One of KC's best beer festivals is this Saturday!
I mark the official start of Spring every year in KC as the last weekend of April. I know, spring officially comes sooner, but the REAL start of Spring happens at the Parkville Microbrew Festival! Parkville is the longest running beer festival in the city, now in their 15th year! They are definitely the best organized beer festival in town and in the best location possible for a beer fest--on the banks of the Missouri River near historic downtown Parkville.Contrary to last year, the weather forecast for Saturday looks absolutely fantastic! Although I really have no complaints about the freezing rain last year--it sure made for a fun time and no lines for beer! But I also can't complain about 65 °F and sunny as a beer fest forecast. Based on the weather, the continual improvements that the Main Street Parkville Association has done over the years, and the beer list, I think this is going to go down as one of the best beer fests that Kansas City has ever seen.
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| Parkville 2016 was pretty epic--weather looks even better for this year! |
Thanks to the Main Street Parkville Association, I'll be there with my wife on "official business" with complimentary tickets. We'll be there wearing our KC Beer Blog shirts, so if you see us, come say hi! In addition to the organizers being super cool, the best things about Parkville are:
- You can bring your dogs and kids.
- They let designated drivers in for free.
- You can bring your own food and water into the fest.
- You can bring lawn chairs.
- At $35/person, this is the absolute best value in beer festivals in KC!
The Practicals of the Fest
- Date: Saturday, April 29
- Time: Gate opens at 11:00am, Beer Samping from 1:00pm - 5:00pm
- Location: English Landing in Parkville
- Tickets: $35 GA Online / $45 GA at the door / DDs Free
- Info on the Web: Website | Facebook | Facebook Event | Twitter
- Driving/Parking: While this is at wonderful location, getting there and away and parking can be a pain. My advice--arrive early, and leave late. If you come around 11am (before the tasting starts but after the doors open) it's usually really easy to park and walk in without much of a line. And after the fest is over just walk up to Parkville downtown somewhere and get a bite to eat while watching the hoard jockey their way out. By the time you finish dinner, it will be pretty much cleared out.
- Other Stuff: As always, they've got a full lineup of bands for the day. There are also about a half dozen food vendors there with everything from brats to chicken & waffles.
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| Map of the festival grounds. Keep this one handy! |
The Breweries of the Fest
With over 50 breweries,and over 200 beers to sample, there's going to be a beer (or cider, or mead, for everyone there. Map your plan out early! And remember--this festival is about having fun, not trying every single rare beer you can find. It might just be more fun to go cruising around to all the brewery tables without any lines rather than waiting 30 minutes in line to try the 1 rare beer. Instead, go down to Bier Station for the rare beers and just have fun at the festival!
- 23rd Street Brewery
- 3 Trails Brewing
- Apex Aleworks
- Big Rip Brewing
- Blind Tiger Brewery
- Blue Blood Brewing
- Border Brewing
- Boulevard Brewing
- The Brewkery
- Brickway Brewery and Distillery Brewery
- Broadway Brewery
- Bur Oak Brewing
- Casual Animal Brewing
- Calibration Brewery
- Cinder Block Brewing
- Colony KC
- Confluence Brewing
- COOP Ale Works
- Crane Brewing
- Crooked Stave
- Deschutes Brewery
- Dogfish Head
- Double Shift Brewing
- Emperial Brew Lab
- Empyrean Brewing
- 4 Hands Brewing
- Free State Brewing
- Founders
- Friction Beer
- Fringe Beerworks
- Gella’s Diner and Lb Brewing
- Granite City
- Green Room Burger & Beers
- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing
- Kansas City Bier Co
- Keg Creek Brewing
- Lagunitas Brewing
- Logboat Brewing
- Martin City Brewing
- McCoys Public House and Brewkitchen
- Nebraska Brewing
- Nortons Brewing
- Perennial Artisan Ales
- Piney River Brewing
- Prairie Artisan Ales
- Red Crow Brewing
- River City Brewing
- Schlafly
- Smoke Brewing
- Stem Ciders
- Stockyard Brewing
- Strange Days Brewing
- Torn Label
- T.W. Pitchers’ Brewing
- Uinta Brewing
- Urban Chestnut Brewing
- Walnut River Brewing
- Wichita Brewing
A bunch of homebrew clubs will also be in attendance. If you're really adventurous, go check out their tables. They usually have some very good beers along side some really wacky stuff. They don't have to adhere to the dictates of retail sales, so they're free to do whatever crazy stuff they want! Here's the clubs attending:
- Greater Topeka Hall of Foamer’s Homebrew Club
- Johnson County Brewing Society
- Joplin Homebrew Club
- Kansas City Bier Meisters Homebrew Club
- KC Nanobrews Homebrew Club
- Lawrence Brewers Guild Homebrew Club
- Missouri Mashers Homebrew Club
