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|  | |  |  |  | | | Nevada Beer Nuggets - August / September '09
By Bob Barnes
It seems everyone likes to come to Las Vegas, with a tally of 38 million visitors annually making a trek to the City of Lights. No longer a beer desert, Vegas has made great strides towards becoming a beer destination, or at least a fun destination with plenty of good beer to be found. Southern Nevada now has 15 breweries and brewhouses, and northern Nevada has nine more. Collectively Nevada breweries have earned 34 GABF medals and 10 WBC honors.
If planning a trip to the Silver State, a good bet is to check out the Nevada Brewer’s Guild at <www.NevadaBrewersGuild.com>, where you’ll find information, maps and links to each and every Nevada brewery. For weekly email notification of beer events, sign up at <www.meetup.com/Vegas-Beer-Lovers> for Vegas and at
<www.meetup.com/Reno-Sparks-Beer-Lovers> for Reno events.
You don’t have to leave the Vegas Strip to locate craft beer. Locally brewed Sin City Brewing Company has two locations, one at Planet Hollywood and at Flamingo Las Vegas; and Tenaya Creek Brewing Company has multiple tap handles throughout the resort corridor. Most of the mega-resorts have a smattering of high-caliber craft beer, notably the MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Venetian/Palazzo, Bellagio and New York New York.
Like burgers with your beer? Las Vegas has three gourmet burger eateries - Burger Bar at Mandalay Place, BLT Burger at the Mirage and LBS Burger at Red Rock Station. All are located in casinos and serve more than 50 craft beer selections.
When in Vegas, for a mega-selection of craft brews, must visits are Freakin’ Frog, the Yard House and the 32E Draft Bar at the newly opened M Resort. The Frog has more than 500 different beers and is located across the street from UNLV. The Las Vegas Yard House pours 160 taps and is the top-selling location in the chain. It’s located in Town Square on South Las Vegas Blvd. (The Strip) at the 215 freeway. The 32E Draft Bar sports 96 taps. If you’re gambling, your beer is free, and if playing in the vicinity of the 32E Draft Bar, you can get a 12oz. pour of any of the aforementioned taps. Otherwise, the bars throughout the casino carry bottles of Anchor Steam, Chimay Red and Unibroue La Fin du Monde. Located on Las Vegas Blvd., it’s at the south edge of town about eight miles from the big tourist mega-resorts. From the I-15 take the St. Rose exit and it’s right there.
Las Vegas has numerous world-class restaurants, but dining at one doesn’t mean you have to skip enjoying great beer. The majority of the high-end restaurants in the resorts offer at least a handful of fine brews, and usually a few Belgian-style ales. Rosemary’s Restaurant, voted the 4th best beer restaurant in North America in the CBN Writer’s Poll, has been a pioneer in proving gourmet restaurants prosper by having a beer list equal to its wine list. Rosemary’s has promoted craft beer by hosting quarterly beer pairing events since its opening 10 years ago. Now it would seem that beer dinners are gaining a firm foothold, with beer pairings occurring each month in Southern Nevada.
In June, BJ’s celebrated the beers of Flanders with a five-course feast. Held at the BJ’s Brewhouse in Las Vegas (Summerlin location), General Manager Rickey Dobbs did an admirable job prefacing each course with a description of the beer and food pairing. The Aperitif was Brugse Zot (Flemish for Bruge Fool) from Brouwerij de Halve Maan, a brew that is fruity, with hints of lemon and a faint maltiness. The appetizer course paired BJ’s Nit Wit with Thai Shrimp Lettuce Wraps. The tartness of the orange peel and coriander in the Nit Wit balanced with the sweet spiciness of the appetizer. BJ’s Sesame Chicken Salad was matched with Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale. Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge, this tart, sour ale is named after the famed Philly restaurant and aged in oak casks, resulting in a malty, fruity, sweet and sour taste that paired well with the sweet sesame soy dressing in the salad. The palate cleanser was BJ’s Piranha Pale Ale, an intensely hoppy, fresh, unpasteurized Reinheitsgebot beer brewed with four hops. Poperings Hommel (Flemish word for hops) from the Brouwerij Van Eecke was served with Southwestern Pizza topped with chicken, green chile and cilantro. The dryness in the beer worked well with the heat in the pizza. The powerful 10.5% Gulden Draak (from Brouwerij Van Steenberge), was backed up with a hearty Old-Fashioned Pot Roast. A visit to BJ’s would not be complete without enjoying a pizookie. In this case we were treated to a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut version, complimented by a Troubadour Obscura from the Brouwerij de Musketiers, an 8.2% Mild Stout that Rickey described as, “like having a cup of coffee with your dessert.”
The 3rd Annual Lee’s Beer Experience took place on May 30 at the Las Vegas Hilton and turned out to be a great opportunity to sample more than 300 different quality brews. Nevada breweries were well represented, with several styles of beer from BJ’s, Colorado Belle’s Boiler Room, Boulder Dam Brewing, Buckbean Brewing, Joseph James, Tenaya Creek and White Pine Brewing. The Southern Nevada Ale Fermenters Union (SNAFU) homebrewers club booth had a steady stream of takers, as it served 16 of its members’ creations and debuted their new portable bar system. The event was sponsored and produced by Lee’s Discount Liquor with all net proceeds benefiting Lee’s Helping Hand, the charity arm of Lee’s that provides support to several local charities. Summer in Nevada can be brutal, but fortunately we have obliging brewers hard at work to quench our thirst.
Scott Manning at the Reno BJ’s has a recipe that has been adopted for company-wide distribution, his 2008 GABF gold winning Oktoberfest lager, which is due out September 1. Scott will have his hands full, brewing enough to supply the BJ’s locations in Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Colorado.
Across the border in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Four + division of Uinta Brewing has released its Wyld Organic Extra Pale Ale. Previously named Wildfire, Wyld is brewed with organic barley malt and is USDA Certified Organic.
In Las Vegas, history expert Dave Otto at Big Dog’s celebrated our country’s birthday with his USA IPA, featuring all US Cascade hops; its release date was July 2, the day the Declaration of Independence was read aloud publicly in Philadelphia in 1776. Richard Lovelady at Gordon Biersch will roll out his annual Festbier in mid-September. at Matt MarinoMain Street Station’s Triple 7 Brewpub will once again brew his popular Belgian IPA, which will be aged with some toasted oak spirals for some added complexity. As always, great beer happens in Vegas!
32E Draft Bar @ The M Resort
12300 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Henderson, NV 89044
702-797-1000
Bob Barnes, a native Las Vegan, is celebrating his 10th anniversary as a regional correspondent for the Celebrator Beer News. He welcomes your inquiries and is standing by to assist you in your Vegas beer quest. He can be reached via e-mail at LVBobB@juno.com.
*This article is published in the Celebrator Beer News - August / September ‘09 Issue
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