Nevada Beer Nuggets - Celebrator Magazine By Bob Barnes The onset of spring means the beginning of beerfest season in Nevada. First up on the agenda is Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company’s Brewfest on Saturday, May 10 from 1 to 9 pm. This is an opportunity to try brews from all of the Vegas area brewpubs, as well as other select breweries from neighboring states, including Stone Brewing from California and Barley Brothers from Arizona. The fest will be held in the surrounding plaza, which will accommodate eighteen beer booths. With each serving three to four brews, there promises to be a plentiful and well-rounded selection. Live music will feature The Fab (Beatles tribute band) and Tommy Rocker (a longtime local crowd-pleaser). Barley’s will provide reasonably priced BBQ offerings, a commemorative tasting glass and unlimited tasting for $25. There is a $5 discount for Wildfire Card holders (Barley’s rewards program), and new sign-ups are eligible. Barley’s is in Henderson/Green Valley at Mountain Vista & Sunset. A week later, the second annual Lee’s Beer Experience will be held on Saturday, May 17 from 1-5 p.m. at the Tuscany Suites & Casino. The event will be sponsored and produced by Lee’s Discount Liquor with all net proceeds benefitting Lee’s Helping Hand, the charity arm of Lee’s that provides support to several local charities. The event is being held in the spacious convention facility at the Tuscany Suites, which will afford plenty of room for the beer booths, but also provide fest-goers with an opportunity to book a room and spend the night on-site. Unlike last year’s event, this year’s fest will feature American craft brews as well as international, and the amount of beer may double last year’s count, with over 70 beer vendors expected. Tickets, priced at $40, will be sold at all Lee’s Discount Liquor stores, with nearly a dozen locations scattered throughout Southern Nevada. Details are still being worked out at press time, but contact Event Coordinator Abbi Alumbaugh at 702-451-0100 or at abbi@leeswineclub.com for more information, or to sign up your brewery. The Tuscany is located at 255 E. Flamingo, about a half-mile east of the Vegas Strip. Steiner’s Pub (Cheyenne and Durango location) will be celebrating its 10th anniversary May 1-3. To thank its customers for their patronage, prices will be rolled back on May 1 to the menu prices from 1998 at all three of its locations. On Saturday, May 3 an outdoor parking lot party will be held with special food, beer, games and prizes. Steiner’s has one of the best craft beer selections in Las Vegas with over 70 different quality beer choices. Boulder Dam Brewing Company in Boulder City celebrated its first anniversary in February. The brewpub has enjoyed much success in its first year, and made Las Vegas Life Magazine’s Best of 2007 list of the 10 Best Places in Southern Nevada to have a drink. BD Brewing was the only brewery in Southern Nevada and the only establishment in Boulder City to make the list. New beers have been released to celebrate: Ragtown Red, Raspberry Vice and the aptly named Hop Crisis IPA. The outdoor beer garden (with live music on Friday and Saturday nights) will be in full swing by April when the weather in Southern Nevada is sublime. Chicago Brewing Company in Las Vegas will be celebrating its 8th anniversary on Saturday, April 26. Chicago Brewing never fails to throw a rocking-good party; this year’s event will have a Fiesta theme, complete with a Lime & Cilantro Ale, cigar rolling and mariachi band. To get warmed up for the celebration, the first annual beer pong tournament will be held on Saturday, April 5 in the brewpub’s beer garden. Our local brewmasters are always trying to make our lives better by creating special brews for us. On tap in Las Vegas this spring Kyle Cormier at Chicago Brewing will offer up his infamous high-octane Hawaiian Honey logging in at a whopping 12.8% abv, along with a Saison and Maibock; Matt Marino at Triple 7 Brewpub@Main Street Station will wake us up with his Imperial Java Porter, a potent 7.5% abv, brewed with molasses and several pounds of ground espresso; and Richard Lovelady at Gordon Biersch will initiate spring with his annual Maibock. As always, good beer happens in Vegas!
Bob Barnes is a native Las Vegan and 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 ‘08 Issue
What’s Brewing
By Bob Barnes The Yard House, a multi-tap establishment sporting a multitude of tap handles, continues to expand, and has entered the Nevada market. Its Las Vegas location is now open, located in the Turnberry Town Square on Las Vegas Blvd. (The Strip) near the junction of the 215 and I-15 freeways. The Yard House is a beer geek’s paradise with a huge draft beer selection that is guaranteed to please anyone that appreciates beer. The Las Vegas Yard House is the 19th branch in the chain, and can boast of a whopping 160 taps. The grand opening was well-timed, just days before St. Patrick’s Day, which resulted in a standing room only throng of Irish and Irish want-to-be revelers. Business continues to be exceptional, proving that there’s an ample amount of Southern Nevadans eager to broaden their beer horizons. The enormous draft beer list is obviously the main focus, with the entire back page of the menu devoted to an alphabetized listing that includes numerous craft beers, along with imported gems. An impressive food menu is varied and balanced with choices including twelve different seafood offerings (fish is flown in daily from Hawaii), seven signature salads, six pizzas, and over a dozen beef and chicken entrees, all with reasonable prices and large portions. The beer generating system is state-of-the-art, with modern technology to keep the beer cold and fresh. The 160 beer lines are the longest in the entire Yard House chain, and are all surrounded by glycol lines, which keep the beer cold at all times. All the beers are carbonated with either CO2 or nitrogen, and a machine is utilized to generate and process the nitrogen. To prevent waste, when a keg blows, a water line is activated to clear the line when a new keg is put on. The old-fashioned way resulted in a loss of nearly a gallon of beer, but in this system only a cup of beer is lost; this is a very good thing, for as we all know, it’s a sin to waste beer. The prize-winning feature has to be the radio waves that are periodically sent through the lines, killing bacteria that could otherwise adversely affect the beer’s flavor. The final coating of the beers’ protective armor comes in the form of amber-hued light bulbs, shielding the brew from harmful light. General Manager Ryan Sterling comes well equipped to run an establishment of this magnitude, with 14 years experience in the restaurant industry. A SoCal transplant, Ryan has lived in Las Vegas for the past 12 years and spent six-months in management training at the Yard House in Irvine, California, working his way up to land the head post at the new Las Vegas branch. Ryan is quite pleased with the new restaurant’s beginning and said, “We have been busier than expected and could not be more pleased. There’s a great atmosphere, and we have an outstanding staff that is already working like seasoned veterans.” A generous Happy Hour occurs Monday-Friday from 3-6 p.m. with $3.25 domestic pints, $3.50 craft/import pints and a large list of appetizers for half-price with 23 choices. The same deals apply Sunday-Wednesday from 11 p.m. to closing. There’s plenty of room, with a seating capacity of 399. A patio for outdoor dining will prove to be a desirable feature, especially while our springtime weather is so sublime. It’s indeed a good thing to see a proven chain come to our town that offers such an outstanding beer selection and excellent food. On my first visit, I spent over 10 minutes perusing the 160 choices before selecting my first beer gem. I’m happy to report there are plenty of hoppy American craft brews, Belgian beers and Belgian styles to keep me coming back. As always, good beer happens in Vegas! The Yard House
Las Vegas Town Square
6593 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
702-734-9273
About the author...
Bob Barnes is a native Las Vegan and 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 Food & Beverage News - April ‘08 Issue | 
