Tap List | River Bluff Brewing To Run Holiday Toy Drive Season of Giving, and Drinking, for Operation Breakthrough

With the upcoming holiday season nearly upon us, River Bluff Brewing is celebrating in a competitive yet generous way. The brewery, which has locations in St. Joseph and Kansas City, will be going head to head with itself. Each location will be collecting toys for Operation Breakthrough.

The competition comes into play based on which taproom can collect the most toys. Each brewery is accepting unwrapped toys for kids ranging from newborn babies up to 15 years old. Those toys will in turn be donated to Operation Breakthrough for their holiday store. 

Staff members from Operation Breakthrough have been providing Christmas gifts and meals since the early 1990s. Last year more than 1,000 families were served resulting in 3,400 children getting to experience Christmas.

Both River Bluff locations will be accepting toys through Nov 22. The taproom that collects the most toys will receive both bragging rights and a trophy. The best part is no one truly loses. It’s a win for River Bluff, Operation Breakthrough and most importantly the families in need.

Next time you’re headed to River Bluff, make sure to bring an unopened toy to help the kids!

Beer Releases

Discourse Brewing — 7211 W. 97th St., Overland Park, KS — has released Waves of Blonde, a light blonde ale that comes in at 4.9%. Much like a lager, you’ll find that this beer is clean, crisp and very drinkable.

Friction Beer Co. — 11018 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — wants to rev up your palette with their new brew. Lamborghini Shitzu is a new 7.6% IPA gracing their tap lines. The beer utilizes the most recent crop of Galaxy hops as well as Bru-1. You’ll get notes of peach with undertones of pineapple and apricot with a nice, hoppy bite at the end.

Alma Mader Brewery — 2635 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri — has released a brand new Vienna-style lager. Dubbed Ancient Trade, the beer was originally brewed by KC Biermisters members Jared and Sydney Teany. After winning a competition, Jared and Sydney worked with Alma Mader to scale the beer up. The beer pours a nice amber and has lots of bready, toasted notes. You can also snag their annual October release of Celestial Treat, a 7% New England IPA with tons of tropical notes.

BKS Artisan Ales — 633 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Missouri — is getting spooky with three Halloween-themed beers. First up is their Halloween edition of Counterculture, a 7% IPA. While the base is the same, this version added Nelson Sauvin and increased the amount of Australian Galaxy hops they use. Next up is Flower of the Dead, an 8% hazy DIPA. The beer has a huge hop aroma on the nose meant to honor the Día de los Muertos tradition. Finally we get to Chilling Thrilling, a West Coast pale ale coming in at 5.5% ABV. The beer uses seven different hops but isn’t as aggressively bitter as a full-on West Coast IPA.

Strange Days Brewing — 316 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri — decided to use a new experimental hop for the first time and came up with a scary good beer just in time for Halloween. They released Content Creature, a 7.3% double dry-hopped IPA. The beer uses Nectaron, El Dorado and experimental hop HBC 586. Each hop is showcased throughout the beer. You’ll start off with aromas of gummy candy followed by flavors of peach and lychee all tied together nicely with a dank backbone.

Rockcreek Brewing Co. — 5880 Beverly Ave., Mission, Kansas — brewed a new beer in the name of the fall season. Cornucopia is a hazy DIPA coming in at a hefty 8.3% ABV. Hopped with Nectaron and Citra, you’ll get a tropical bouquet on the nose leading into flavors of pineapple, guava and mango. 

Beer Events

Saturday, Nov. 4

Transport Brewery — 11113 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas — is participating in this year’s Kaw Valley Wine Rally. While the event is mostly centered around eight local wineries, there are a few breweries taking part. Joining Transport will be Fields & Ivy and Sandhills. The wineries will be offering a flight of eight wines while each brewery will have a different special. The $50 passes will run through March 31 and can be picked up at any of the participating locations. 

Sunday, Nov. 5

KC Bier Co. — 310 W. 79th St., Kansas City, Missouri — is kicking off Sunday with a bit of relaxation. They’ll be hosting an hour-long Hatha breath-based yoga class that will help you tune into the connectedness between and body. The cost of the class always includes one beer after the class. Please make sure to bring your own yoga mat.

Fields & Ivy Brewery — 706 E. 23rd St., Lawrence, Kansas — has an afternoon of creativity and fun for you. They’ll be doing a Pottery Pub event where you can create your own piece of ceramic art. Your ticket will include your choice of pottery, glazing materials, everything you need to know about how to create your unique piece and one beer. You’ll be able to pick up your finished piece one week after the event.

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.