Tap List | Festival of the Lost Township & Hip Hops Hooray

The third annual invitational Festival of the Lost Township is slotted for Saturday, Sept. 16. in Raytown (62nd Street and Raytown Road). The event, hosted by Crane Brewing Company, features numerous craft brewers from across the U.S. and local homebrewers, plus area distilleries, cideries, meaderies, wineries, kombucha makers and other food and beverage artisans.

Andrew Carrales, co-owner and head of sales and marketing at Vanessa House Beer Company, shared some background on the Oklahoma City-based brewery and what it will bring to the festival.

“We are bringing our flagship beer the 401(K) Cream Ale,” Carrales said. “It gets its name from the company’s initial funding source. It’s our refreshing, crushable beer.”

Vanessa House will also bring its newest release, the Broken Tile Double IPA. The name is inspired by a 15-year-old story of an old roommate refusing to admit to kicking in the bathroom tile after a breakup.

“Lastly, since this is right at our one-year anniversary, we will be bringing an anniversary beer,” Carrales said. “It is an imperial cream ale with lactose, vanilla, pineapple and coconut.”

The brewery was launched by five guys with homebrewing roots.

“We like to play around with most styles honestly,’  Carrales said. “We have an eclectic love of styles. Our releases so far have lived on the maltier side of life, but we are looking forward to doing some sours and more IPA styles.”

Currently, Vanessa House only distributes in Oklahoma. The Festival of the Lost Township is a prime opportunity to try a taste of what a 401(k) can fund.

The team from Vanessa House will be pouring at the Festival of the Lost Township in Raytown. (Courtesy of Vanessa House)

Hey, Hey, Hey. It’s Hip Hops Hooray

The inaugural Hip Hops Hooray Music and Beer Festival takes place from 2 to 6 p.m. on Aug. 26 at The DeLeon Event Space and Chapel (3235 Gillham Plaza). Co-founded by Woodie and Abbie Bonds and venue owners Eric and Jodie DeLeon, the festival focuses on craft beer and hip-hop music. According to Abbie Bonds, her husband Woodie created the festival to offer “something a little out of the norm.”

“It is his dream scenario to have a venue that would be able to do this on a regular basis,” she said. “We thought this might be a good trial run to see our community receives the idea.”

The festival features nearly two dozen homebrewers (Bri Burrows, Eye for an Eye Brewing, Scouting the Taps) and local craft breweries, such as Torn Label, Walnut River, Colony and Cinder Block.

“We will also have a few supportive breweries from outside the Kansas City community at this historic event space,” Abbie said. “Together, [they] show that diversity in the way beer is made, at home or commercially, doesn’t always make a difference in the quality.”

A portion of profits from the event will be donated to Little Warrior Princesses, a charity that provides gas and food gift cards to families with babies in area neonatal intensive care units.

99 Hops House Now Cans Beer in Crowlers

99 Hops House, a taproom in Argosy Casino, installed a crowler machine las week. A crowler is a 32-ounce can that can be filled at the tap with any beer of choice. The can is sealed by a bar-top crowler machine that creates a seamed lid.

“We are able to can all of our 92 drafts,” said 99 Hops House manager and certified cicerone Eric Flanagan. “Crowlers hold beer better in a refrigerator than growlers. They are a better receptacle to fight oxidation.”

Customers may fill a crowler from a rotation of 28 beers on tap at the self-serve beer wall. A bartender can also fill the crowler with other beer options available behind the bar. The bartender seals the crowler and marks the contents on the side of the package.

Check out Early Harvest King’s Vine, a beer made with local hops at the taproom at Double Shift Brewing Company’s taproom. (Pete Dulin | Flatland)

Tap Notes

Double Shift Brewing (412 E. 18th St.) released Early Harvest King’s Vine (7.1 percent, 61 IBU), a fresh-hop IPA brewed with hops grown by Kansas Hop Company in Ottawa, Kansas. This IPA features Chinook and Cascade wet hops, which provide an aroma of tangelo, lemon and cantaloupe rind. Looking ahead, brewer Bryan Stewart is brewing an imperial black saison with blood orange during the eclipse for a September release.

McCoy’s Public House (4057 Pennsylvania Ave.) has Hogpound Brown Ale (5.7-percent ABV), a McCoy’s staple, back on tap. Also on tap, Belgian pale (6.2-percent ABV) made with Pilsner malt and spicy Belgian yeast and hopped with Cascade and Citra hops.

Green Room Burgers and Beer (4010 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite D) has Papa Louie’s English Mild Ale (4.5-percent ABV, 20 IBU) on cask and house drafts include Hoppy Lager (6.8-percent ABV, 60 IBU) and Super Sai Yon Saison (9.1-percent ABV, 0 IBU). Look for a “fresh IPA” for Charlie Parker’s birthday, Aug. 29th.

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— 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.