Tap List | Standout Stouts
Double Shift Brewing Company has a new Huck Stout. (Pete Dulin I Flatland)
Published February 21st, 2017 at 6:00 AM
Several stouts on tap around town show the versatility of a beer style worth exploring.
Before the Golden Age of micro-brewing, Guinness, an imported dry Irish stout, was one of the few stouts commonly available on tap. Now, this dark beer style is available year-round from many craft breweries.
Double Shift Brewing’s Huck Stout is a smooth oatmeal milk stout brewed with huckleberry. According to head brewer Bryan Stewart and assistant brewer Jon Conway, the brewery acquired about 35 pounds of wild huckleberry that is used in the brew along with blueberry and gooseberry puree. The result is a stout (6.9 percent ABV) with medium body. Its slight sweetness and subtle fruitiness softens the roasted malt notes. Huck Stout is available in 750 ml. bottles in limited quantities at Double Shift.
Cinder Block Brewery continues to celebrate its release of Black Squirrel Russian Imperial Stout (read our illustrated origin story about how the beer was named here). Aged 13 months in whiskey barrels, the stout has complex flavors of vanilla, toasted coconut, oak, whiskey, and dark chocolate. Check the calendar below for beer release events. In next week’s #TapList, watch for details about Cinder Block’s Oyster Stout, its second annual collaboration with Jax Fish House.
Border Brewing may have some of its Raspberry Chocolate Milk Stout and Mint Chocolate Milk Stout available on tap after its second anniversary party this past Sunday. New beers include a New England-style Anniversary IPA, an IPA (7 percent ABV) brewed with 10 pounds of hops, and a bottle release of BFB100, a barleywine (10.8 percent ABV) that was Border’s 100th batch.
Brewery Emperial now has a Milk Stout (5 percent ABV) on tap that is smooth, silky, and easy-drinking.
While supplies last, Rock & Run Brewery offers a Blonde Chocolate-Raspberry, a Blonde Milk Stout made with raspberries, cocoa nibs, and lactose. Check the online tap list or call ahead. Also, look for ShamRock Red due out this month.
Still intrigued by the wide range of stouts on tap? Read details below on multiple stout-related events.
More February Tap Notes
Boulevard Brewing Company introduced its new year-round American Kolsch and limited release Rye-on-Rye-on-Rye this month.
Calibration Brewery has got a pair of new brews. Brewer Jack Owen said, “We recently put a Barley Wine on tap (11 percent ABV, 60 IBU). It’s a good sipping beer for the end of the Kansas City winter. We also put a Raspberry Cider on line (5.5 percent ABV). It’s tart and not overly sweet.”
Fringe Beerworks, Lee’s Summit’s first brewery, released Grapefruit Wheat as its debut house beer last week. The taproom also features select craft beers from guest breweries.
This Week
Tuesday, February 21
At Grain to Glass (1611 Swift, North Kansas City), they’re holding a You Be the Judge event. For this stout edition, participants will undergo a blind tasting of four stouts served in a Spiegelau stout glass, vote for the best, and keep the glass. Learn some techniques of judging from a Great American Beer Festival judge. The event is $20.
Wednesday, February 22
Cinder Block Brewery (110 E 18th Avenue, North Kansas City) pulls out the hospitality for its Second Annual Stout Party and pours five different versions of its Black Squirrel Russian Imperial Stout: 2013 and 2014 Heaven Hills barrel-aged Black Squirrel, its new release 2015 Woodford Reserve Barrel Aged Black Squirrel, 2015 unoaked Black Squirrel, and 2016 unoaked Black Squirrel on nitro. The 2016 Oyster Stout will also be tapped. Just so you know, it tastes nothing like shellfish.
Happy 28th Anniversary, Free State Brewing (636 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, Kansas). The brewery, which opened on February 23, 1989, was the first Kansas brewery to legally operate in more than 100 years. On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the brewery will offer special beer releases and prize drawings.
Thursday, February 23
Rusty Horse Tavern (6325 Lewis Street, Parkville) will tap Cinder Block’s 2015 Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrel-aged Black Squirrel starting at 6 p.m. Limited edition snifters available.
The taproom at Crane Brewing (6515 Railroad Street, Raytown) welcomes local guest breweries with some of the city’s best beers on tap — Torn Label Brewing Company’s Old Believer, Martin City Brewing Company’s Apposite, Kansas City Bier Company’s Winterbock, Boulevard Brewing Company’s Rye-on-Rye-on-Rye, and Cinder Block Brewery’s Weathered Wit.
Study Hall — Class Two: History of BLVD through Beer is a drink-and-think session at the Boulevard Beer Hall (2534 Madison), where brewery beer experts lead a 90-minute class. The class covers how Boulevard has grown as a brewery via a guided tasting of its beers. The session also includes a brief history and evolution of craft beer in the U.S. Tickets are $20, you must be over 21 years old to attend.
Friday, February 24
Tapcade (1701 McGee Street, #200) hosts Get Squirrelly, a release party where Cinder Block’s Black Squirrel is paired with the same whiskey as the barrels it was aged in. Starting at 6 p.m. meet brewery owner Bryce Schaffter and sales representative Melissa Simon.
Saturday, February 25
For its grand opening, craft beer bar HopCat (401 Westport Road) opens 100 taps flowing with rare and unusual craft beers. The first 200 guests get free Crack Fries, beer-battered fries sprinkled with cracked black pepper seasoning and served with warm cheese sauce, for a year.
The Foundry (424 Westport Road) is not playing when it comes to touting stouts. From noon to close, its Big Ass Stout Day will have 15 of the best stouts on tap that are available in the market. Look for 4 Hands Bona Fide, 4 Hands Madagascar, Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin, Founders KBS, Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout, and more.
The Kansas City Brew Festival at Union Station (30 W Pershing Road) gathers more than 40 breweries, 100 beers, music, and food from 1 to 4 p.m. At 3 p.m., Kaw Point Meadery (read about them here) will pour samples of its bourbon barrel peach mead, while supplies last. General admission is $35, VIP (which includes admission at 12 p.m.) is $45.
— Pete Dulin writes about food trends for Flatland and is the author of the “KC Ale Trail.” Follow @FlatlandKC and #TapList on Twitter for more food news and trends.