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.

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.

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.

This Weekend in Free Fun

As usual, it's 2nd Saturday up in Weston, MO - Shopping and tastings 'til 8pm, dining and entertainment 'til midnight. And it's a nice late-afternoon or evening drive up to Weston. A lovely little town, it is.

It's 2nd Saturday in KCK, too. They have an Artwalk.

More free fun in KCK - the Strawberry Hill Festival. Click the picture of their poster below for details:
The 30th annual Art Westport is this weekend, as well. Not that exciting to me. But it is all local Kansas City area artists. And it's free - unless you stop for cocktails. Which probably makes it a

LOT more fun, but a lot less free. (This is the problem with a lot of free fun, I am finding. Free stuff is more fun if it involves alcohol, but the alcohol portion of the fun is generally not free.)

Also, there is the usual wine tasting at CVS at 75th & Wornall, in Waldo. Gomer's South has their usual tasting @ 3pm on Saturday, as well as a witbier tasting on Monday evening. Gomer's Lee's Summit has a Friday night wine tasting.

By the way, the Case Man and I drove past the Gomer's in Parkville on our little road trip north. It's really really nice looking. We didn't go in, but it looked pretty cool- like a giant wine barrel and they had grapevines growing outside the building and a nice looking patio, too, I think. They have a beer tasting at the Parkville location this evening from 4-7, and a wine tasting tomorrow afternoon from 12-4.

Free Wine Tasting @ Cellar Rat

Enjoy a free wine tasting tonight at Cellar Rat Wine Merchants (named KC Magazine's Best Wine Merchant in 2008 & 2009) in the Crossroads at 17th & Baltimore. Featured guest is Lucio Mastroberardino of Terradoro Winery in Campania, Italy. They will also have an Italian cheese plate.

Hotestly, I have not yet made it down to Cellar Rat, but I get their weekly email newsletter and I really need to pay them a visit. Their store looks fantastic, and it looks like they have some fun tasting classes (that aren't all free, but relatively cheap - Happy Hour is $15 per person, lasts one hour - includes 6 wines plus plus cheese & charcuterie plates for the table) and a couple of free tastings each month.

Alrighty...and now, for some Free Fun!

I'm back! Went on vacation, work as been crazy, blah blah blah.

So here's what's goin' on this weekend, kiddo's!

We've got lots of Free Music Fun:

Friday Night Live in the Power & Light - the Zero's are performing. Free admission, but the alcohol will cost if you aren't the DD. And being the DD is not only Free Fun, but DUI's are definitely NOT Free Fun. Far from it, in fact.

Eddie Money is playing at Crown Center for the Free Friday Night Concert Series. I bet he plays this song. And hey - you can even take the Metro to Crown Center. It's especially convenient if you live in my neck of the woods - there's a Park & Ride right near 75th & Wornall. The Metro isn't free, but it is very cheap! And you don't have to drive. And.....Eddie Money plays the saxaphone. Coo-ol!

Parkville Riverfest is back! And it's Free! Bring a lawnchair or blanket, it's gonna be a fabulous weekend for an outdoor event like this. No outside beverages are allowed, but they will have beer & wine vendors in the park.

If you will be at the Overland Park Farmers Market on Saturday morning, a band called The Brew will be playing there at 10:30. I have never heard of them / cannot vouch for their quality, but you can watch this video and judge for yourself. Hmmm. Should be pretty kid-friendly, I think.

The CaseMan and I, however, will be at the Farmers Market in the River Market Downtown. I doubt it will be Free Fun, because I know we will buy stuff, but it's stuff I won't have to purchase at the grocery store. And maybe I'll happen past the Shatto Milk booth!

Also, it's Ford Free Fridays at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. I can't find anything on their website, and I haven't ever attended, so I don't know what this is, exactly, since the museum is always free. So if anyone knows anything about this, feel free to leave a comment.

One more - Gomers Lee's Summit has a wine tasting this evening. There is also the usual Friday night wine tasting at CVS, 75th & Wornall.

Shatto Family Day!!!

Holy cow, this would be so much fun! If only I didn't have the Case Man's birthday to celebrate. Shatto Milk Company is having their open house Family Day at the Farm on June 20th. You can schedule a tour of the farm anytime of the year, Tuesday thru Saturday, but it's by appointment only and it's normally $5 per person (kids age 2 and under are free.) Family Day is free! I have been wanting to visit the Shatto Farm forever. I guess we'll have to wait for their next event to have some free fun at the dairy farm. And I love their milk. It's so yummy! It says so on their charming glass bottle! Try the rootbeer flavor - it's like a creamy rootbeer float in liquid form. Good stuff, Maynard!

This cow is so cute. I want to meet her!

UPDATE: You can also meet Shatto Milk at the City Market on Saturday's. And I hear they may even hand out free samples!

Free Tastings...Yum!

Check out CVS in Waldo at 75th & Wornall on Friday evenings. They have free wine tastings in their liquor department! Plus, if you purchase a "six-pack" of wine, you get a nice discount - 10% I think.

Gomer's also has free wine tastings and events at their stores. I'll try to keep up with them on my blog, but you should call and check your favorite location each week. In my neck of the woods, at the South Kansas City location, tonight there is a meet & greet with Left Hand Brewery (and their brewmaster) from 4-6pm. I have not tried their beer yet - I will as soon as I get out of the office this afternoon - but I already like them. They dig chicks who dig beer. They even have a girls-only club. Cool! Too bad I'd have to go all the way to Colorado to attend a meeting. Also, on Saturday from 12-3pm, SoKC Gomer's is having a wine tasting.