Our Big Fat American Craft Beer Week List 2016

It's American Craft Beer Week right now! In the past, I've written out a whole big fat list of events, but since I'm "dad lazy" these days, and since smart phones and google calendar actually don't suck anymore, I'm just keeping the majority of the events to the calendar. So go over there to check out all the events. We've got over 50 events listed for the ACBW in KC this year! Most of them are special tappings and happy hour type specials along with a few beer pairing and meet-the-brewer events.

There are a couple of standout events that you should definitely try to make it out to:

Waldo Hopfest

Of course, the capstone of the week is Waldo Hopfest on May 21! They've got 63 breweries coming including some of the best from the region. And if it's anything like the previous years, the brewers will get into their reserve stock and bring out some awesome rare beers for us. So get your VIP tickets and get in there early to beat the lines and make sure you don't miss out on the good stuff!

Flying Saucer ACBW Events

Flying Saucer

Now for the rest of the week--you need to get yourself down to Flying Saucer as soon as you can and start drinking as many $3 pints of Crooked Stave as possible. That's a hell of a deal and going on all day today! Thursday & Friday at Flying Saucer also sound pretty solid. Thursday is beer and ice cream pairing with Urban Chestnut Brewing Co, and Friday is a happy hour with reps from the brewers in town for the week. You'll likely see a bunch of the reps that will be at Hopfest the next day, but in a much more casual setting where you could actually chat with them without having 15 people in line behind you.

Cinder Block

Cinder Block has a lot of events scheduled for the week, but Wednesday sounds like the best to me. On that night they're having a barrel aged beer release (beer is a mystery to me still but I'm sure it will be amazing!) and a cheese pairing to go with the BA beer. Cinder Block is also taking part in the Biggest Small Beer Ever brew going on around the country. Breweries from all 50 states are brewing the same small batch beer to show solidarity with each other. Craft Beer geeks across the country will toast this beer at the same time at 7pm (CST) on Thursday 5/19, so get yourself there and get yours ordered!

KC Bier Co

Again, KC Bier Co has a number of events scheduled through the week, but my go to will naturally be the Bavarian Breakfast & beer tapping on Saturday. There's no better way to start a Saturday than with weisswurst, pretzels, and hefeweizen! Then, you can also do yoga in the biergarten that morning after your hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, I'll miss the music in the afternoon because I'll be at Hopfest!

Barley's Brewhaus

Barley's Brewhaus has a couple stand out events as well. I'd try to hit up Barley's on 119th on Wednesday & Saturday if I were you. On Wednesday they'll have 3 different barrel aged variants of Breckenridge's 471 Imperial IPA, and on Saturday they'll have special tappings from Prairie, Roughtail, and Coop from Oklahoma. Barley's Brewhaus on Midland Drive also has a couple great looking nights. On Tuesday they'll have Free State's Chili Mac Imperial Stout & Oak Aged Bacchus on tap. on Thursday they'll have Firestone Walker's Sucaba & XVIII 2014 Anniversary Ale on tap.


And finally, I leave you with this feel good video including a beard, overalls, and a beer.