[Bearcat]

I'm not sure what could have possibly made this beer trip any better outside of finding more time for KC brews.

Off the plane, in a Lyft, to Mikerphone within minutes... Mikerphone never disappoints. The Bean Spirits are hard to beat, the port beer was interesting (grew on me) and Down with the Thiccness was great and definitely a smoothie beer.

Smells Like Bean Spirit Double Maple Stout - Coffee, 8% ABV
Breakfast stout ale with Maple Syrup & Tugboat Coffee.

Imperial Smells Like Bean Spirit - Hazelnut Stout - Imperial / Double Coffee
10.5% ABV
Imperial Breakfast Stout w/ Tugboat Sumatra Coffee, Vermont Maple Syrup and Hazelnuts

Horus Blends A-Lot Stout - Imperial / Double, 14.22% ABV
Blend of Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts Hand-Select by Kyle from Horus Aged Ales

Portugal. the Beer Barleywine, 12.5% ABV
Oat Wine Aged in Tawny Port Wine Puncheon Barrels

Down With The Thiccness Other, 6% ABV
Smoothie-Style Ale with Banana, Peanuts, and Marshmallows

The Reflex Pale Ale - Milkshake, 5% ABV
Fruited Pale Ale with Strawberry, Lactose, and Mosaic Hops

Spoiler!

Then it was onto Revolution's Brewpub to meet KCU. Great coffee stout and really good food.

Supermassive Café Deth
ABV:14.8%
Notes: A weaponized quantity of freshly roasted whole bean coffee from Dark Matter Coffee Roasters imbues our Deth’s Tar Barrel-Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout with assertive coffee aromatics without overshadowing the base beer on the palate. Pair with rich food or enjoy on its own. Keep cold. Enjoy now. We mean it.

Followed by a hand selected BA blind tasting at KCU's. I think my favorite was the BL/More collab, but they were all great BA stouts... there was one more in the lineup, but I hit a wall after 2 rounds of Mikerphone, 2 (or 3?) drinks at Revolution, and these heavy hitters.

Also hit up another restaurant and had a 2017 BCS Coffee.

Mikerphone: Barrel-aged Imperial Smells Like Bean Spirit with Tugboat coffee.

Mikerphone: BA Softly Spoken Lies, with cinnamon aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels.

Bottle Logic/More collab: Double Origin

Riverlands: S'mores

Spoiler!

Drove to Decorah for the Toppling Goliath beer pilgrimage. I don't know if there could possibly be a better time to go to TG... 3 Term Oils on tap and some in the fridge, Mornin' Delight, Kaiju Clash, Cherry Fandango. I would 100% drive 9 hours round trip just to have another flight (well, I had 3 an was there for over 4 hours).

Term Oil Coconut Monster Cookie, 13.4% ABV
Inspired by one of our favorite cold-weather treats, this bourbon-barrel-aged stout will warm you with notes of fresh monster cookies baked with heaps of honey-glazed toasted coconut, a touch of peanut butter, and candy-coated chocolates.

Term Oil Fluffernutter, 13.1% ABV
Term-Oil Fluffernutter begins with a special blend of Imperial Stout that aged in bourbon barrels for well over a year. To that already decadent base, we added dry roasted peanuts, peanut butter, marshmallow, and vanilla beans to create the liquid version of the classic Fluffernutter sandwich.

Kaiju Clash, 14% ABV
Collaboration with Bottle Logic. 20 month bourbon barrel imperial stout with Vanilla & Panama Geisha Coffee. Notes of vanilla frosting, dark chocolate, and fresh frothed espresso that segues into bourbon drizzled brownies.

Cherry Fandango, 5.1% ABV
Pouring a seductively red hue, with aromas reminiscent of cinnamon crusted cherry pie; this kettle sour treat is both tart and sweet. No pits about it, just the cherry on top, bottom and middle.

(and the list goes on)

Spoiler!

And made a quick stop at Pulpit Rock... they didn't have Collab-o-rate on tap and their other beers were kind of disappointing. They had a coffee porter that was good, but only had a couple there and bought a can of collab.

Spoiler!

Back in Chicago, went to More the next day. Pretty sure this was the first time trying More beer (except for the collab) and I was thoroughly impressed. The stout was fantastic and the others were impressive as well. Apparently just missed one of their best stouts, but no biggie at that point.

Henna: Coconut Double Rainbow Stout - Imperial / Double, 14% ABV
Imperial Stout with strawberry, vanilla, chocolate & coconut.

Lemon Meringue Double Marbles IPA - Imperial / Double Milkshake, 7.5% ABV
Milkshake-style Double IPA with Meyer lemon, vanilla, & milk sugar added.

Double Frooted Jam Fruit Beer, 8% ABV
Smoothie-style Ale with Red Raspberries, Tart Red Cherries and Black Currants

Spoiler!

Didn't get around KC much when I was there and should have taken better notes, but did try some local stuff... there was a Crane pineapple sour that was pretty good, and another non-KC one that stuck out was Golden Road Brewing Mango Cart Wheat.

Also had a German smoke beer that was very good along with a double bock that I was pretty impressed with... had several beers I normally wouldn't try.