Tap List | Celebrate New Year’s Eve With Your Local Brewery Make Plans Now

While it may still be a couple of weeks away, we want to make sure you got your New Year’s Eve plans set. Breweries throughout the area will be hosting parties to help you ring in the new year.

The earliest brewery to celebrate 2024 will be Olathe’s Red Crow Brewing Co. Doors will open at 11 a.m. for a Noon Year’s Eve party for folks who may not want to stay up late, offering a champagne toast at noon instead of midnight. Kids can join in on the fun with a ginger ale toast of their own. After the toast, stick around for all sorts of fun. The brewery will have board games, a photo booth and will be showing the Chiefs game at 3:25 p.m.

Waldo’s KC Bier Co. also will be celebrating a little early with A Very German New Year’s Eve event. Folks in attendance can watch the ball drop at midnight in Munich, which happens to be 5 p.m. here. Bier-only and bier and buffet tickets are available. In addition to watching the ball drop, the brewery will be showing the Chiefs/Bengals game, doing a traditional jelly doughnut toast, featuring live jazz and more.

Another early adopter is Servaes Brewing Co. in Shawnee. They’re doing a Pancake Bar & Beer event starting at 11 a.m. Relativity Cooking will be at the brewery from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. serving up pancakes. You can then pair those with the four new pancake-themed beers Servaes will be releasing for the event, including their Barrel-Aged Washed in Black imperial stout.

If you want to be more formal, pop over to City Barrel in the Crossroads, which is closing its doors for a ticketed chef’s dinner. The dinner will feature four courses expertly paired with different beers and wines. Once the dinner is over everyone will toast to the new year. You’re encouraged to get fancy for the dinner, but can dress however you feel comfortable. You can purchase tickets for the event here.

North Kansas City’s Cinder Block is kicking things off on the later side. Starting at 8 p.m., Cinder Block is turning back the hands of time by throwing a Roaring Twenties party. The brewery will be pouring champagne cider freely before switching to the real thing at midnight. There will also be lots of Prohibition-era cocktails to make the event feel more authentic. The ball drop will be shown on their TV with a live DJ spinning tunes up until that point. Enshrine the moment forever by taking photos in their ‘‘20s themed’20s-themed photo booth. The best dressed person will win a prize!

East Forty in Blue Springs also will be throwing a ticketed New Year’s Eve party starting at 8 p.m. The night features a buffet-style dinner by the James Beard Award winning chef Celino Tio. Enjoy Italian foods paired with any of East Forty’s beer, cocktail, wine and no-alcohol options. Live music will be provided throughout the event by DJ Greg McQuade. Expect to hear classic party tunes and hits from the ‘80s. Included in your ticket price are a few unique options you can choose from for the official midnight toast.

Since New Year’s Eve is about two weeks away, there will surely be more events that pop up so be sure to monitor socials for others. No matter where you choose to celebrate, have a safe and happy 2024.   

Beer Releases 

BKS Artisan Ales — 633 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Missouri — has reached beer number four in their Pine Tree hazy holiday IPA series. Like the versions before it, the Pine Tree series starts with the same base beer and hop blend and then adds a new hop each time. Delineated with a green label, this new release features the Chinook Incognito hop. This addition gives the IPA lots of pine notes along with a citrus bouquet. Like the others, it clocks in at 7% ABV.

Double Shift Brewing — 412 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Missouri — released a new beer inspired by the classic Chick-O-Stick candy. The similarly named Czech-O-Stick is a 5.5% dark lager. Much like the candy, the beer is loaded with plenty of coconut and peanut butter flavor. With the lower alcohol and the delicious flavors, this beer is an easy one to crush.

Free State Brewing Co. — 636 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, Kansas — brewed up a blast from the past. Originally appearing in December 2021, they’ve brought back their Festivus Ale. The beer is a 6.45% hoppy winter warmer with a red hue that even Santa would appreciate. The malt backbone of the beer gives it a nice nutty, caramel flavor while the Chinook and Centennial hops give it some pine and fruit notes. It’s a beer so good that not even Costanza has a grievance to air about it.

Pathlight Brewing — 11200 W. 75th St., Shawnee, Kansas — released the 2023 version of their infamous Kizmiaz triple IPA. A salute to the end of the year, this 10% IPA is bigger and hoppier than any past version. Using Citra, Citra Incognito and Mosaic, you’ll get tons of juicy fruit flavors in this beer. Expect to experience aromas and flavors of tangerine, sweet mango, grapefruit and more. Be careful because this beer hides the alcohol very, very well.

Vine Street Brewing — 2010 Vine St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a unique collaboration beer now available. To help celebrate Kwanzaa, Vine Street collaborated on this new brew with South African nonprofit Beer is Art. The nonprofit focuses on empowering young adults in the brewing industry. The 5.3% American pilsner named Mkeka is meant to inspire unity and innovation. The name Mkeka means “first” in Swahili and is meant to celebrate Kwanzaa’s first principle which is unity.

Alma Mader Brewery — 2635 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — just released Still on Hold, a new West Coast pale ale. Using a lighter malt bill than normal, the beer lets the hops shine through. A combination of Mosaic, Simcoe and a dash of Citra hops give this beer the quintessential West Coast flavor profile. You’ll get notes of stone fruit, orange peel and some pine in this 5.8% pale ale.

Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — announced the release of a brand new triple IPA called Gustucide. Utilizing Nelson, Mosaic and Citra hops, this beer is bursting with hoppiness. Beware because it doesn’t drink like a 9.6% beer, which could get you in some trouble!

Beer Events

Friday, Dec. 22

Diametric Brewing Co. — 949 N.E. Columbus, Lee’s Summit, Missouri — is throwing the annual 25 Beers of Christmas event. Starting at 2:30 p.m., Diametric will release five different variations of five different base beers. Beers will be rotated out every 30 minutes. Whoever kills the last keg of the event will get to choose any of the remaining styles left to go back on tap. Anything left at the end of the night will be saved for the 25 Crowlers of Christmas event taking place on Dec. 27.

Saturday, Dec. 23

Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — will be welcoming Apple Pie Painting to host a Paint Your Pet night. Once you sign up and submit a picture of your pet, all you’ll need to do is pick up your kit and easel once you arrive at Transport. The kicker? Beers will be buy one, get one free. The Chick-N-Sticks food truck will be out front in case you need some snacks or dinner. 

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.