evening, they shut down the restaurant and have the greatest meal and party they can throw. It's a tremendous movie, you'll end up really craving wine and Italian food.

Sean talking about Lagunitas

Last night's Lagunitas beer dinner at Blanc was just like "Big Night" only with Lagunitas as Louie Prima (who actually showed up in the Blanc version) and Tom Selleck as the chef and a much better looking group of people dining (this is not hyperbole, with the exception of Nate and myself, this was an astoundingly good looking group of people).

We started out in the bar area at Blanc with some Lagunitas IPA and hors d'oeuvre of a slice of cucumber with some sort of peppadew aoili or jam on it. This was the only thing the entire evening I didn't eat. The IPA, of course, was wonderful. I talked with Nate from KC Brew Review and his sweaty friend and met Sean the Lagunitas rep who served as our host for the night as well as some other beer industry folk from around town.

Lagunitas Live

Tonight is Lagunitas night in the Power & Light beer garden. You can get $2 draws of Lagunitas beers and meet with Sean from Lagunitas to talk about everyone's favorite beer, Lagunitas. I met Sean last night at the Blanc and Lagunitas beer dinner (more on that later). Some suggested topics of conversation with Sean; the difference between peach and salmon, Minnesota things and fantasy football. Or you could just talk about Lagunitas, he's full of stories about how Little Sumpin' Sumpin' was named, the story of Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale or the story of Kronik or other stories, he knows 'em. He's also a fan of hand drawn Lagunitas dogs.

The events start at 4, come for the Lagunitas, stay for Survivor (the band, they still exist...they have instruments and everything). You'll be excused if you want to cut out after some Lagunitas to catch the Chiefs game. If you get there early enough you may be able to score a tasting glass and tasting notepad and some free samples.

Samuel Harvest

First the Octoberfest beers hit, then came the pumpkin beers, now you can get 2 great tastes in 1..variety pack that is. That's right, it's time once again for the Sam Adams Fall Harvest Variety Pack to hit store shelves in KC. All around KC retailers will be wondering what to do with their old Summer variety packs to make room for the Fall packs.

A new beer is included in the Fall pack this year replacing the surprisingly great Dunkelweizen. Bonfire Rauchbier really takes a variety pack I want to buy anyway into one I'm going to have to get immediately. Hardly anyone does a rauchbier, which is a beer made with smoked malts giving the finished beer a great smoky taste. It's really a shame more rauchbier's aren't around because they go great with barbecue. It's time to renew my request (stolen from John from the Wort Hog blog) for Boulevard to make a smoked wheat beer collaboration with one of our great barbecue restaurants. Danny Edwards is just down the street and is on the Boulevard so it would be an ideal partner, the Danny Edwards Boulevard Wheat Rauchbier, who wouldn't want that?

Back to Sam Adams, Octoberfest, perhaps the finest Sam Adams beer and perhaps the best American made marzen, is also included in the variety pack. The Harvest Pumpkin that was new last year, and very good, is also in the pack. Then to round out the pack is the Black Lager, Irish Red and Boston Lager, not a stinker in the bunch. Missouri is probably your best bet to find the Harvest Variety Pack this weekend, but it will be a mainstay in stores through October so you'll have plenty of shots, but give it a shot, the Rauchbier may be worth it.

Life and Limb Day

We don't get many chances to get Dogfish Head beers around here so you've got to jump on the chance when it arises. It has arisen. The much ballyhooed release of Life and Limb 2 is upon us and bottles are appearing on liquor store shelves this very afternoon.

For those that don't know, Life and Limb is a collaboration between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada hence the distribution to these parts. It's a strong ale brewed with maple syrup from Sam Calagione's family farm and barley grown at the Sierra Nevada brewery and was very well received last year when it came around. They made it in greater quantities this year so it's a little more available but it's still going to go fast. If you're interested, Gomer's South and Royal on State Line have sounded the trombone that they have it. The other usual suspects should be getting it today as well.

If you miss out on it today, several kegs have been popping up around town, those will eventually be tapped so keep an eye out. I know that Blanc will be having one as part of their rare beer Wednesdays and I'm sure The Flying Saucer will have it as part of their rare beer Thursdays.

75th Street 18th Anniversary

I dare say that 75th Street Brewery was the first brewpub I ever visited as a legal drinker. It could have been Westport Brewing Company (now McCoy's) or River City Brewing Company in Wichita but let's just say that it was, okay. From back in the archives here's how I describe my first time at 75th Street.

The time; 1995, when round glasses were cool, the Dow was at 4000 and 60 HR was unthinkable. A couple of days after a beer goggles moment in my 22 year old life, I got drunk. A friend and I spent the day drinking at Tanner's on 87th Street. I walked home about 5 and my roommate was home and raring to go to the bars with his buddies from his work. Dinner was set to be at 75th Street Brewery. To say I was hammered would be an understatement, I weighed 140 pounds and I'd had at least 6 20 oz beers at Tanners.

My roommate, of course, drove us to 75th Street Brewery. As we arrived, the beer goggles girl arrived with her roommate who worked with my roommate (hence the original hookup). I was forced to explain to my reasons for not calling in the past couple of days in the back parking lot of the brewery. I have no idea what my sweet tongue was able to come up with but for the rest of the evening my drunken hookup was attached to my side.

I don't remember much of the meal we had at 75th Street, but I do remember my roommate's coworkers forced as much bread upon me as the kitchen could bake up. I also remember using a lot A LOT of butter on the bread. I'm sure I got up to 141 pounds that evening.

Sadly, I don't remember much of my time at 75th Street on my initial visit. Later in the evening we went to Kelly's and I stood right at the ramp to go down to the lower level holding hands with my mistaken hookup.

Looking back now it seems like such a long time ago, in my case 16 years, but it's actually been there 18 this week. To celebrate their 18th anniversary they're having a special every night this week.

It looks like tonight and Friday night are the nights to be there. Tonight they're opening some Barrel Betty, a spiced Belgian Dubbel aged in oak pinot barrels with Brettanomyces which they're calling a sour brunette. While it sounds funny, it makes perfect sense since the beer garden is called the alley, but they're offering free tastes of Barrel Betty in the alley.

Friday night they're tapping a firkin of the combo of Summit St. IPA and Good Hope IPA dry hopped with some more Tomahawk hops. As they put it "2 beers enter, 1 comes out...it's the Thunderdome". I'm down for any firkins but this one sounds especially appealing even though I'm not a big fan of one of the Good Hope IPA.

The other nights sound like pretty good events as well, but Thursday night everyone's going to be at Blanc for the Lagunitas beer dinner, right? Now nod your head. I'll wait while you make your reservation...Okay, so if you were too late to get a reservation, Thursday night will mark the release of some rare bottles the likes of which you can find only at the better beer bars in town. Going forward, 75th Street Brewery will be a place where you can find some of the rare beer releases to hit KC.

Click on the poster for more info on the other nights. 75th Street can make some good beers, this will be a great week to give them some support.

Nice Glass

By all means, if you spend over $10 for a beer (let's call these destination beers), use an appropriate glass for the style. You deserve to enjoy the beer in the glassware that serves that beer the best. And when you go to a beer bar, or any bar for that matter that serves great beers, it's good to expect that your beer is served in the proper glassware. But, when you're at home and you're drinking  your favorite session beer, does your beer glass matter?

An article "Does Your Beer Glass Matter?" appears in the Scientific American blog, Anthropology in Practice (h/t to Brookston Beer Bulletin). The article doesn't really answer that question, but it does explain some of the historical shifts in beer glass and earthenware from animal skins to the Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass and is quite an interesting read.

Ciders at The Foundry

When Stella went to Hop Fest, she discovered the ciders from Crispin and Fox Barrel. This was pretty much the highlight of Hop Fest for her. I rarely, if ever, drink a cider, there's just too many beers to try. But, I enjoy them for the most part and I really appreciate what Crispin is doing to expand the category a little bit. On that note, they're having an event at The Foundry tomorrow night (Tuesday the 23rd) starting at 4. They'll have 2 rare ciders, the Crispin Joan of Arc and the Fox Barrel Maid of Orleans (apple and pear ciders respectively, aged in Sauvignon Blanc barrels) as well as the basic Crispin Apple and Fox Barrel Pear ciders on tap. Flights of all 4 or snifters and tasters of each will be available.

If you're interested in trying some good ciders this is the event for you. A flight of all 4 for $12 will get you a pretty good feel for ciders and maybe you'll become a fan.

Beer Consolidation

I ran across this article on Mother Jones about the number of breweries and brands on the market. We all know that number of breweries in the US is skyrocketing. It seems a new one opens up in St. Louis every other week which I think is also going to happen in KC over the next couple of years. This is all a great thing, I can't wait to drink Wilderness, Fountainhead (pineapple blonde ale, yes please) and Belton Brewing beers.

Click here to enlarge

But, also noted is the loss of market share for the macros. Their business doesn't much concern me, I'm always amused that some of their brands like Bud Ice Light and Bud Dry exist since I never look at that section of the liquor store. We've had some controversy over the fake craft segment with beers like Shock Top and Blue Moon. These beers account for a very small portion of BMC's (Bud, Miller, Coors) sales but require an awful lot of their bandwidth as they are the only segments BMC can grow.

Platoon 2 - Gents at Blanc

The first casualty of Gents is innocence.

Somebody once wrote: "Hell is the impossibility of reason." That's what the Plaza feels like. Hell. Our only hope was to survive the impossibility of reason that is the Plaza. I didn't know what we would do or what would happen if we encountered the violence that is a 13 year old kid unaccompanied by a parent on the Plaza. Would we run, would we die, would nothing happen? Anything was possible.

Blanc was our LZ, the safest place in the most dangerous part of the city. We were all still scared, I didn't know what was right or wrong anymore. The morale of the Gents was low, a civil war in the group. Half the men with Eans, half with Chimpotle. There was a lot of suspicion and hate. I couldn't believe we were fighting each other, when we should be fighting 15 year olds.

The Conflux has Landed

Deschutes' version of the White IPA collaboration with Boulevard, Conflux #2, has made it to KC. Deschutes leaked word of it's arrival here on Twitter last night. I speculated when the Collaboration #2 and Conflux #2 were released that Deschutes would use the Conflux #2 as part of Deschutes' arrival into Missouri and it looks like that is coming true. I have no word on when Conflux #2 is actually going to be in stores, but stay tuned, it will be soon. When it does hit store shelves, you'll want to buy it, all of it that you can because, while Boulevard's version is good, Deschutes' version is great.

Blanc's Beery Good

Almost a month ago I wrote about Blanc's Vision Quest to become a great beer destination as well as the best place for a burger. It looks like they've made weight now, announcing a Lagunitas beer dinner as well as rare beer Wednesdays. Now it's up to them to execute well enough to beat Shute.

This seems like Lagunitas month in KC with the beer dinner at Blanc and Lagunitas being the featured beer in the Power and Light Friday night beer special. Blanc's beer dinner features 5 Lagunitas beers; IPA, Little Sumpin' Sumpin', Lucky 13, Hop Stoopid and Imperial Stout as well as a lamb dish. Blanc had me with the Lagunitas but they touched my extra special spot with lamb. Blanc beer dinners have very limited space so if you're interested you'll want to reserve your spot quickly by calling 816-931-6200. The dinner happens on Thursday, August 25 at 6:30 at the Plaza location.

Starting on Wednesday, August 31 Blanc's Plaza location is tapping special rare beers and pairing them with a food item. The first one called "Ciders and Sliders" features Crispin Joan of Arc (apple cider aged in sauvignon blanc barrels) and Fox Barrel Maid of Orleans (pear cider aged in sauvignon blanc barrels) paired with sliders. If ciders aren't your thing the next couple rare tappings include Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (sour saison) and the Stillwater/Mikkeler collaboration Two Gypsies (saison).

Blanc is also the safest place in the Plaza because it's below street level and you can get to it without walking the mean streets. All the stray bullets can wizz around everywhere and Blanc will be below the fray. You can be rewarded by drinking great beer and eating great burgers.

Pro Tip: get yourself a KC Originals card and earn points for all the money you spend at Blanc. You can then redeem those points at some of KC's best local restaurants.

B4TW - Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout

I try to make the beer for the weekend a mix between new beers, seasonals and old favorites. Some new beers or seasonals that come around don't give me the gumption to write up a couple of paragraphs about them so I make them the beer for the weekend. That's exactly what this week's beer is, Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout.

I had one of these a couple of years ago and I just never wrote anything about it. I remember really liking it and somehow recall that it reminded me of some sort of pie rather than creme brulee. But, I just didn't get around to writing anything. I've said for a while now that I don't usually like Southern Tier, it usually ends up being too sweet. But with the Creme Brulee Stout, the sweetness works, it's exactly what you're looking for when drinking a milk stout.

This one's going to be a little tough to get and only on the Missouri side. I know Royal on State Line had it behind the counter yesterday, so if you don't see it at your selected liquor store, ask for it. If you can't find it and still want a Southern Tier beer see if you can get an Oak Aged Unearthly as it's my favorite of the Southern Tier oeuvre.

Summit in KC

Minnesota transplants, your day has come, Summit Brewing is soon to be available in Missouri and Kansas. And by soon, I mean that Summit beers are sitting in a warehouse in Kansas right now waiting to be distributed around the city. How soon that takes place I don't know, but I would guess next week or the week after.

Not familiar with Summit? Well, you've probably never spent any time in the twin cities then. Summit owns Minny/St. Paul like Boulevard owns KC, though Surly may take over soon. And Summit reminds me a lot of Boulevard in the sense that one of their best beers is a porter and they have a similar lineup to Boulevard before the Smokestack series took root. But, I don't like any of their beers as much as I like Boulevard's.

The Minnesotans love the stuff like they love Kent Hrbek, Bert Blyleven and Fran Tarkenton. You know what I say, any group that actively make signs that say "Circle me Bert" stands a very good chance of being a pack of idiots. I don't find anything objectionable about Summit, it's solid beer and has a definite following. But, I think it's just going to languish on store shelves because it doesn't compare favorably to Boulevard, Free State, Odell, Avery, Lagunitas and Schlafly. But as NBC Action News reporter Ryan Kath and native Minnesotan wrote on Twitter "Tough Pale Ale choice: hometown brew or Boulevard?" I suppose if you grew up with the Summit version it might be a tough decision. It's not going to be for me.

In any case, Summit is soon to be on store shelves in both Kansas and Missouri. I'm not aware of any rollout parties or sample events yet. Maybe this can soothe the local Minnesotans with football season coming up and the sound of "defending world champion Green Bay Packers" in many games while the Vikings are rolling out Donovan McNabb's corpse at quarterback. A nice Summit Porter and tears mean football for many Minnesotans.

EPL in KC

Now that the riots in England seem to have calmed down a little, it's time to focus on England for the good that they bring the world, the English Premier League. From August through May, the EPL can entertain your Saturday and Sunday mornings. The 2006 Men's World Cup kind of roped me in to soccer and I started watching the Premier League. I read a little about it and picked a team, Tottenham Hotspur and had a passive interest in the games. By last year's Men's World Cup I was a full fledged soccer fan and found myself seeking places to watch the US games. Then this year's Women's World Cup final between the USA and Japan, may have been the best game of any sport I've ever seen. I only wish that I had been in a bar watching it with 50 other people instead of in my living room with my kids actively not caring what was happening on the TV.

So now I'm fully excited for the EPL season opener this Saturday. The rioters have already caused postponement of the first ESPN game between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton (the riots started in the Tottenham neighborhood). I'm sure another game will replace it as 9 other matches are scheduled to take place on Saturday.

Free State Octoberfest Day

It's still a little early for a marzen, but at least it kinda feels like September today. What better way to celebrate the coolish day than pick up a sixer of Free State Octoberfest which is hitting store shelves in Kansas and Missouri today. Octoberfest is the 5th beer to be bottled by Free State and I'm somewhat anxious to try it. I believe I've had Octoberfest on tap around town in the past and since I've yet to have a Free State beer that I didn't enjoy greatly, I'm sure I'll be a fan.

Beer Nation

I was watching "Fast Food Nation" the other day and noticed Bruce Willis and Ethan Hawke drinking a Fat Tire in the movie (in Hawke's case this is especially appropriate since he was in the band Hey That's My Bike). Since those scenes took place in Colorado it makes a modicum amount of sense they were drinking a Colorado beer. But, noticing the beer (as I tend to do) got me thinking what other movies feature craft beer.

In "Fast Food Nation" both Willis and Hawke are drinking their beers from the bottle so neither was a true beer drinker. I don't recall any movie at any time featuring a beer geek or a beer geek type conversation. I'm not asking for a "Sideways" for beer drinkers but a scene or character in a movie would be a nice wrinkle.

As I've thought about it more and more it just seems odd that this sort of character or scene about beer geekery doesn't exist in film. I know that whenever you see a major brand label like Bud Light or Budweiser, those are paid product placements. Those product placements also make me think less of those characters in the movie I'm watching.

Am I missing a movie somewhere (aside from documentaries like "Beer Wars") where someone who might buy a bomber of beer and pour it in a glass is portrayed, whether positively or negatively? I'm just kind of shocked that this doesn't exist. The only character I've found in any forum is Andy from "Weeds" who enjoys a Stone beer which makes sense since he is interested in good food and had made a living as some sort of chef. Why aren't there more characters like Andy in movies?

Seattle's Bats Beer

I'm always interested to learn of people who share a love of good beer. This interest probably comes from my parents who contact me everytime they hear of a celebrity that has twins (I have twins) or when someone from Wichita does something noteworthy (it usually involves a murder). I guess the Vards really like to find out people who are similar. That's what piqued my interest when I read about Chris Ray's (Seattle Mariners Relief Pitcher) love of homebrewing.

Ray plans on opening up his own brewery in Virginia, probably when his career is over. But, the folks at Fremont Brewery in Seattle asked Ray to brew up a batch of beer for charity using some underutilized wood from the Mariner's clubhouse; their bats (amiright, folks). That's right, he brewed a beer with maple bats for some extra flavor. The bats, after use (again, more use than they've gotten from Mariners batters) are being auctioned off for charity, Operation Homefront.

The beer, called Homefront IPA, is available for sale at Safeco and will be available in the Seattle area in 22 oz. bottles with proceeds going to Operation Homefront. So if Chris Ray and the Mariners make their way to The K again this year (with Vard favorite Ichiro), maybe we should give Chris Ray a little applause for being one of us. Follow the link to Brookston where there's even more about Chris Ray's beering ways.

As a side note, another person famous for other things besides beer is starting a brewery in Venice Beach. You would know him as Jack from Dawson's Creek, but his real name is Kerr Smith. I was overly excited about this because of my well documented love of Dawson's Creek.

Beer for the Weekend - Doodle Dubbel

At the end of "Saving Private Ryan" (spoiler alert) a dying Captain Miller uses his last words to say to Private Ryan "Earn this". The Captain and his men had just trudged all across France losing their friends along the way to save Private Ryan only to have to give up their lives to allow Private Ryan fulfill what he sees as his duty. I don't really want to equate walking across France in 1944 to the Wilderness Brewing Kickstarter but, a lot of people gave a lot of their money/time/bandwidth to get their Kickstarter fully funded and I'm completely happy that it is. But I say to Mike and Nate of Wilderness Brewing, "Earn This".

Regular readers here know there is another little brewery in town that hasn't asked us to give our money or our time. Doodle Brewing was a long time coming, mostly in complete obscurity and hasn't risen too far above that obscurity in the months since. Doodle only has the one beer, Dubbel, in the market right now. It's a good beer, I've bought it several times. Doodle has asked nothing of us except to give them a chance. So, if you Tweeted, Facebooked, donated, told someone about the Wilderness Kickstarter, why don't you go out and pick up a bottle of Doodle Dubbel to celebrate the success of the Wilderness Brewing kickstarter. That's why Doodle Dubbel is the beer for the weekend, because they've earned it*.

Doodle is only available in Missouri and really only available in larger stores. If you go to a store that doesn't stock it, ask for it. The more people that ask for it, the more stores will carry it and the more the word will get out about Doodle.

*No part of this should be seen as a slight against Mike and Nate, they worked their butts off to get their brewery funded and deserve everything they got. 

Nebraska Beer Fest

As a frequent visitor to our neighbors to the north, Nebraska, and coveter of beers from Nebraska Brewing Company, I feel it necessary to point out the Great Nebraska Beer Fest at the end of this month. Most of the beers available are local to the Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska area with some Minnesota and Colorado beers thrown in. But, Nebraska has some great breweries and a short 2 and a half hour drive to Omaha may be worth your while. Go ahead and check out the list of breweries and beers. The Great Nebraska Beer Fest happens August 27th.

Dream Firkin

Man, it's been brutally hot this week. I've had several new beers this week including Green Flash Hop Head Red and West Coast IPA, but nothing I've ingested has tasted as good as Tallgrass Halcyon Wheat. Ever since I read that article about wheat beers helping reduce inflammation and with the heat, all I've really wanted to drink was Halcyon. I biked and ran 50 miles over the weekend and I really think the Halcyon helped my knees and heel feel better.

Well, all that's to say, maybe a little different Halcyon is in order. As The Wort Hog pointed out last night, The Flying Saucer is tapping a firkin of Halcyon brewed with strawberries and vanilla called Dream Warrior tonight as part of their rare beer Thursdays. Tallgrass makes a lot of these firkins but they usually don't make it out of Manhattan. So the faster The Flying Saucer runs this firkin dry the quicker Tallgrass will let their firkins come to KC. As Wort Hog mentioned, and I've written here, Blanc is ready to bring firkins in. Never had a firkined beer before? Make it this one. Have a wife or husband who doesn't understand your beer habit? Get them some Dream Warrior, they may figure it out. The Dream Warrior Firkin is getting tapped at 7 tonight.

Tallgrass is also still having their little poll about whether to keep Halcyon in production throughout the winter. I think the result is pretty clear, but I'd like to see the percent that want it to be a year round beer closer to the 55% range. I'd also like to see Halcyon on tap in more places around town. I don't think I've ever seen it on tap anywhere though I'm sure The Flying Saucer probably has it and I'm told Paddy O'Shays around 135th and Quivira has it. It shouldn't be that hard to find on tap especially in the summer.

Update: Halcyon is also on tap at Barleys Shawnee, Woody's, Sharks, Driver's Sports Cafe, Taste and Westport Flea Market

Beerpreneurship

Nate and Mike from Wilderness Brewing are in the first stages of what John McDonald of Boulevard has already been through, starting a brewery. Boulevard has obviously become part of the fabric of Kansas City as I was quoted on the KC Library page.

As local blogger Bull E. Vard of the esteemed KC Beer Blog says, “Our identity as KC is fountains on the Plaza, birdies on the lawn at Nelson-Atkins, Chiefs football, Royals baseball, Sporting KC, barbecue and Boulevard beer.”

“We all drink it -- it's part of our great food culture in KC," Bull says. "You can be a fan of other beers (like I love Lagunitas beers), but Boulevard is my home team.".

John McDonald will be joining Crosby Kemper III talking about entrepreneurship at the downtown Library Wednesday night (remember it's not the building that looks like books, that's the parking garage for the library). I'm sure beer will be discussed as well (glass recycling too) and it's definitely being served. The reception beforehand starts at 6 PM with the talk scheduled to begin at 6:30. The whole deal is free (even the beer). If you don't want to get hassled by library personnel RSVP online here. If you can't make it to the event but still want to drink a Boulevard and listen to John McDonald, you can download the KCUR show Central Standard that featured 30 minutes with John McDonald here and buy a sixer of Bob's 47 anywhere in KC.

Green Flash is Here

Green Flash is now being poured in the KC metro. All Star Pizza and Pub has tapped Hop Head Red and West Coast IPA. If you want it now, get there tonight.

I'm not sure if other places are going to start offering Green Flash during this week. But, several Green Flash parties are happening this weekend, similar to the Stone parties when they came to town, minus the madman with a bullhorn standing on the bar.

Friday, August 5th: 4-6p Gomers South; 5-7p Swagger; 7-10p Flying Saucer
Saturday, August 6th: 1-4p Lukas Liquor; 6-8p Grinders
Sunday, August 7th: 2-4p All-Star Pizza; 4-6p Blanc (Plaza); 6-8p Foundry

Green Flash is leaving a smaller shelf footprint only bringing in 4 beers; West Coast IPA, Hop Head Red, Double Stout and Imperial IPA. The events at bars will also offer a couple of special beers on tap; La Freak, Summer Saison and Trippel. All of these beers need to be tried.

The Greatest Thing I Ever Drank

Somehow when you've written a blog for a while you tend to get to know other people around the country with their own blogs. People find you all the time, you exchange a couple of emails and you've got a pretty good contact. That's the way it worked with Nate. Nate was a beer blogger in Ohio and I knew from emailing with him that he had family or something in KC. Then some circumstances changed for him and he found himself moving his family to town (I'll consider wherever the hell he lives part of town, even though I'm pretty sure I've never been there). So almost a year ago, I invited him to Gents so he could meet some beer people in town.

Nate brought some of his homebrew to Gents. I've had good homebrew (John and Ben, I'd write a similar post to this for you guys too) and I've had bad homebrew. Mostly I like homebrew to be something completely different. I don't get clones (I can understand why someone would brew a clone, I would usually just rather drink the original). I thought Nate's homebrew would just be something that was maybe good, but we drink so much great beer at a Gents, sometimes you have to choose your battles and skip over a beer you're not interested in. I almost did that with Nate's beer, but the social convention of me being the one that invited him in the first place kind of forced me to drink his homebrew, a dandelion saison. To be honest, it sounded kind of stupid to me, who eats dandelions? But, it was at least interesting sounding, I figured I could choke down a couple ounces and go on my way to drinking something better.