Nevada Beer Nuggets - Celebrator Magazine
By Bob Barnes

What’s on Tap in Southern Nevada

  If you can’t make it to Munich for Oktoberfest, consider heading to Vegas. Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas claims its Oktoberfest is the most authentic in the US, second only to the original held in Munich, and there are reasons to back up its claim. The Las Vegas version is an authentic replica of its brewhaus in Munich, and the Hofbräu brewery is one of only six breweries commissioned to make the beer for the Oktoberfest in Bavaria. Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas’s celebration will run from September 17 through October 31. Highlighting the festivities is the unveiling of the Oktoberfestbier, the very same brew created for the Oktoberfest in Munich. Celebrity guest keg tappings take place every Friday and bands from Germany are imported, providing nightly sing-a-longs. Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is located at 4510 Paradise Rd. across from the Hard Rock Casino.

  Aces & Ales commemorated its 2nd year anniversary on Saturday, July 16 with a slamming party and will keep the party flowing with its 2nd Annual Strong Beer Festival August 12-14. All 20 of its taps will be devoted to beers that are at least 7% abv, and all of the beer will be specialty or extremely rare beer. Jockey boxes will enable additional taps to be poured, which will result in an opportunity to choose from more than 70 different beers over the three days of the fest. In the meantime, Aces has an excellent happy hour deal Monday-Friday from 4-7p.m. with all drafts going for $4 and 50% off all appetizers.

  Joseph James Brewing is now in the canning business, canning its Craft Lager, Hop Box Imperial IPA and Fox Tail, the first-ever gluten free canned beer on the planet. Fox Tail is an imperial pale ale with 80 IBUs and 8.1% abv, and also notable because it doesn’t use any sorghum, but instead utilizes organic rice and nectars. The brewery will be entering its Steem Beer (it’s not misspelled, but they are prohibited from calling it a Steam or California Common) in the GABF pro-am. This beer was the best-of-show winner of local homebrewer Weston Barkley.

  It must be Belgian days in Southern Nevada with three breweries rolling out Belgian styles. Dave Pascual at Chicago Brewing just released his WBC gold medal-winning tripel and silver medal-winning dubbel. Both beers are quite worthy of their medals. Brewmaster Todd Cook at Boulder Dam Brewing is pouring his Bypass Belgian Witt, a classic in the style and in honor of Pierre Celis that features Belgian aromatic malt, coriander, bitter and sweet orange and a special Belgian yeast strain. At Triple 7 Brewpub at Main Street Station, Brewmaster Matt Marino’s annual Belgian IPA will be available by late July. This year’s version was brewed with Citra and Falconer’s Flight hops, which should provide some fruity notes to compliment the Belgian yeast strain. He’ll also roll out his latest version of Monique, a 12% abv Belgian triple that’s named after the pub’s most beloved server. The pub has also installed a nitrogenation unit, which will enable it to pour their Black Chip Porter on nitro.

  BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse has opened its 3rd location in Southern Nevada. The new brewhouse at 5881 Centennial Center Blvd. near Ann Rd. and the 95 freeway is in the far northwest sector of the Valley. BJ’s is evidently doing a lot of things right, for this is the chain’s 107th restaurant. This one has a noteworthy beer selection with around 50 bottles and 38 beer taps, 28 of which are guest taps. It’s very refreshing to see a multi-tap establishment include locally brewed beer; currently pouring are brews from Joseph James Brewing, Tenaya Creek Brewery, Chicago Brewing Company and Big Dog’s Brewing. BJ’s has the major beer styles covered with its own brews ranging from a light calorie beer, blonde ale, Bavarian hefeweizen, red ale, pale ale, brown ale, porter, imperial stout, and its current seasonals of an IPA and a Belgian-style witbier.

Local Beer on the Vegas Strip

  Ever since the Monte Carlo Brewpub stopped brewing beer five years ago, it’s left a bit of a void for locally brewed beer on the Vegas Strip. That’s now changing, as the The Pub at Monte Carlo has expanded its beer list to more than 250 beers with local brews well represented with 11 taps pouring brews from Joseph James, Tenaya Creek and Sin City Brewing. The only caveat is that the beers are priced at Vegas Strip prices, so expect to pay $7 to $20 for craft beer selections. Also, Todd English P.U.B. next door at CityCenter is serving varieties of Tenaya Creek and Sin City Brewing has three locations on the Strip: at Planet Hollywood in the Miracle Mile Shops, at the Flamingo and at The Venetian in the Grand Canal Shoppes.

Brewers Expose Themselves

  Big Dog’s Brewing Company made the cover of our June/July annual swimsuit edition for the 2nd year in a row. The brewery wisely submitted a pic of marketing assistant Tanya Glenn, who just happens to be reading a copy of last year’s swimsuit edition. If you’re counting, this is also the 2nd year in a row the swimsuit edition photos were heavily dominated by Nevada breweries, with six of the eight pics of breweries from the Silver State, including Big Dog’s and Ellis Island Brewery (Las Vegas), Boulder Dam Brewing (Boulder City), High Sierra Brewing (Carson City) and Silver Peak Brewery (Reno). Cheers to Nevada brewers for exposing themselves to gain exposure for their breweries!

Vacation Beer

  I recently stopped in Williams, Arizona (gateway to the Grand Canyon) and was delighted to discover my old friend Drew Carricato toiling away in the Grand Canyon Brewery. Drew is brewing six beer styles, all easy drinking beers that include an American-style wheat ale, American pilsner (with loads of Saaz hops), pale ale, amber ale, stout and IPA (bolstered with Centennial hops). Conveniently located next to the brewery is the Cruisers Café 66, which taps all of the brewery’s beers and sells them to go in cans, bottles or growlers.

Northern Nevada News

  Northern Nevada has a new worthy beer stop. Craft Wine-n-Beer in mid-town Reno carries around 300 craft beers. It’s a no-corkage bar, meaning you can drink your purchase on premise or take it home. Every American brew you can legally get in Nevada is stocked and owner Ty Martin reports they are specializing in hard to find imports such as Cantillon, De Dolle, Fantome, Baladin, Mikkeller and Nogne-O. Three drafts are poured and change weekly.

  Just Brew It is supplying homebrewers in the Carson area and is Carson City’s only homebrew shop. Owned by the husband and wife team of Trevor and Tessa Rotoli, theyare making a point to support the local homebrew crowd and brewing classes are offered periodically. Just Brew It is open Mondays through Fridays from 11a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11-5.

  In May, Great Basin Brewing Company held an AHA sanctioned homebrew competition to select its entry for the GABF Pro-am. Best-of-show winner Kirk Howell took the honors with his ‘Hecka Heffe,’ a German-style wheat beer. This competition garnered 110 entries and was judged by BJCP certified beer judges supplied by the Zephyr Zymurgists (the Reno area homebrew club). Great Basin has also launched its Farm to Table, and Back to Farm composting program, which through its recycling efforts is helping to reduce more than 90% of its waste that would normally wind up in the local landfill. Further recycling is being done with its spent grain, as Great Basin chefs are baking Icky Bread from its ever-popular Icky IPA. The bread is baked daily and goes for $4 a loaf. As always, great beer happens in Nevada!

Just Brew It
1210 N. Carson St.
Carson City, NV 89701
775-461-0641
http://justbrewitcarsoncity.com

CRAFT Wine-n-Beer
22 Martin Street
Reno, NV 89509
(775) 622-4333
www.craftreno.net

BJ’S Restaurant & Brewhouse
5881 Centennial Center Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89149
(702) 851-8050

The Pub at Monte Carlo
3770 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 730-7777

Bob Barnes is a native Nevadan and is celebrating his 12th anniversary as a regional correspondent for the Celebrator Beer News. He welcomes your inquiries and is standing by to assist you in your Nevada beer quest. He can be reached via e-mail at LVBobB@juno.com.