Tap List | Standout Stouts

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.

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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.