Friday, August 27, 2010

Finding Love in Lee's Summit

We had a great night last night. Despite driving through traffic for over an hour yesterday (at least it wasn't that insane traffic jam in China) and arriving at the Flying Saucer to only obtain one ticket for CBS, we still had a nice time hanging out with our friend J and Mark from The Hopry. The CBS wasn't as "maple-y" as I remembered it being last year, but it was still an incredible beer. (And it's very possible my palate has changed.) Coffee, bitter roasted malt, dried fruit, vanilla, oak, and just a touch of maple sweetness. Keep an eye out for it next year; the Saucer's had it the past two years in a row, and I wouldn't be surprised if it made an appearance in '11.



We ate dinner, split an 8oz pour of CBS, and figured the night was still young - we had plenty of time to finally go to Gomer's in Lee's Summit. We'd both heard so many good things about it, and I'd recently seen that they had Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast stout in stock. What else were we going to do with our evening?

So, we hit the highway and, half an hour later, found ourselves in a beer wonderland. We walked in and saw an incredible amount of craft beer in refrigerated coolers straight in front of us. (It's worth mentioning, by the way, that they have a fantastic gin selection that rivals Lukas' in Martin City.) They have the entire Mikkeller yeast series, a ton of Belgian beer I've never seen here, and put simply, THE BEST beer selection in Kansas City. By "best" I don't mean the largest selection or the most bottles; they have the most thoughtful and interesting selection I've seen in this city.

We talked to the beer buyer for a while, who's about our age and a major beer nerd as well. He keeps their blog pretty up to date and works hard to ensure their beer selection's current and creative. I just wish they weren't so damn far out of town. However, I now have a reason to go to Lee's Summit at least once a month, and recommend you do the same. I'm embarrassed that I've never been here before. If you're any self-respecting beer lover, you owe it to yourself to make it out there on a regular basis.

In case you're curious, here's what we came home with:

  • Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek
  • Southern Tier Pumking
  • Mikkeller Frelser triple bock
  • Cantillon broucsella 1900 Grand Cru
  • Trois dames grande dame oud bruin
  • Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast
  • Rogue Chatoe Rogue OREgasmic 
  • Ska Nefarious ten pin imperial porter
  • Haand Bryggeriet barrel aged porter (aged in an aquavit barrel)
  • De Molen Heaven & Hell 
  • Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum double
  • Nogne O/Mikkeller Tyttebaer (cranberry wild ale) 
  • Vikings Blod Mead
  • Pirtle Blackberry Mead
  • Ben Middlemiss Benediction ale
  • Mikkeller Monks Brew
  • Sierra Nevada Tumbler
  • O'Fallon Pumpkin
  • Schlafly Pumpkin
Prost!

6 comments:

  1. I agree--Gomer's LS has the Best selection in town; Aaron makes some great choices! Thursdays are beer tastings, 6-8 PM. I bought a 6-pack of SN Tumbler last week; enjoying the 6th tonight! And, I love the Mikkeler series!

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  2. Nice haul, well worth some beer porn pics :D

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  3. I worked with the owner of that Gomers at Cerner... not sure if she still runs it though? Joyce Whitsit i think?

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  4. wiping the drool from my mouth!
    Yum...will have to tell me more about the gin too!

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  5. Suzee, they had maybe a dozen different GOOD gins there, including 2 gins (Old Tom & Small's) from Ransom, an excellent craft distillery out of Oregon. They had Plymouth, No 209, Hayman's, G'Vine, a couple of genevers, and a handful of other things. Can't remember it all ... guess I'll have to go back and take another look. :-D

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  6. Thoughtful is the perfect word to describe the selection at gomers. Also, as a mid town person who isn't too interested in driving to LS, I really appreciate the updated blog.

    I think the CBS tapping this year was a cool (though slightly frustrating) example of the growth of craft beer here. Last year we showed up at 7 and had no problem getting a table, tickets & a second glass. This year, not so much.

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