Tap List | Brick River Cider Opens In Crossroads District Tart for Your Tongue

If you’re familiar with Kansas City, you already know the Crossroads District is an adult playground filled with bars, breweries and distilleries. Now there’s a new addition to the neighborhood. Hailing from St. Louis, Brick River Cider Co. opened at 1701 McGee St., a few steps away from Casual Animal Brewing Co.

Brick River, which continues to operate its original location in St. Louis, is filling a gap here in the metro area. Besides KC Cider Co., there were no dedicated hard cideries in Kansas City. While some breweries produce ciders in-house, many of them aren’t necessarily mainstays you can find all the time. Black River helps to change that.

The new Crossroads location will make ciders on-site and be offering their core flagship products as well as seasonals and special releases. The new location will offer more than just hard ciders. They have a large dining room with a full food menu for lunch and dinner as well as a brunch menu over the weekends. All menu items can be made gluten-free for those with intolerances.

Additionally, Brick River’s new taproom features lounge spaces with plenty of comfortable seating. Brick River has a myriad of board games you can play for some wholesome fun. In case you need more entertainment than that, the cidery also has TVs for all your sports needs and offers tours of their facility.

If you’re looking to check out their new spot, they’re open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. The cidery is closed on Monday.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Brick River!  

Beer Releases

BKS Artisan Ales — 633 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Missouri — is hopping into the new year with a couple of new beer releases. The first is a 5.5% ABV dry hopped pale ale dubbed Greenway Fields. Named after a nearby neighborhood, Greenway Fields was brewed with pale malts and dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial, Zeus and Citra. You’ll get lots of grapefruit and pine notes out of this beer. BKS also has a beer called Mirror Pool available. This 5% ABV wheat ale is as classic as it gets. It was brewed with a mash bill consisting of 50% wheat and 50% pale malts along with a healthy dose of Citra hops to give it a few lemon notes.

Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — released a brand new New Zealand-style pilsner. The 5.2% ABV unfiltered pils was brewed to help showcase many of the great notes New Zealand hops offer. They used Motueka hops during the brewing process and followed it up by dry hopping the beer with Riwaka. The beer has lots of citrusy, zesty and grassy flavors.

Double Shift Brewing — 412 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Missouri — had a fresh beer Friday with the release of their latest creation, Mecha Brahma. This is the third beer in their Mecha series. This new addition is a 7% ABV hazy IPA with lots of beach vibes. You’ll get notes of coconut cream, tropical fruit and mojito on the palette with a bitter citrus finish.

Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — just released a new Bohemian-style amber lager. Titled Polotmavy 12°, the beer was made with Czech malts and carbonated naturally. It has notes of caramel, rye and fresh flowers. At just 5.1% ABV it’s easy to have more than just one of these.

Big Rip Brewing Co. — 216 E. 9th Ave., North Kansas City, Missouri — started the year in a big way. They released a big 12% ABV imperial stout. Simply called Hot Cocoa imperial stout, the beer is loaded with chocolate and vanilla flavors. The beer is thick, dark and slightly sweet just like the popular winter beverage.

Cinder Block Brewery — 110 E. 18th Ave., North Kansas City, Missouri — recently introduced a brand new west coast pale ale, Dank Stash. This 6.5% ABV ale is everything you’d expect out of a hoppy West Coast beer. It’s dank, piney, grassy, flowery and resinous. While it was made to celebrate the passing of Amendment 3 in Missouri’s most recent vote, no cannabis was used in the making of this beer.

Free State Brewing Co. — 636 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, Kansas — put out a new double IPA using one of the latest experimental hop varieties (#17701). In addition to using the experimental hop, the beer was hopped with Azacca, Cascade and Idaho 7. This big 9% ABV beer comes complete with flavors just as big. You’ll get everything from tropical flavors like papaya and grapefruit to stone fruit flavors such as peach.

Crane Brewing Co. — 6515 Railroad St., Raytown, Missouri — collaborated with the venerable Corvino Supper Club & Tasting on a new beer. The duo created Raven Paw, a 7.5% ABV IPA fermented with brettanomyces. It was also made with the unique midwestern fruit, paw paw. Between all of the different ingredients, you’ll get notes of papaya, coconut and mango to pair with the slight funk of the brett.

Beer Events

Friday, Jan. 13

Cinder Block Brewery — 110 E. 18th Ave., North Kansas City, Missouri — is throwing a party to help get you ready for the NFL playoffs. They’ll be hosting a tailgating-themed release event for their new beer, Playoff Pilsner. Cinder Block will be welcoming in the crew from 610 Sports Radio from 6-9 p.m. You’ll be able to snack on plenty of football food favorites like sliders, wings and nachos from Buddha Belly. While the party doesn’t kick off until 6 p.m., the beer will be available starting at noon that day.

Saturday, Jan. 14

Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is hosting a chili cook-off in conjunction with some new beer releases. Chili entries have a suggested donation of $5 with proceeds going towards Foster Kids KC. If you just want to attend, you’ll be able to sample the various entries, try the new beers and get cinnamon rolls from McLain’s Bakery. Each of the four new beers will be chili-inspired, making them the perfect drink to pair with the food.

Alex Andujar is a former beer sales rep turned personal trainer. When he’s not training clients you can find him trying new beers at many of Kansas City’s great local breweries.