Short Pours - 7/31/14
Festival Season Round Two
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| KC Beer Fest Scheduled for Sept. 27 |
But, wait! There's another chance! Oskar Blues is holding a sweepstakes to win two-day tickets to GABF, round trip airfare, lodging, and a bunch of other stuff for you and a guest. You should all probably refrain from entering to boost my odds, though.
Of course we've got some great festivals coming up a little closer to home too. The UNICO Microbrew Festival at Zona Rosa is on August 16th and KC Beer Fest at Power & Light for September 27th. Both have tickets on sale now, $25 for UNICO and $35 for KC Beer Fest (or $60 for VIP). Both fests still need volunteers as well. Click here for instructions on volunteering for UNICO, and here to email KC Beer Fest your info.
UNICO has announced about a third of the breweries attending so far, but KC Beer Fest is yet to announce who will be attending. I've got a list of the breweries that UNICO has announced so far at the bottom of this post.
Martin City Brewing Co Around Town
Martin City Brewing Co announced on twitter that they're sending out their first batches of beer to area bars. I, for one, am super excited about this because I never find myself in Martin City, well, ever. I imagine there's a few others out there like me that would like to be able to drink their beers more regularly without having to drive 30 minutes. On a related note, KC Bier Co is pretty much everywhere in town now if you hadn't noticed. Hopefully we can convince Big Rip and Cinder Block to start distributing too...
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| Seriously. Go buy some Defiance now. |
Defiance Makes it to KC
Defiance Brewing Co has officially landed in KC (Kansas side only). If you haven't heard of them, they're the new brewery out in Hays, KS. The brewery was founded by a couple former Liquid Bread brewers, which should give you an indication of how awesome Defiance beers are going to be. I was super impressed when I had their beer at the Big Rip festival and have been eagerly awaiting their arrival ever since.
They've got two beers out now--Gutch and Thrasher. Gutch is an English mild, and Thrasher a session IPA (aka pale ale). Both are solid session beers, but I think the Gutch is one of the best milds I've ever had. It's probably going to become my new go-to beer this fall. They should be pretty widely available, so if you haven't had a chance to try them you should pick some up when you can't find any of the Deschutes releases below.
Deschutes Special Releases
Deschutes Black Butte XXVI and Conflux No.3 are out now in KC. The Black Butte XXVI is their regular Black Butte Porter (already awesome) spiced with cocoa nibs, pomegranate molasses (what??), and cranberries, then aged for 6 months in bourbon barrels (dial the awesome up to 11).
Conflux #3 is a Collaboration with Distelhauser Brewery from Germany. They're calling it a doppel weissbock and it's made with spelt. I'm assuming it will taste a lot like the Schneider Aventinus, which would be awesome. Apparently it also pairs well with "Moroccan Spiced Scallops with Lentils" according to the Deschutes pairing advice. Sure!
Black Butte XXVI should be relatively easy to find around town, but you'll have to get lucky to find some of the Conflux #3.
UNICO Microbrew Festival Lineup as of 7/31:
Ameristar Brew Pub
Bip Rip
Boulevard Brewing Co.
Broadway Brewery
Cinder Block Brewery
Dark Horse Distillery
Deschutes
Empyrean Brewing Co.
Exit Six Brewery
Flying Monkey
Free State
Goose Island
Granite City
High Noon Saloon
KC Bier Co.
Kona Brewing
Missouri Mashers (Homebrew club)
Mother's Brewing Company
Schlafly
Summit Brewing
Tallgrass Brewing Company
Weston Brewing Company
Summit
