Tap List | Move Over Summer, Make Way for Oktoberfest Season Prost!

While the recent heat waves may suggest otherwise, the Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end to summer. And that means we’re on the cusp of Oktoberfest season.

Local breweries started announcing Oktoberfest events within the past few weeks. Here’s a preview of three standouts from Transport Brewery, East Forty Brewery, and KC Bier Co. 

Transport’s Oktoberfest has grown in popularity over recent years. The three-day fest Sept. 21-23 features live music, authentic German food, a stein holding competition and more.

The following weekend you can hit East Forty’s Oktoberfest event on Sept. 30. They’ll be featuring six different beers including three different variations of their Oktoberfest (regular, smoked chili and cask). Like Transport, East Forty’s event will feature live music, German food and games.

All of this culminates Oct. 6-7 with Kansas City’s largest Oktoberfest event put on by KC Bier Co. Last year’s event drew 16,000 people who quaffed 346 kegs of beer in two days. As always, you can expect a vendor’s village, lots of food and beer stations, games, multiple tents and plenty of live German music.

If your favorite brewery hasn’t announced an Oktoberfest beer or event, expect those announcements to come any day now. Oktoberfest beers and events are a sure sign of fall. Prost! 

Beer Releases

River Bluff Brewing — 201 Main St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a brand new experimental cold IPA available. The 7.3% IPA named Main St. Manifesto is loaded with Blanc and Wakau hops. This combo lends itself to lots of fruity white wine characteristics. The IPA was fermented and conditioned at lagering temps that ensure it has a clean, crisp finish.

Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — has dropped another new beer called A Certain Something. It’s a 7.7% double dry-hopped hazy IPA. The base uses lots of adjuncts along with wheat and oats. It was initially hopped with Citra and Chinook Incognito before being double dry-hopped with more Citra. The resulting beer is a vanilla-forward, sweet, creamy beer with flavors of hop candy.

Boulevard Brewing Co. — 2501 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — is toasting the Kansas City Chiefs with their newest brew. To get everyone hyped up for the upcoming football season, Boulevard released Another Round. It’s an 8% imperial wheat ale. The beer has a subtle sweetness that pairs well with a hint of citrus. Whether it’s a preseason game, a regular season game, or the playoffs, this is the perfect beer to drink while cheering on the Chiefs.

City Barrel — 1740 Holmes St., Kansas City, Missouri — took their flagship beer, Rad AF, and created a similar version. Rad Hops of Destiny is a 7.3% New England-style IPA. The base is similar to Rad AF but with an added dose of dry-hopping using Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy and Talus hops. You can expect notes of passion fruit, pineapple, berries and pine.

Torn Label Brewing Co. — 1708 Campbell St., Kansas City, Missouri — has a new version of an old beer available. They just released the 45th variation of Hang ‘Em High, which was the first beer they ever brewed. Its popularity has allowed it to stick around and turn into a rotating hop series. This new variant features Citra, Columbus and Nugget hops. Like all of the versions before, the IPA comes in at 7%.

Friction Beer Co. — 11018 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — pumped out two new beers this week. The first release is On The Beach, a 6.1% fruited IPA brewed with peaches and lactose. Much like the name, each sip will make you feel like you’re on the beach. The second release is Sugalumps, a 6.7% New Zealand IPA. It was brewed with Nelson and Motueka hops. You’ll get lots of tropical fruit and citrus notes from this IPA.

Beer Events

Friday, Sept. 1

Rockcreek Brewing Co. — 5880 Beverly Ave., Mission, Kansas — is helping the city of Mission kick off Labor Day in style. The city is throwing a concert in the park featuring two cover bands, and Rockcreek will be the exclusive beer sponsor for the event. The concert at Mission’s Broadmoor Park is free of charge. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.

Servaes Brewing Co. — 10921 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — will be throwing a four-day party over the Labor Day weekend. The brewery will be serving up mimosas all weekend while also featuring a tap takeover on their guest beer lines. Hours of operation change each day so be sure to check them out so you can wave summer goodbye sip after sip.

Saturday, Sept. 2

Cinder Block Brewery — 110 E. 18th Ave., North Kansas City, Missouri — teamed up with Lei Away, a Hawaiian-themed pop-up, on a collaboration beer. The two cooked up Kaiaulu, a fruited sour fashioned after POG juice, which blends pineapple, orange and guava juices. The two are throwing a release party for the new brew complete with local surf rock band SUNDOG playing from 1-3 p.m. and a DJ spinning from 3-5 p.m. Tickets are $10 and include a free beer.

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.