Not free, but it's all the beer you can taste for only $25!

KC Beer Fest is back! At the Legends this weekend from 1-5pm on Saturday, October 17th. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door. The list of participating breweries is about a mile long and you get a commemorative tasting glass for as many 4 oz. samples of the over 300 craft and import brews as you like. Also, it's for a good cause! The event benefits the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City. So get out there, drink some beer and do some good! (Also, you designated driver gets in for only $10. That's practically free!)

More Free Wine Tastings...

Cellar Rat Wine Merchants in the Crossroads hosts a couple of free tastings each month. Following are their Free Fun October tastings:

• Saturday, October 17th, 4-7pm: Green Dirt & Inland Sea. I am assuming "Green Dirt" is referring to Green Dirt Farm, and may be featuring their sheep's milk cheeses? Inland Sea is a local "Urban Winery" that I didn't even know existed. Cool!
• Tuesday, October 21st, 5:30-7:30pm: Staff Picks Tasting
• Thursday, October 29th, 5:30-7:30pm: Owen Roe Winery tasting. I appreciate that Owen Roe's vinyards are in the Pacific Northwest.

They are all free! I may seriously check out the Green Dirt Farm/Inland Sea tasting this Saturday. I have a lot going on, so we'll see, but it sounds pretty interesting.

Check out Cellar Rat's calendar - they have a lot of other tasting events each month that involve a mininal charge.

Tour of Austrailia @ Gomer's South

Gomer's South will behosting a (Free) wine tasting on Monday, October 19th, from 6-8pm. They will be featuring wines from Old Bridge Cellars Imports, including:

Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir

Chambers Muscat

D'Arenberg Stump Jump Shiraz

D'Arenberg Custodian Grenache

Penley Estate Phoenix Cabernet

Plantagenet Hazard Hill Savignon Black Semillon

Leeuwin Estates Sibling Shiraz

Seating is limited to 32 people, so R.S.V.P. to 816-942-6200 if you are interested.

Free Fun with Wild Bill

At least for my friends and neighbors. 'Cause it definitley wasn't free for me. But it is fun. Neighbor Shane and the Case Man have already planned a trip to Costco this evening to get some meat. Which is not free fun. However, we have put this bad boy to use twice already since bringing Wild Bill home last Saturday. It's an investment. An investment in the longterm success of my marriage.

And it's pretty freakin' awesome, if I do say so.

SNL is free fun....

And Ryan Reynolds is hot and funny.

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Free Fun for Saturday, October 3rd

Mama Ray's Jazz Meets Blues Jam is rockin' BB's Lawnside BBQ on Saturday, as per usual. No cover charge.

The Weston Applefest is this weekend (preceding next weekend's Weston Irishfest - which is definitely fun, and definitely not free) and it's free if you don't buy anything. I could go and not buy any merchandise, because it sounds like it will be very crafty, but the apple butter cooked over an open fire and apple dumplings would be harder to resist. Jim "Stinky Feet" Cosgrove will perform on Saturday, and Bob Reeder on Sunday, among others. Weston has a lot of "fests."

The U.S. Air Force Band will be playing at the Liberty Memorial begining at 4pm on the southeast lawn. Should be a beautiful evening, clear but cool, so bring a blanket.

It's First Friday Again

Head down to the Crossroads. Have a free beer or glass of wine. Check out some art. Be worldly and sophisticated. Give made-up, non-sensical faux-critiques of paintings and sculptures you don't understand.

Cellar Rat Wine Merchants @ 17th & Baltimore will have a tasting tonight, also. It's all about the Malbec from Argentina. They will have cheese and charcuterie plates. (I know, I had to google charcuterie 'cause I'm not as spohisticated as I pretend to be. You were fooled by my impressive art critiques, weren't you? I sure as hell know what a "cheese plate" is, though!)

If you would rather hang with the plebes, there is always the tasting tonight at CVS in Waldo. Gomer's South has the usual wine tasting on Saturday from 12-3pm.

Free Theater!

October 15th is a Free Night of Theater 2009 in over 120 cities across the country! Check out their website to find yours and support local live theater! And it's Free!

For those of us in KC, the KC Rep is our participating theater. It looks like they will begin taking reservations for this free fun event on October 8th.

Brewery Tours are Free Fun!

So that last post about the ZON got me thinking about Boulevard. And what kindof Free Fun could be had involving Boulevard. Duh - they give free tours at the brewery! There aren't many spaces left in 2009, and it looks like they don't have the schedule for 2010 posted yet. A lot of people are taking advantage of this free fun, which includes samples. (Yes!)

Luckily, Schlafly in STL also gives tours - and they are also free! Yeah, I know. Driving to St. Louis is not free, and if you're there to check out Schlafly you'll probably have to eat and drink at one of their two brewpubs, which means you probably shouldn't drive the four hours back to KC and will probably also have to spring for a hotel room, unless you have friends or family to offer a free bed for the night. But the tour is free! Unlike that other brewery in STL *cough*Anheuser-Busch*cough*InBev*cough* who charges twenty-five bucks for the Beermaster Tour. What a bunch of BS that is, huh? Like they don't have billions and billions of dollars. Plus, Boulevard Pilsner kicks Bud's ass any day of the week. Schlafly has a pilsner, too, that I haven't tried, but am also certain is better than Budweiser.

I guess ZON is a winner....

I never really cared much for Boulevard's summer seasonal, ZON. But after not touching it for a couple of years, I tried it again this summer. The Case Man and I were stocking the beer & meat fridge with the Boulevard sampler packs from Costco, so we ended up with the ZON by default. So I tried it again, and to my surprise, I kinda liked it. Actually, I really liked it. It was nice and refreshing and citrusy on a warm summer day. I guess my palate has matured and developed a little in the last couple of years. Must have something to do with turning 30.

Anyway, after re-discovering ZON this summer, I was surprized and excited to read today that it was a gold medal winner at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival in the Belgian-style Witbier category. Yay Boulevard!

Blogging is free fun...

I had some free fun here and changed around the looky loo I had goin' on the ol' blog. I like it! New colors for winter. Let me know what you think. Well, I know Neighbor Shane will, because he's the only one who ever comments.

Where's (Free Fun In) Waldo?

Waldo Fall Festival 2009 is this weekend! There will be the usual festival festivities - police cars and firetrucks and clowns and whatnot. You know. Family fun for all! Those of us in the neighborhood can just walk there and then walk and have an afternoon beer at Lews or on the roof at the Well and then walk home! See - it's all in the area and Saturday should be a beautiful day, weather-wise. However, I will be enjoying some free fun at the pool for the last swim Saturday of the season.
Also, this Saturday is the Falldo Waldo Crawldo! Not free. Tix are five bucks in advance, ten at the event, and it's a pub crawl, so you have to buy beers. And, if you are smart, cab fare home. Or just walk home - that would be the free fun portion of the evening, I suppose. This year is bigger and better than ever - fourteen neighborhood drinking esatablishements are participating! Since Kennedy's has re-opened in the last year, and The Well opened recently, that adds two new spots on the roster. And The Well is a pretty sweet addition to the neighborhood, I have to say. Swagger is also a new on the list. I hear they have some pretty serious bar food, and some serious beer on tap. Although the Case Man and I have yet to make it up there for a meal and a brew.