In the area, ranked (not up for discussion):

Alma Mader
Nimble
Boulevard
City Barrel
Double Shift
Torn Label
Rochester
Casual Animal
Border
Brewery Emperial
Red Sash

Have yet to try Outlaw. Can you smoke indoors?

Yes.

They have an expansive filter system. Plus the ceilings are 45-50 ft up.

Killer humidor and selection.

Feel the barrel in City Barrel is more of a wild ale program than big stouts but phisherman can likely provide greater insights into that.

Yes, sours and IPAs. And some solid lagers.

Lots of hops on right now. You can never go wrong with fresh Rad AF and the Rad on draft there will be very fresh. Haz-E Boy and Hop Machine are both fun and super fresh.

Don't sleep on the City Pils or the Good Luck, which is a foeder fermented lager. Super soft mouthfeel, just stupid crushable.

Two stouts, Darkstar is barrel aged with peanut butter and chocolate and Cosmos is just a straight imperial stout.

Also a couple sours on. I think Chambourcin Geiser is on right now; it's one of my favorite wilds that they do (and they've done a lot).

Nimble has no business being over anyone else on this list, except for maybe Red Sash, Border or Calibration (not on the list).

Give Strange Days a chance. They turned a lot of people off before the new head brewer started there. He does solid hops and amazing lagers. He originally came to KC to be head brewer at City Barrel and Strange Days poached him when they started having issues with their brewer at the time.

The Darkstar raised an eyebrow when I saw it on their tap list.

They're pretty lucky they didn't get a C&D for it. Several other breweries have variations on that name, the most famous being Fremont and their amazing Kentucky Dark Star (absolutely one of the most OG barrel-aged non-adjunct imperial stouts).

It's pretty good too. I'm kinda past the heavy adjunct pastry stout phase and this isn't to that end. The peanut butter and chocolate integrate well.

I'm not up there every Friday afternoon/evening but anyone interested should holler if you're up there and I'll buy you a beer.

I like strange days, but haven’t been there awhile. Didn’t really consider it “in the area” tho.

I wish it were. I'm a huge fan of barrel aged stouts, but IMHO, both Darkstar and Cosmos are ruined by the addition of adjuncts. Cosmos has 'Ethiopian cacao nibs and Mexican vanilla' according to their website. Great food and other styles there though.

Strange Days impressed when I was back in mid-2021. Great space as well.

I also like City Diner next door for pre-game breakfast grub.

It's in City Market which, while not downtown per se, isn't all that far. Maybe 2 miles at most.

Check it out, you'll dig it.

Good to know. I usually give breweries a year or two to settle in before judging them. I gave Strange Days two chances, a little over a year apart, and both times, the beer was pretty awful. I never went back. On this recommendation, I will try them again.

Fully agree about Nimble. I don't understand the fuss. Beers weren't bad, but there are many better breweries around town. Calibration is pretty awful too, but they have a nice patio in the summer. I will go there on occasion after loading up on good Cinder Block beer and enjoy some sun.

Good catch on that one. That's different from last year (2020) when they released a base stout and then a bunch of individual adjunct treatments. The first plain batch was the best. The Coconut variant tasted like Coppertone sun tan lotion.

Not many great BA stouts around town if you're into the classic big dogs. Ursa is pretty good and I'm glad that it got brought over from McCoy's. BKS did Derelection last year which was very good. Alma Mader is releasing one at some point this year, not sure when though. I was just bugging Nick about this on Saturday. I know Cinder Block releases Black Squirrel yearly but I've never cared for it. Too much of that musty oak funk.