Tap List | Kansas Breweries Celebrate Kansas Day Happy Birthday to the Sunflower State

This past weekend marked a special occasion for the state of Kansas. The Sunflower State celebrated its 161st birthday.

To help mark the occasion, multiple breweries celebrated by brewing a beer in honor of the state. The following is a rundown of some of the celebratory gestures.

Sandhills Brewing in Mission, Kansas, decided to brew a brand new beer named Prairie Chicken. This Pale Ale was meant to honor the greater prairie chicken that once thrived throughout Kansas. Unfortunately, the species is threatened due to habitat loss, though conservation efforts are in the works. To celebrate both Kansas and the prairie chicken, Sandhills will be donating 10% of the sales from this beer to the Audubon Society.

Transport Brewery in Mission threw a release party for their Kansas Day IPA. They decided to keep this beer hyper-local and utilized hops from Kansas Hop Co. The crew from Kansas Hop Co. was at the brewery to help with the celebrations and release party.

Out in Lawrence, both Fields & Ivy Brewery and Free State Brewing Co. celebrated in their own individual ways. Fields & Ivy threw a launch party for their Kansas Lager. Field & Ivy’s Kansas Lager uses locally grown malt from Franklin County, Kansas, and hops from Kansas Hop Co. Only 40 barrels were brewed of this unique Vienna lager. Free State took a slightly different approach and raffled off some amazing photographs of Kansas taken by their head brewer.

Cheers to you, Kansas. Thanks for all of the great breweries you’ve contributed to the state!

Beer Releases

Pathlight Brewing — 11200 W. 75th St., Shawnee, Kansas — is back with a collaboration with the soon-to-be-opened Vine Street Brewing Co. Dubbel Impact is a Belgian dubbel utilizing both traditional and new school brewing techniques. Coming in at 7% ABV, this beer has flavors of toffee, caramel and sarsaparilla with that classic spicy finish from the Belgian yeast.

Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is celebrating the 161st birthday of the state of Kansas with a new beer. Kansas Day IPA is a 7% ABV juicy and hop forward IPA using locally grown Kanook hops from Kansas Hop Co. Celebrate Kansas’ birthday in a delicious way.

Free State Brewing Co. — 636 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, Kansas — has a crisp new beer for your drinking pleasure. Post Rock Pils (5.6% ABV, 37 IBUs) is a pilsner with both German and American characteristics. The beer uses German malts and is hopped with German and American hops, resulting in a crisp lager with a bit of spice to it.

3 Trails Brewing Co. — 111 N. Main St., Independence, Missouri — has released The Landlord, an 8.7% ABV hazy red IPA. This beer was brewed with wildflower honey and rye., leading to notes of citrus and red fruit with a spicy, peppery finish.

Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — just released two new beers. First up is their latest double dry hopped hazy IPA, Heavy Blazer. Despite the fact that the beer is 7.2% ABV, the juicy, dank flavors make it extremely crushable. The second beer is a dark Mexican lager. A bit lighter at 4.2% ABV, Be The Reaper is the perfect beer to sip on while watching the Chiefs.

Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — released the beer they brewed in honor of their seventh anniversary. Jolly Company is a big Russian imperial stout. This 12% ABV beer has flavors of dark cocoa, toffee and mocha. If you’re lucky you may be able to find a couple of their variants on draft at their public house. They have single kegs of Jolly Company Horchata, Barrel Aged Thou Mayest Coffee, and Chocolate and Cara Cara.

BKS Artisan Ales — 633 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Missouri — is rocking a couple of new IPAs this week. First up is Strata-fied Layers IPA (7% ABV) hopped with Strata and Motueka hops eliciting flavors of citrus, strawberry and lime. Double Double (Yellow Label) is an 8.5% ABV DIPA using four different citrus forward hops, resulting in flavors of orange, citrus zest, lychee fruit and lemon-lime soda. Last but not least is Metaphysical Infinity IPA (6.8% ABV), which focuses on Galaxy hops for an out of this world drinking experience!

Alma Mader Brewery — 2635 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — is taking you on a trip to France with their latest beer. Parlez is a rare French-style pilsner. This beer exclusively featuresStrisselspalt, Triskel and Barbe Rouge hops. These lead to floral and fruity notes in this exquisitely crisp lager.

Beer Events

Friday, Feb. 4

Stockyards Brewing Co. — 1600 Genessee St., Ste. 100, Kansas City, Missouri — is kicking off February with a night of music. First Friday Record Roundup will feature Bostevphus in the tap room playing various full length records. You’ll hear outlaw country, rockabilly, swing and honky tonk starting at 6 p.m. and going until 9 p.m. As always, the event is free to attend.

Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is throwing a benefit event to support one of their longtime regulars. Post Its For Chuck will benefit Chuck Marksbury, who has been hospitalized with COVID since December and has a long road to recovery ahead. A portion of the proceeds from beer sales will be donated to his recovery. Post It Notes will also be available to write get well wishes.

Saturday, Feb. 5

KC Bier Co. — 310 W. 79th St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a day of beer and songs on tap for you. To celebrate the yearly release of Edelweiss, KC Bier Co. is throwing a Sound of Music Sing-Along. The movie starts at 6:30 p.m. and seating is first come first serve.

Apex Aleworks — 4356 S. Noland Road, Independence, Missouri — is back with another installment of their Homebrew Class. Led by Apex’s head brewer Ben Tatman, attendees will learn the process of brewing from starting to finish. Class size is limited to eight people to ensure everyone can have an optimal learning experience.

Sunday, Feb. 6

Crane Brewing Co. — 6515 Railroad St., Raytown, Missouri — is helping you break out your creative side. They’ll be hosting Zen Painting with Margarita Friedman in their tap room from 1-3 p.m. Unlike normal paintings that are done by individuals, this will be a collaborative effort. Paintings will be done by two or more people at the same time. The event is free and open to all ages.

ExBEERiment — 925 E. Lincoln Lane, Gardner, Kansas — wants to test your Disney knowledge. They’ll be hosting a free Disney Trivia event. Trivia kicks off around 4 p.m. and is open to all ages. Winners will receive Disney-themed prizes.

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.