Patio weather!

Even with a few clouds, the weather's still great for a beer and dinner on a patio! McCoy's and the Foundry have great spots for you in Westport. But if you'd rather sit indoors, Beer Kitchen now has Odell's St. Lupulin on tap. A mighty tasty Extra Pale Ale from Ft. Collins, CO, smooth and delicious, perfect for any weather.

Not that weather has kept beer drinkers from enjoying a good brew... Here's a photo gallery from Ink of the Summer Beer Festival from a couple weeks ago - http://inkkc.com/photos/westport-beer-fest-2013/. I think my shoes are still drying out from it, but dang, that was a fun time!

Enjoy the weekend, cheers!

Summer is here!

It's Friday and the first day of summer! Come celebrate the summer solstice with us by grabbing a Summer Beer at Beer Kitchen or any of the refreshing McCoy's beers - the Vienna Lager is a light and easy drinker, great for the hot days, and the always popular Raspberry Wheat is back on tap. Both great for cooling down over the first weekend of summer!

Speaking of summer, rain didn't dampen last week's Summer Beer Festival one bit. There was a great turnout, including a handful of Sporting Kansas City players! If you were lucky enough to get your picture taken with Jimmy Nielsen, Benny Feilhaber, Seth Sinovic, or any of the others who showed up, share them with us, we'd love to see them! You can post them to the McCoy's Facebook page.

Under the tent was the place to be early, but the beer was flowing

McCoy's brewer Morgan was watching over their station. Hibiscus Farmhouse, Watermelon Randyl'd IPA.... YUM

We hope everyone has an excellent weekend, and finds time to get a spot on the patio with us! Cheers!

Summer Beer Fest is approaching! Plus recap of New Belgium Lips of Faith Dinner

The Summer Beer Festival hits Westport THIS SATURDAY! Get your tickets now to save yourself $5. They're $25, but go up to $30 at the gate. From 5 - 9 PM rain or shine. It's going to be a great event with an amazing cause - proceeds benefit AIDS Walk KC.

Now, time for a recap of the New Belgium Lips of Faith Beer Dinner.

A block party, a beer fest, a beer dinner. What more do you need?!

This Sunday, after you get done mainlining all 15 episodes of Arrested Development, head to Westport at 8 pm for the annual Kelly's Westport Inn & McCoy's Public House Block Party - $5 gets you in for live music, food and drink specials, and more, as we celebrate another year of two institutions!

And while you're thinking about it, pick up your tickets for another party next month in Westport. The Summer Beer Festival is coming up on June 15th! $25 will get you in with a souvenir glass and tastes of of some delicious, delicious beers. Plus, proceeds benefit Aids Walk Kansas City, so it's for a very good cause. Get your tickets at http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1718889 before they go up to $30 the day of the event. If there are any left!

Alright, so I had teased that the next beer dinner would be EPIC...

Yeah, 10 courses, 10 beers. 10 beers from the New Belgium Lips of Faith series. This is exciting to me, and it should be for you. First of all, the food. It's always great, but four cheese courses? General Tso's Lobster? SEA SCALLOP TACO???? Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. And then the beers. This is an excellent chance to try a variety of high quality suds. Plus there are some beers new to the area that you may only see at this dinner... Paardebloem (Flemish for dandelion - a beer bittered with dandelions with some wild Belgian yeasts and grains of paradise and I want it right now) and Pluot (a plum and apricot make a baby fruit and it hangs out with Brettanomyces). This is going to be fun. $65 covers everything - your seat, the food, the beer, the tax, and the gratuity. Hurry up, this one will probably fill up fast! Call Beer Kitchen at (816) 389-4180 and get your spot today!

The work week is over, but American Craft Beer Week continues!

How's everyone's American Craft Beer Week going so far? Have you been to any of Beer KC's events?

The Randyl'd beers were great! Strawberry basil Good Farmhouse was a treat (slight change from the originally planned Ginger Shandy, but it worked so well)...

...and the Boulevard bottle signing event was a hit!

Trip, Steven, and John gave their signing hand muscles a workout
And yep, that's a Love Child #2. A Boulevard fan brought in her 4 bottles of it!!

Tonight and tomorrow there aren't any scheduled events, but Beer Kitchen still has their $30, three-course beer dinner going tonight through Sunday! Also on Sunday at the Foundry - a free Odell Flagship tasting from 4-6 pm. It's tough to be free beer, especially from a brewery as great as Odell!

One last order of business for Friday - grab your advance tickets for the Summer Beer Festival! It's less than a month away... time flies, so save yourself $5 and get them now at http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1718889

Cheers!

Summer Beer Festival tickets on sale NOW!

Last week's Parkville Micro Fest might have been a little wet, but it was a lot of fun! McCoy's went through the Blackberry Tart in a hurry, followed by the IPA Randyl'd with watermelon. If you were around at the right point, you may have been able to grab a taste of the Ginger Shandy Randyl'd through the watermelon. Sadly, I wasn't there for that, but I heard it was delicious!

Right before the Blackberry Tart keg blew

Even if it was a little chilly and a little damp, TONS of people turned out. It was fun

Ready for the next festival? Beer KC's 3rd Annual Summer Beer Festival is coming up on June 15th, and tickets are now on sale! $25 gets you your ticket, a commemorative glass, and a chance to taste over 80 beers from more than 30 breweries. Buy your tickets online at http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1718889

New Brews Coming from Missouri

First, thanks to everyone who came to our Summer Beer Festival!  You made it such a great event, selling out the tickets!  What were some of your favorites from the night?

All across Missouri, there are new breweries and brewpubs springing up, bringing some great beers to new areas of the state.  Recently, I attended a wedding (congratulations Blake and Maggie!!!) that had a few different styles of beer from Flat Branch Pub & Brewing, out of Columbia, MO - Katy Trail Pale Ale, Green Chili, American Pale Ale, and Kristalweizen.  Naturally, I sampled each.  Research purposes, you know.  Conclusion: good beer.  Obviously, the Green Chili Beer jumps out, and it leaves an impression.  It had a great chili flavor, with only a slight hint of heat.  Very nice.  The Katy Trail and American Pale Ale are both very well-crafted beers on the hoppy side, and the Kristalweizen was a good take on a wheat beer.  All very drinkable, sessionable.  It's always a pleasure to share in the fruits of our brethren breweries.  If you're in Columbia, it's definitely worth your while to visit Flat Branch.

Next week, you'll have a chance to try another brewery, this one a new one coming to the Kansas City market.  On Tuesday, June 19th, Springfield, Missouri's Mother's Brewing Company will takeover taps at The Foundry, as part of their launch into KC!  They'll have six beers available - Towhead (American Blonde), Three Blind Mice (Brown Ale), Lil’ Helper (IPA), Sandy (a "Hopped Up Wheat"), Holy Mole’ (a Brown Ale aged on cinnamon, chocolate nibs, and peppers, reminiscent of a mole sauce), and Trouble Maker (Double IPA).  I haven't had the opportunity to try the beers, but friends have raved about them, so I'll definitely be here to try them next week.

We'll have events all throughout the summer, so keep checking the blog, or coming into one of our locations, to get the latest news!

Cheers!

Last Chance for Advanced Summer Beer Festival Tickets!!

Final warning!!  You have until about midnight tonight to get your tickets for tomorrow's Summer Beer Festival for the advanced discount price of $25.  In addition to a load of great beers, I've heard rumors that some members of Sporting Kansas City will be there. . .

If you're a procrastinator, we'll be selling tickets at the gate, for $30.  The festivities start at 5 P.M., on Pennsylvania Ave, between McCoy's and Kelly's.  It'll be a perfect time to enjoy some brews as the day cools and dusk starts approaching.  We'll see you there!

Beer KC Summer Beer Festival - Exclusives!

Only a few more days to get advanced tickets to our Summer Beer Festival, for a discounted price of $25!  The price will increase to $30 the day of the fest, June 9th, as long as they last.  Here's a list of the beers that will be available.  Some are old favorites, but let's take a closer look at a few that are new, or only available at the fest.

Deschutes is bringing not one, but two brews not available in the market!  Hop in the Dark is a Cascadian Dark Ale, a style sometimes known as a "black IPA" or "American black ale."  Whatever you call it, it's delicious.  Roasted malt taste, backed with a good amount of hops.  This is one of the best representatives of the style, so be sure to get a taste of it.  The second beer is the Chainbreaker White IPA (wait a minute, it just clicked - a dark IPA and a white IPA, side-by-side!  Brilliant).  Remember the second collaboration beer Boulevard released?  That just happened to be a white IPA, with, you guessed it, Deschutes.  This should be reminiscent of that one, and, I imagine, will be fantastic on a summer evening.  While I haven't had the pleasure of trying this version of it, if it's anything like the collaboration, it'll have a nice balance of the Belgian white spices (some orange peel, coriander, and lemongrass) and the hop profile that we know and love from Deschutes.

Next, Empyrean Brewing from Lincoln, NE, will have a couple of beers on hand.  They'll be rolling out their beers to the Kansas City shelves this summer, but we'll have their Watch Man IPA and Super Nova Summer Fest on Saturday, as a sneak preview.  Exciting!  Watch Man IPA is a newer addition to their year-round bottle lineup, while the Super Nova Summer Fest is a relatively new to their seasonal bottle line.

Staying in Nebraska, some of our newer friends in the city, Nebraska Brewing, will have beers tapped and ready for enjoyment.  Their EOS Hefeweizen, Infinite Wit, Cardinal Pale Ale, and Hop God are all making appearances at the festival.  You may have seen their reserve, barrel-aged series beers at The Foundry or at your favorite store, but if you haven't had a chance to try these fantastic beers from their regular lineup, this is a great opportunity!  All very well-balanced beers, and all thirst-quenchers.

Now, our brewing friends from just down I-70, Tallgrass will have their Wild Plum Saison.  It was available at Parkville Microfest, but went quickly.  While we're hoping for a wider release of this tasty beer, we're happy to have it this weekend!

Boulevard's Saison-Brett may not fit into the "new to us" category, but it'll be a nice treat to have on tap!  Bottles should be finding their way through the city soon, so keep an eye out for it.

We wouldn't host a fest without bringing out a little special something!  We'll be using our Randall to add watermelon to Newcomb's IPA, for a refreshing taste of summer.

Finally, we left off an important contributor from the list last time. . . Sierra Nevada is supplying their Kellerweis and Summerfest!

What beers are you most looking forward to trying?

The Summer Beer Festival is Coming!

It's almost June, which means our Summer Beer Festival is getting closer!  Do you have your tickets yet?  If you purchase tickets now, you'll save yourself $5, and get the advanced price of $25.  That'll get you a special commemorative tasting glass!  If you're a little hesitant to pull the trigger on the tickets without knowing what you'll be putting into that glass, well, today's your lucky day!  Without further ado, here's the lineup of beers we'll have on hand June 9th -


75th Street Brewery - Kansas City, MO

• White Tie Belgian Wit
• Royal Raspberry Wheat
• Summit Street IPA
• Saxy Golden

Amerisports - Kansas City, MO

• ½ Court Light
• Draft Choice Special Maibock

Brewery Ommegang - Cooperstown, NY

• Hennepin Farmhouse Saison
• Witte

Boulevard Brewing Co. - Kansas City, MO

• Zon
• Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
• Saison-Brett

Crispin American Craft Ciders - Minneapolis, MN

• Crispin Original
• Fox Barrel Pacific Pear
• Fox Barrel Blackberry Pear

Deschutes Brewery - Bend, OR

• Twilight
• Hop in the Dark
• Chainbreaker IPA

Empyrean Brewing Co. - Lincoln, NE

• Watch Man IPA
• Super Nova Summer Fest

Founders Brewing Co. - Grand Rapids, MI

• Cerise
• Red’s Rye PA

Free State Brewing Co. - Lawrence, KS

• Brinkley’s Maibock
• Stormchaser IPA

Goose Island Beer Company - Chicago, IL

• 312 Urban Wheat Ale
• Sofie

Gordon Biersch Restaurant and Brewery - Kansas City, MO

• Sommerbräu
• Czech Pilz
• Bavarian Hefeweizen
• Golden Export

Grand Teton Brewing Co. - Victor, ID

• Snarling Badger Berliner Weisse
• Howling Wolf Weisse Bier
• Sweetgrass APA

Green Flash Brewing Co. - San Diego, CA

• Trippel Ale
• Palate Wrecker

McCoy’s Public House - Kansas City, MO

• Good Farmhouse
• Ginger Shandy
• Newcomb’s IPA
• Watermelon Randall IPA
• Hoppy Farmhouse

Nebraska Brewing Co. - Papillion, NE

• EOS Hefeweizen
• Infinite Wit
• Cardinal Pale Ale
• Hop God

New Belgium Brewing Co. - Ft. Collins, CO

• Biere de Mars
• Somersault

Odell Brewing Co. - Ft. Collins, CO

• St. Lupulin
• Double Pilsner

Schlafly Beer - St. Louis, MO

• Bière de Garde
• Yakima Wheat

Sierra Nevada - Chico, CA

• Kellerweis
• Summerfest

Southern Tier Brewing Co. - Lakewood, NY

• Hop Sun
• Eurotrash Pilz

Stiegl - Salzburg, Austria

• Zitron Radler
• Grapefruit Radler

Stone Brewing Co. - Escondido, CA

• Arrogant Bastard
• Stone IPA

Summit Brewing Co. - St. Paul, MN

• EPA
• Unchained #9 Dunkel Weizen

Tallgrass Brewing Co. - Manhattan, KS

• Wild Plum Farmhouse
• Farmhouse Ale
• Halcyon Unfiltered Wheat

There you have it!  A lot of great summer beers there, including a few that haven't hit the market, some limited release beers, and another appearance by McCoy's Randall.  Get your tickets now for $25, or $30 at the gate!  We'll see you June 9, from 5-9 PM, on Pennsylvania Ave. (between McCoy's and Kelly's).