Blind Tiger Brewing, Topeka KS

Summer Trip 2022, Day 5

As I said to the bartender as I closed my tab, Blind Tiger is the best reason to visit Kansas. He said that was quite a compliment, and I did mean it in the absolute sense.

I’ve visited Blind Tiger once before and loved both the beer and the food. It’s unusual to find a brewpub where both are just superb, but this place comes through in spades. Plus, it’s just an interesting place (and this is just a part of it):

I particularly enjoy the mural over the fireplace that progresses in short order from the Egyptians to this brewpub.

The first order of the day was a flight and it was tough to choose, but here’s what I had:

From bottom to top, these are:

Capital City Kölsch 4.6% – a delightful version of this German style with a lot of fruity goodness in it, very refreshing.

Top Gun IPA 7% – a “San Diego IPA” that supposedly has “indecent amounts of Amarillo & Simcoe hops,” but it’s so well balanced that it I hardly noticed! It also was extremely flavorful, a nice surprise.

Osage Orange Smoked Pilsner 4.4% – They use wood from the Osage Orange tree (I saw these trees for the first time in Columbus a year or so ago) to smoke the malt. At first sip, I didn’t taste the smoke, but it was definitely present the more I drank.

Holy Grail Pale Ale 6% – This is an American Pale Ale with a lot of malt in it, and “the color is like a Kansas sunset.” I liked it, but surprisingly, much preferred the Top Gun IPA.

Second Meal™️ itself was tasty and filling, a Smoked Turkey Sandwich (they roast and smoke it themselves) with bacon, Chipotle Mayo, etc., and a house salad. (I’d already eaten some of the salad … there truly was more than you see!)

If I hadn’t had another three hours to drive, I’d have ended with another flight or perhaps a couple of pints, but I contented myself with just a pint of their Oktoberfest (5.5%) to accompany the food and to serve as dessert. It was maltier than I prefer for that style, but still a well-made beer.

If only this place weren’t so far away from literally everywhere else!