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|  | |  |  |  | | | Nevada Beer Nuggets - Celebrator Magazine
By Bob Barnes
Silver State GABF Medals
Nevada unearthed two medals at the Great American Beer Festival. The Las Vegas Gordon Biersch’s Richard Lovelady earned a silver in the Icebock category and Reno’s Great Basin Brewing Company was awarded a bronze in the Experimental category for its Wild Lemon Wheat. Great Basin continues to lead the Silver State, with this latest award logging in as its 9th GABF win.
Northern Nevada Beer Nuggets
I attended the 2nd annual CANFEST, sponsored by Reno’s Buckbean Brewing Company and held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. I observed that this canned-beer-only fest has increased in the amount of U.S. craft breweries on the floor, and also exhibited a larger variety of beer styles. My palate was happy to find no less than nine IPA’s. Oskar Blues Brewery, one of the first breweries to put craft beer in cans, pleased everyone with five varieties, including a couple of strong ales: Gordon Imperial Red and the Gubna Imperial IPA. 27 participating breweries hailed from all over the U.S., with California, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Hawaii, Minnesota and Michigan represented. Adding to the entertainment was an opportunity to play beer pong with the lovely Buckbean Noddy Girls, so named for Buckbean’s Black Noddy Lager. The growing success of this event seems to be signaling that craft beer lovers are not put off by the packaging, as more realize the advantages cans have both for protecting the beer and our environment.
While in the area I found my way to Fifty/Fifty Brewing Co. in Truckee, California. Brewmaster Todd Ashman has some very impressive credentials; Todd went through the American Brewers Guild Craft Brewers Apprenticeship in 1995, and has since racked up 13 GABF and five WBC medals. He routinely produces barrelaged beer and brewed his first bourbon barrel stout in 1997, when he was brewing at Flossmoor Station in the Chicago suburbs. Todd is considered a pioneer in barrel-aged beer and won the first ever GABF gold medal for a barrel-aged beer in 1998, when it fell under the Experimental category, and he was influential in getting the GABF to introduce a barrel aged category in 2002. Todd uses bourbon and rye barrels and they are used only once. His 9.5% Totality Imperial Stout is the base beer for the Eclipse and the brew is aged for 220 days in the wood. The 2009 Eclipse was named one of the top 25 beers in the world by Draft Magazine and was also included in the 1,001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die book. During my visit I enjoyed the Eclipse, along with the 11% Concentrated Evil, a Belgian dark ale brewed with raisins, brown sugar and the exotic gula jawa, a coconut sugar from Indonesia. Two IPA’s were on tap, the standard Rockslide IPA, with Summit, Columbus, Centennial and Amarillo hops and the Lil Foot IPA, logging in at 80 IBU’s thanks to Centennial and CO2 hop extract, a new concentrated hopping process that appears to be catching on. Since it’s only 30 miles from Reno, I’ve decided to adopt this fine brewery into my fold of Nevada breweries; Unfortunately, they’ll still have to pay their California state income tax.
Now that Silver Peak has three locations in Reno, Brewmaster Brandon Wright is keeping busy brewing enough beer to keep the tap handles pouring. Selection is big here, with each location pouring at least a dozen Silver Peak brews. I was happy to be able to sample 12 beers when I stopped in. Topping my list were the Collaborative Evil 2010, an Imperial Porter that imparts a subtle licorice flavor from the addition of fennel; Flynn’s Wet Hopped Pale Ale, which has a huge hoppy mouthfeel from the fresh-off-the-vine Cascade hops that are added within 48 hours of being picked; and Vince’s Exodus, a Dark Belgian Sour with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and zest, giving this beer an interesting tartness balanced with a malty and chocolate sweetness. By the time you read this, Brandon’s next special brew should be pouring, the Southtown Holiday Spice Ale spiced with clove, vanilla, cinnamon, star anise and spruce tips harvested from his friend’s backyard. Brandon has some notable credentials, having studied at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the World Brewing Academy in Munich.
I mentioned in my last column that northern Nevada had a new brewery, Knee Deep Brewing. The brewery now has a new location, having taken over the former Doppelgangers brewpub in Carson City. The newly renamed Knee Deep Brewery & Restaurant will be reopening the restaurant in December. Owner Jeremy Warren has released his Hopstar IPA and Tanilla (Tahitian Vanilla Bean) Porter and plans to open a production facility in Reno in late 2011. BJ’s has opened a new location in Sparks, just outside of Reno. This new brewhouse has the distinction of being the 100th restaurant in the fast-growing chain. A couple dozen tap handles pour BJ’s standards, along with some local brews that include Buckbean’s Orange Blossom Ale and Great Basin’s ‘Icky’ IPA, and an extensive bottled beer menu should please anyone that loves beer, with most beer styles represented, including a dozen Belgian gems. The place was jam packed when I visited, suggesting hitting the century mark will prove to be a rocking success. The brewhouse is the newest addition to the Legends at Sparks Marina shopping complex, and is at the intersection of Sparks Blvd. and the I-80 freeway. One of the largest craft beer selections in Reno can be found at the 775 Gastropub. Open since May, more than 170 beers are served, with 24 on tap and the rest in bottles. Owner John Leniz said, “I want to carry the best of all beer styles available in the Reno market. My goal is if you come to Reno, want good food and good beer, you’ll want to come here.” The cuisine is a step up from pub food, with a focus on using local produce, meats and breads. A daily happy hour runs from 3 to 6 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to closing, with $2 off all beer and appetizers. The gastropub is located in the Meadowood Mall off of S. Virginia St. just south of McCarran.
What’s On Tap
Big Dog’s Brewing Company in Las Vegas is continuing to host quarterly beerfests at its Draft House location. Next up is Winterfest, a celebration of winter beers, on Saturday, January 29 from 2 to 8 p.m. There will be more than 25 beers from the southwestern region and around the world to select from and music from three live bands. Freakin’ Frog in Las Vegas will be tapping the La Trappe Quadrupel Trappist Ale. Owner Adam Carmer reports that the Frog is the only pub in Nevada carrying this beer. Great Basin Brewing in Reno will be bottling its 11th season of the Red Nose Holiday Wassail, a holiday ale limited to 300 large format bottles. Another seasonal favorite, due out around Thanksgiving, is the Harvest Ale, which is described as Nevada in a glass; this sustainable brew is fortified with ingredients harvested in Nevada: pine nuts from the Pine Nut Range, juniper berries from a local Sparks backyard, sagebrush from Spanish Springs Valley, honey sweetened by Fallon’s alfalfa fields and tried and true water from the Truckee River. As every year, a pine nut cracking party is held to help out with the cracking of about 100 pounds of the delicate nuts.
Southern Nevada brewers are drawing on their creativity to help us get into the mood to usher in the holidays. Richard Lovelady at Gordon Biersch will release his Winterbock, a dark dopplebock, on Nov. 16, which will be followed by a Brewers Dinner on Dec. 2 pairing the Winterbock, other Gordon Biersch brews and the new Maker’s Mark #46 with a custom designed menu by Gordon Biersch Head Chef Miguel Live. This will be a traditional brewer’s dinner with an added element of contrasting a premium bourbon. Todd Cook at Bouder Dam Brewing will have his Block 16 Honey Brown Ale, a smooth-drinking brown ale with a crisp finish; Powerhouse Pale Ale, a hoppy West Coast pale ale; and Black Iron Stout, a 6%/49 IBU stronger stout that will be ready just in time for the colder weather. Todd says this year’s Bolder Damn New Year’s Eve Bash will be their best yet, with L.A.- based Andy Frasco and the UN playing. Matt Marino at Main Street Station’s Triple 7 Brewpub is pouring his Pumpkin Spice Ale and “Brandon’s Barley Wine.” This will be the first barley wine he’s made in a couple of years, and is an English-style barley wine, meaning it’s super chewy and malty with lots of fruity esters. It comes in at a hefty 9% alcohol and is served unfiltered. In December and January, Matt will treat us with a German-style dunkel (dark lager) and the 8% strong Christmas Ale Santa Klaas, brewed with cocoa nibs, coffee and some dark malts. As always, great beer happens in Nevada!
775 Gastropub
5162 Meadowood Mall Circle
Reno, NV 89502
775-828-0775
www.775.gastropub.com
Bob Barnes is a native Nevadan and is celebrating his 11th 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.
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