The Brew Top is a happy hour, nightlife destination in Corbin Park

At 4:30 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, the bar inside Overland Park’s Brew Top Pub and Patio was packed with people socializing over $1 beers and 60-cent Buffalo wings.

The diverse happy hour crowd included men in baseball hats and hockey jerseys, women in medical scrubs, and worker bees unwinding in corporate office attire. In the game room next to the bar, two friends rolled up their button-down shirt sleeves and challenged one another to a serious-looking game of Golden Tee.

Since opening in February 2014, The Brew Top has become a go-to gathering spot in the still-developing Corbin Park development at 135th and Metcalf Ave., which is also home to a new Spin Neopolitan Pizza and Ted’s Cafe Escondido, a Mexican restaurant with roots in Oklahoma.

The Brew Top, which also has locations in the Northland and Lee’s Summit, lures customers with roomy patios, daily specials and live entertainment. The Overland Park location’s rooftop deck seats 120 people and overlooks Scheels, a massive sporting goods store opening this summer. The deck has a four TVs, a full bar with 10 beers on tap, and is popular on warm, sunny days.

“When we opened the deck (in April) there were 50 people waiting in line,” says general manager James Mostrom.

The high-volume bar’s main level boasts a covered patio with eight tables, 27 TVs (including four HD projection screens) and a game room with pool, Big Buck Hunter, a punching bag, two Golden Tee games and a retro game arcade with Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga.

Despite all the TVs and the games, The Brew Top doesn’t feel like a sports bar, maybe because there’s no memorabilia on the walls. The bar’s decor consists mainly of craft beer signage and the wooden tops of whiskey barrels. There’s a roomy stage near the main bar where bands perform from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Recent acts have ranged from country (The Travis Gibson Band) to Dolewite, a hip hop cover band. The Brew Top, which is open until 2 a.m. daily, also has DJs on Wednesday nights and video bingo on Thursdays.

If your go-to drink is a carefully crafted cocktail that takes five minutes to make, The Brew Top is probably not your spot. Mostrom says the bar is all about speed when it comes to drinks — and that most customers wait 30 seconds or less for a beer, even on busy nights. The bar’s main bar has 24 brews on tap, and the selection changes often. When I went, I recognized several local tap handles, including Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale from Boulevard Brewing Co. and Dunkel from KC Bier Co.

The bar also offers more than 30 bombs — $4 shots with playful names such as Zombie Bomb (blueberry vodka mixed with melon liqueur, pineapple juice and energy drink). The food menu features a long list of shareable appetizers (loaded nachos, spinach artichoke dip, jalapeno poppers) as well as salads, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and a short list of entrees that includes fish and chips.

I tried the staff-recommended Top Notch Tenderloin ($8.99, or $6.99 on Tuesdays) with a side of waffle fries. The hand-breaded, eight-ounce tenderloin was fried until golden brown and served on a soft bun with crisp lettuce, red onion, a pickle spear and a side of potent horseradish.

Craving both pizza and Buffalo wings? Try The Brew Top’s Buffalo Chicken Pizza ($8.99 for a 10-inch). The crispy, cracker-thin crust is topped with five cheeses, spicy hunks of Buffalo chicken and a light sprinkling of dried herbs. Or you could always order one of the bar’s best-selling menu items, the Over the Top nachos ($8.99). The loaded platter of chips is perfect for sharing with friends — especially during happy hour, when appetizers are $6 each.

This story was originally published May 14, 2015 at 10:01 AM with the headline "The Brew Top is a happy hour, nightlife destination in Corbin Park."