Nevada Beer Nuggets

By Bob Barnes

  Beerfest season is in full swing, with two more events on tap for Southern Nevada in May. First up will be the Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company Brewfest VI on Saturday, May 2 from 2 to 8 p.m. This is an opportunity to try brews from all of the Vegas area brewpubs, as well as other select breweries from neighboring states. The fest will be held in the surrounding plaza and parking lot, with enough space to accommodate up to 14 beer booths. With each serving three to four brews, there promises to be a plentiful and well-rounded selection. A commemorative tasting glass and unlimited tasting will cost $25, with a $5 discount for Barley’s Brewclub Members (Barley's rewards program). You can view the list of participating breweries at www.WildFireGaming.com. Barley’s is in Henderson/Green Valley at Mountain Vista & Sunset.

  The 3rd Annual Lee’s Beer Experience will be held on Saturday, May 30 from 1 to 5 p.m. The fest moves to a new venue this year, the Main Ballroom at the Las Vegas Hilton, which will offer more space for the beer booths, and also provide fest-goers with an opportunity to book a room at a special rate and spend the night on-site. Tickets, priced at $40, will be sold at all Lee’s Discount Liquor stores. Admission includes unlimited tasting of beer and food and a commemorative glass. The event is 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. Details are still being worked out at press time, but contact Event Coordinator Abbi Alumbaugh at abbi@LeesWineClub.com for more information, or to sign up your brewery. The Las Vegas Hilton is at 3000 Paradise Rd., about a half-mile east of the Vegas Strip, and is a stop on the Las Vegas Monorail System.

  BJ’s has opened a 2nd brewhouse in Southern Nevada in Henderson on Eastern in the Silverado Center, just south of the 215 freeway. Although the beers are not brewed locally, the award-winning BJ’s brews are served, including my favorites Piranha Pale Ale, Jeremiah Red and Tatonka Stout. There’s also a new special brew, Tempest IPA, designed for hop heads and fortified with six different kinds of hops. 40 beer taps provide room for an extensive guest beer list that includes brews from Nevada - Big Dog’s Holy Cow! Original Pale Ale and Buckbean Original Orange Blossom Ale; regional gems-Stone Ruination IPA, Rogue Dead Guy Ale and Sierra Nevada Seasonals; and 18 bottle-conditioned Belgian-style ales. BJ’s must be doing a lot of things right, as it now has 83 restaurants in 14 states. 

  Nevada has 19 breweries, and now a malting company in Reno that is ready and able to supply them. Rebel Malting Company is producing organic hand-turned 2-row pale, Munich, Vienna and alternative grains Millet, Sorghum and Buckwheat. Source barley is obtained from Hotchkiss, Colo. and Smith Valley, Nev.  Batch size is 550 kg. with delivery in 22 kg. sacks or ‘super sacks’ holding 2,000 lbs. of grain, an alternative to having a grain silo. Owner Lance Jergensen uses soft Truckee Meadow water for the steeping and germination process and utilizes all waste fractions from the malting for making compost for a vegetable garden located on the business grounds. Local farmers pick up the remainder of waste for feed. Homebrewing kits are available in 10 and 15 lb. sizes, and homebrew classes are held periodically at the malthouse. Rebel Malting is located at 560 Moran St. in Reno. For more info. contact owner Lance Jergensen at 775-997-6411 or go to www.RebelMalting.com.

  The Nevada Brewers Guild is in the process of being formed. According to organizer Michael Pfohl, the “NBG” will unite the community of Nevada’s professional brewers to help support the Silver State’s 19 breweries. One of the guild’s first endeavors will be a blind tasting competition featuring brews of the guild. Tentatively slated for June, the “Battle for the Belt” will occur simultaneously in Reno and Las Vegas. The event is open to the public, and beer fans will be able to vote for their favorite beer. The brewer of the beer that tallies the most votes will earn the belt and bragging rights as “Brewer of the Year.” For more details and complete info. on all Nevada breweries with maps and links, visit www.NevadaBrewersGuild.com.

  You don’t have to leave the Vegas Strip to try some locally brewed beer. Sin City Brewing Company has numerous tap handles in several casinos and a tasting bar in the Miracle Mile at the Planet Hollywood. In late March it will open a 2nd bar at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel.  Located near the hotel’s guest entrance and valet, the pub’s patio is adjacent to the pool and wildlife complex, rendering one of the best views on the property. Elsewhere on the Strip, Tenaya Creek’s Pale Ale is now on tap at all of the bars at the Bellagio.

  A welcome trend that is catching on with some of the Vegas brewpubs is tapping parties to celebrate the release of a new beer. Big Dog’s, Gordon Biersch, and Tenaya Creek host parties with complimentary food and beer every few months. To be notified in advance of these parties, contact the breweries to sign up for email reminders.

About the author...
Bob Barnes is a native Las Vegan, and 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 - April/May 2009 Issue

Marketing Beer to a Cocktail Culture 

Associate Editor Bob Barnes was a panel speaker at the Nightclub & Bar Convention last month. Below is a summation of what he presented during the forum entitled “Marketing Beer to a Cocktail Culture.” 

      Up until five to ten years ago, Las Vegas was a virtual beer desert, and beer fans considered themselves lucky to find a Guinness or a Sam Adams. Times have certainly changed, and while it’s much easier to find craft beer throughout the resort corridor and at Southern Nevada’s pubs and restaurants, there still remains the need to provide beer with the same presentation and respect that is afforded to fine wine and spirits.

• Begin by having a list that’s distinctive, with an assortment of beer styles. Too often we find the same five to eight beers that can be found at the vast majority of bars and restaurants. Having a beer list that offers some brews not on everyone else’s list will allow your establishment to stand out from the rest of the crowd, and to appeal to those with more refined beer preferences.

• Have a separate beer menu. Unfortunately, most restaurants have a wine menu, oftentimes several pages long, but no listing of the beers. Leaving out beer on the menu suggests to the customer that you aren’t serious about or proud of your beer list. With no printed list you must rely on your wait staff to correctly list all of the choices. Consider including a beer menu that lists the beers by countries or states of origin, and by beer style.

• On your food menu, list a suggested beer that would go well with each item entrée. Rosemary’s Restaurant was one of the first fine dining establishments in Las Vegas to offer a beer list that is on par with its superior wine list. On its menu, you will find both a suggested wine and beer that should pair well with each entrée selection.

• Train your staff face to face on the nuances of the beers on your list. Just as with wine, your staff should be prepared to offer descriptions and suggestions of beers that would compliment a patron’s meal. Consider asking your distributor reps to come out to conduct beer tasting seminars for your staff.

• Hold special events pairing beer with food. The aforementioned Rosemary’s Restaurant has held numerous beer-themed dinners pairing various beers with courses that compliment each other. Other beer/food events have featured beer with cheese and beer and chocolate pairings. Beer actually pairs better with cheese than wine, due to the fact that the bubbles from the beer’s carbonation help prevent your taste buds from getting bogged down by the fats in the cheese. Since chocolate can tend to overpower wine in many pairings, beer makes a better match. Some beers, especially porters and stouts brewed with roasted barley, emulate some of the same flavors found in chocolate.

• Offer flights of beer, similar to flights of wine. Some customers may be unfamiliar with the beers on your list, and may be more willing to try a collection of small samples before deciding on which beer they would like to enjoy a full glass of.

• A fine beer can be an alternative to a fine wine. Some Belgian-style beers such as Chimay, Duvel, Ommegang, Allagash, and Unibroue, are packaged in the same size bottle as wine (750 ml), contain nearly the same alcohol percentage (8-12%) and are corked, but are considerably less expensive than a fine wine. It is also important to serve these beers in a goblet instead of the traditional pint glass. A goblet’s bulbous shape will help to trap the scent and flavor in the head of the beer.

• The American palette prefers things that are sweet. Some fruit beers are extremely sweet and will appeal to beer neophytes. Beer containing fruit juices include Lindemans Frambois (raspberry), Pyramid Apricot Wheat, Unibroue Ephemere (apple) and Lost Coast Raspberry Brown Ale. Adam Carmer, owner of Freakin’ Frog, suggests mixing the sweet brew with stronger beer styles, such as a stout.

Bob Barnes is a native Las Vegan and associate editor of Food & Beverage News of Las Vegas. He welcomes your inquiries and is standing by to assist you in your Vegas beer quest. He can be reached via e-mail at LVBob@juno.com.