Wicked Brew Tour Challenges
Posted on July 16, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Brian and I are normally done with the #WickedBrew tour by now but we started a lot later this year. We typically complete the drink tour which usually starts after Memorial Day during the month of June. Part of it is I can walk to to several coffee places that participate in the tour from my office downtown. However, this hasn’t been possible since I’ve been working from home.
Also, the tour didn’t happen last year because of the pandemic so I didn’t realize it was happening this year until much later. Anyway, we didn’t get started until after we returned from Colorado a couple of weeks ago.
I tried to get Brian to complete the tour with me over 4th of July weekend (we would have 3 days to get 10 stamps) but he was worried that his liver wouldn’t be able to handle it. Besides that, most of the places were closed on the 4th of July. We did manage to get four stamps on Saturday, July 3, though.
We started our tour by having lunch at the East Central location of Wichita Brewing Company. As East-siders, that location is most convenient for us.
We got our cards and first stamps and we were on our way.
Our next stop was Il Primo, a cute coffee shop across the street on the other side of Woodlawn. The coffee shop has been around for 20 years and yet, amazingly, Brian had never been there.
Look at this handsome guy!
I took a few pictures of the inside.
Also, I solved the “Riddle in the Dark Roast” and got a couple of extra punches on my Il Primo card. Go me!
They had one of the shirts on display at the counter.
We kind of did a beer-coffee-beer-coffee pattern, so our next stop was the PourHouse ICT, Walnut River Brewing’s taproom at Union Station.
Cheers! BTW, did you notice that Brian had on his 2018 Wicked Brew shirt?
My old fashioned wasn’t very good but our server was nice and still gave me a stamp for it. Not a lot of places can make cocktails as good as the Belmont.
We had lunch at WBC and some light food the PourHouse so then it was time for dessert, which was perfect because our next stop was Cocoa Dolce. Brian had never been to their downtown location.
The Cocoa Dolce Sweet Lounge is super cute inside!
I had a tipsy gelato which typically vanilla ice cream with salted caramel whisky poured over it but they actually let you pick your own spirit. I opted for Bailey’s to be poured over mine.
It kind of looks like a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy but I promise it’s gelato and it was amazing!
I highly recommend grabbing a friend and enjoying some coffee or one of the many flavors of hot chocolate they offer. And of course, trying some of their decadent and delicious artisan chocolates and gelato.
Brian got his usual black coffee and a couple of Wichita flag truffles and then we also got an Oreo cheesecake to share.
The Wichita flag truffles were almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
When this location first opened we got a bunch of free cheesecake from my coworker Amir’s friend who was the manager. That was my first experience with these amazing cheesecakes. Brian had never had it so I wanted him to get a taste. So even though we weren’t really hungry and didn’t need extra food, we got a cheesecake. We ended up taking most of it home.
They have the cutest cheesecake to go boxes!
We managed to get four stamps that day and that was Brian’s limit. The next day was 4th of July so then all the places were closed. It took several days before we could get our next stamp.
Stamp #5 was at Leslie Coffee Co.
I went to play pickleball with some friends after my Aqua Zumba class last Saturday. Then a bunch of us decided to have lunch at Merle’s after. Leslie Coffee, which is within walking distance of Seneca Park, is just down the street from Merle’s so it worked out perfect.
On Monday, I tried to talk Brian into getting a few more stamps so we planned to have dinner at River City Brewery after my Monday night Aqua Zumba class. Unfortunately, they were closed. So then we drove down the street to Norton’s. They were open but there was no food because there were only open because of the art show. Norton’s is normally also closed on Mondays.
So then were were like, “What about Hopping Gnome?” Piatto’s is next door and they have great pizza. They were also closed.
At this point we were just hungry and we didn’t even care about getting our cards stamped anymore. We ended up eating at Dempsey’s Burger Pub. Neither of us had been there in a while and they have great food also.
We were so hungry that we ordered way too much food. Brian got the beer cheese dip with pretzels and fries.
He also got a burger for himself because that’s what you get at Dempsey’s.
We shared a big basket of truffle fries, which were completely unnecessary after the regular fries which we didn’t know came with the beer cheese dip.
I got a couple of sliders, which were the perfect size. I told Brian that we should just get sliders and truffle fries next time to minimize all the wasted food but it’s kind of hard not to order one of the gourmet burgers when you’re at Dempsey’s because that’s kind of their thing.
Dempsey’s kind of reminds me of the Burger Stand (in Topeka and Lawrence) except I like the food at the Burger Stand better. I think it’s the closest thing to the Burger Stand that we have here. Dempsey’s burgers are pretty good — they are just not as good.
Anyway, the experience made me miss the Burger Stand. Brian has never been there so I’m hoping we can go one day. They have pickleball tournaments in Topeka sometimes. In fact, the Sunflower State Games is this weekend. I didn’t sign up for it though. Maybe I can sign up next year and then Brian and I can hit the Burger Stand while we are there.
Anyway, we still have a long way to go on this Wicked Brew tour. I’m hoping to get the rest of our stamps over the next few days because there are only a limited number of shirts and we don’t want to miss out.
Until next time, GNG.
Related Stories
« Logan’s 21st Birthday « this post » A Day with Lauren and Pat »
