If you are like me, you realize the older you get, the earlier in the day you want to start drinking. I used to have a theory that over time my body would eventually develop an immunity to hangovers after enough exposure. Unfortunately this theory turns out to be completely false; the hangovers only get worse as you age.
Father time is such a tough S.O.B. My favorite method of rectifying the hangover problem is to start drinking earlier in the day to ensure I get a proper night’s rest, and to drink one glass of water for every two beers.
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| Pub Pass beer at Waldo Pizza |
Traditionally I would always find the best happy hour establishments for my afternoon cocktail, but as any fiscally responsible beer drinker knows, over the last few years the length and quality of happy hour in general has steadily declined. That is why the creation of the Kansas City Passport and Pub Pass will only be topped by the discovery of
Nessie. These two magical programs will let you create your own unique happy hour on your own time.
The first option is the
Passport program. For only $20, you can get a booklet for buy-one get-one free drinks at 49 locations in Kansas City. When I first read about this offering, I did some quick math and realized I only needed to buy four beers to break even! A quick P.S.A.: before beginning your passport quest, please make sure to have a designated driver, or call a cab, Uber or Lyft, but do
NOT drink and drive.
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| A Passport beer at John's Big Deck |
The best part of the KC Passport is it provides many clusters of drinking establishments. For instance you can do a tour of North Kansas City and visit
Big Rip,
The Brewkery,
Velo Garage and Tap house, and
Colony KC. Or you could go to the River Market, and hit up
Harry’s Country club,
Brown & Loe, then
Strange Days. With 49 locations, you can create your own happy hour almost anywhere in the city, and if you want to be weaksauce and only drink one beer, they will give you a beer for half price. The one drawback to the passport program is these are seasonal. So if you are looking to start your happy hour quest the winter edition expires on April 15; what better day to drown out your sorrows than on tax day? Passport also has
booklets in St. Louis, Washington D.C., and several Colorado locations, for your next vacation.
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| A cocktail at Brown and Loe |
Our second hoppy option is the Passport’s arch-nemesis
Pub Pass. Similar to Passport, Pub Pass has several booklets located around the Midwest including Kansas City and St. Louis. It is also priced at $20 a booklet, but only has 20 drinking establishments in the
Kansas City market. The two best features of Pub Pass are the fact that you get one free drink (without having to buy one), and it is good for the entire year.
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| The Pub Pass |
Both booklets have unique benefits, and I don’t know if one is objectively better than the other, so I would call this match a draw. It would be a shame if you only had one of these programs in your repertoire, so do as I did and just buy one of each!
Cheers,
Brett A. Myces
