Tap List | KC Media Collective and Crane Brewing Collaborate On New Beer Supporting Nonprofit Local Journalism

Crane Brewing Co. has teamed up with the KC Media Collective to brew an exclusive beer that will be available for the next six weeks.

Dubbed Brewshound, a portion of sales from this hazy pale ale will benefit the local nonprofit news collaboration. The beer will be available exclusively at Crane. 

The KC Media Collective consists of six nonprofit journalism and journalism-adjacent organizations: Kansas City PBS/Flatland, KCUR 89.3, The Kansas City Beacon, Missouri Business Alert, Startland News, and American Public Square. These organizations help provide a diverse range of local reporting and public events for various audiences. 

Crane will be hosting a release party for Brewshound in its taproom on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 5-7 p.m. Representatives from each of the KC Media Collective organizations will be on-site to talk shop and share some swag while you try this new beer. You’ll also be able to purchase an exclusive Brewshound t-shirt.

We hope to see you at Crane for the official release of Brewshound!

Beer Releases

Rockcreek Brewing Co. — 5880 Beverly Ave., Mission, Kansas — released its highly anticipated Oktoberfest Märzen. One of their crowd favorites, this 6.1% ABV lager is as classic a Märzen as it gets. It pours a deep amber giving way to malty flavors of toffee and toast. Like any great Oktoberfest beer, it finishes clean and crisp on the palette.

Fields & Ivy Brewery — 706 E. 23rd St., Lawrence, Kansas — put out its latest beer, ‘55 Step Side, as an homage to historic hop farmers. The beer is brewed only once a year and uses incredibly fresh, local hops that were harvested that same day. Keeping the local theme, this 7.1% ABV hop harvest ale was then dry-hopped with Kansas-grown Cascade hops. The addition of these fresh hops gives this beer fruit-forward flavors.

City Barrel — 1740 Holmes St., Kansas City, Missouri — teamed up with the crew from Vine Street Brewing for a new release you won’t want to miss. Neon Flamingos is a fun 6.2% ABV hazy IPA. The beer was brewed with raspberries, cherries and lemon peel. This combo brings about aromas of pink lemonade and citrus. The flavors are more akin to raspberry lemonade – slightly sweet, slightly tart.

3Halves Brewing Co. — 110 E. Kansas St., Liberty, Missouri — did a surprise one-keg release of Unstaved. The beer is a big 10.8% ABV Russian imperial stout. The flavors in this beer range from roasted cacao nibs to black coffee. It finishes with a slight bitterness. If you happen to miss this one, they’ll be releasing a barrel-aged version in November.

Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — just released the first original beer created by their new head brewer. Pyewacket’s Porter is a 5% ABV English porter that emphasizes lots of roastiness. The dark chocolate and caramel flavors are perfect for cooler fall weather.

Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a new release just in time for their beach week extravaganza. Stack of Dimes is a 4.7% ABV hazy session IPA. While it may be lower in alcohol, it’s still big in flavor. The Citra and BRU-1 hops give this beer notes of pineapple, mango and other citrus fruits. 

Beer Events

Friday, Sept. 30

Border Brewing Co. — 512 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Missouri — has an event for a good cause. Border has partnered with The Golden Scoop, a nonprofit coffee and ice cream shop that provides meaningful employment to those with developmental disabilities. The two will host Beer Float Night. You can get a beer float featuring Golden Scoop’s ice cream topped with Border’s chocolate milk stout. Proceeds from every float go towards The Golden Scoop. 

Pathlight Brewing — 11200 W. 75th St., Shawnee, Kansas — is kicking off a weekend Oktoberfest party on Friday night. This year’s event will feature new steins and four different German beers including their Ludwig festbier. Friday night will feature food from Scotty C’s and live music from The Happy Wanderers. On Saturday you’ll be able to enjoy pretzels all day, get a brat from Werner’s Fine Sausages and enter Pathlight’s stein holding competition.

Wind Shift Brewing — 3421B N.W. Jefferson St., Blue Springs, Missouri — has a fun event for book lovers on tap. They’ll be doing a Blind Date with Books, which is a unique way of doing a book swap. All you have to do is take a book you’d like to exchange, wrap it up, and add the genre with a few key elements the reader can expect. From there you simply choose a book that sounds like it would be up your alley!

Saturday, Oct. 1

Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — kicks off a two-day Fall Party. Between Saturday and Sunday, Servaes will be releasing five different fall beers. On Saturday they’ll have food available from Scotty C’s. The Scarecrow Festival also will be happening in downtown Shawnee. Sunday will kick off Cobbler Sour Sundays where the brewery will be releasing a different cobbler-themed sour beer every Sunday this fall. The brewery also will have pop-ups from Outliers Baked Goods and The Plaid Badger.

BarQfest — 8801 E. 66th St., Raytown, Missouri — is a fundraising event thrown by the Midwest Animal ResQ. Proceeds from the event will directly support the animals within their program. The fundraiser will feature a craft beer garden where you can sample beers from several local breweries. You can try beers from Crane Brewing Co., Diametric Brewing Co., Cinder Block Brewery and many more.

Boulevard Brewing Co. — 2501 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — has teamed up with the Women’s Sixers to Win for KC. They’ll be throwing the inaugural BLVD Revel Run, a 6K walk/run through Kansas City. The event is meant to celebrate women. After the run, you’ll be able to enjoy free Boulevard beverages, check out the Finisher Fest consisting of local women-owned businesses, and attend the official after-party on the Boulevard Rec Deck.

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.