by Bob Barnes
Las Vegas Beer News: August Events
The Henderson Booze District will host Back to School Food Truck Mania on August 5, an event honoring all teachers and support staff as sort of their last hurrah before the new school year begins.
It will feature artisanal libations from the breweries Astronomy Aleworks, Bad Beat Brewing and CraftHaus Brewery; Deadwood Meadery; and Vegas Valley Winery/Grape Expectations Wine School, which are all within easy walking distance of each other. Each location will have food trucks and drink discounts for teachers and support staff. Food trucks serving will include Fish and Chips Shop, Middle Finger Food, Torta Chaser, Piezano’s, World’s Best Corndogs and Happy Ending Ice Cream Tacos and Chocolates.
On August 7 Triple B—Brooks Brothers Burgers at the Rainbow Club Casino in Henderson will team up with its Water Street neighbor, Mojave Brewing, to host a four-course beer pairing dinner. Executive Chef Scott Pajak has a long history of presenting beer dinners and did so regularly when he was the executive chef at Lagasse’s Stadium.
Courses for this beer dinner will include Melon Gazpacho with citrus gastrique, lemon gremolata & lump crab meat paired with Mojave Sunrise Orange Wheat Beer; Tequila-marinated Grilled Shrimp on refried beans with sautéed onions & peppers, tortilla strips & cilantro lime crème fraiche matched with Mexican Radio Lager; Roasted Prime Rib with au jus, creamy horseradish, herb roasted potatoes and creamed corn paired with Jefes Hefeweizen; and Mixed Berry Cobbler with vanilla ice cream matched with Punk Lemonade Cider.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m. and the cost is $40 per person. To reserve, call 702-565-9777 and ask to be transferred to the restaurant.
The Silver Stamp in the Arts District will celebrate Belgian beer culture throughout the week of August 21 through 27. There will be a massive Belgian beer selection of bottles and nearly 20 drafts, a curated Belgian snack menu, giveaways, and more. Highlights include an Averbode Abbey Beer tapping (the first time ever poured in Nevada) at 5 p.m. on August 21, flights of all four Chimay expressions and Chimay cheese pairings all day on August 23 and a surprise vintage magnum bottle opening and pouring at 8 p.m. on August 25.
The Big Dog’s Brewing annual Summerfest that was scheduled for July 22 has been rescheduled to August 26 from 6 to 11 p.m. due to the extreme heat warnings that were taking place in July. It will still be held in the outdoor area of the Big Dog’s Draft House at Craig Rd. and Rancho in northwest Las Vegas and there will be 45+ brews from independent local and regional breweries pouring, and the host brewery will release its 7% Dog Beach Tangerine IPA in cans and on draft. This pay-as-you-go event offers free admission, live reggae music and island-inspired BBQ.
For more info and to purchase a tasting package click here.
On September 16 there will be two beer events and fests taking place on the same day. As it does this weekend each year, CraftHaus Brewery will celebrate its anniversary with a mini beerfest, held from 7 to 10 p.m. at its brewery location on Eastgate Rd. in the Henderson Booze District.
As it marks CraftHaus’ ninth year of operation, it’s dubbed HausFest 9, and will feature pouring of more than 20 CraftHaus brews, such as the new End Boss 9th Anniversary Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Oatmeal Stout with vanilla coffee and STRATAcaster Wet Hop IPA. There will also be several guest beers, rare beers, barrel aged beauties, sours, lagers, frozen beer slushie, cider and kombucha.
As each year’s anniversary has a theme, this year the taproom is being converted to a classic arcade with free play on stand-up classic games. VIP ticket holders will enjoy entrance at 6 p.m. and entry to the Brewer’s Lounge with their own arcade game as well as hosted food from Ottimo Gourmet Pizza. There will also be food for purchase from food trucks, including Rebellion Pizza and Somethin’ To Taco ‘Bout.
For more info, list of beers being poured and to purchase tickets, go to HausFest9.eventbrite.com.
The other event on September 16 will be a collaboration with The Art Houz and the Southern Nevada Brewers Guild, a VIP experience held from 5 to 9 p.m. along the streets of Downtown Las Vegas outside the Art Houz location at 814 S. 3rd St. Called Art on Tap, pouring will be craft beer from several of our local breweries, as well as mead from Deadwood Meadery and wine. Tickets include small-bite food items and all-you-can-drink craft beverages. The Super VIP includes two-hour early entry at 3, a viewing of the movie Beerfest in the luxury cinema with stadium recliner seating and beer and small bite food items during the movie.
For more info and to purchase tickets click here.
Las Vegas Beer News: What’s Pouring in August
Looks like it may be time to head back to the Vegas Strip to BrewDog.
The Vegas location’s first brewer, Weston Barkley, has been learning the ropes on the new brewing system since taking the Head Outpost Brewer position a few months ago and now has some of his beers ready for us to try.
They include Training Wheels, a Golden Lager with a very simple pilsner malt base with a gentle touch of Hallertau Blanc added as a first wort edition, which Weston says gives some nice white wine and pear notes; Blanc Expression, a Pale Ale with seven different additions of Hallertau Blanc layered across the boil then dry hopped with equal parts Cascade and Vista; Hey Z, a Hazy IPA saturated hop showcase featuring large amounts of Idaho 7, El Dorado and Citra hops; and Scrummy, an English-style Porter super sessionable malt showcase featuring big aromas of milk chocolate and bread crusts.
Weston plans to eventually have some fun with a fruited Gose-style beer, a more aggressive take on an American Red/Amber Ale, and a West Coast style IPA; a Marzen or Festbier for Oktoberfest time and Stouts once the summer heat starts to fade.
Joe Cuozzo at HUDL has brewed yet another version of his incredibly delicious 115° Imperial Stout. This one is at 10.5% ABV and is infused with dark chocolate and real peanuts. I myself am not a fan of peanut butter stouts, but this one has just a hint of the peanut flavor, which nicely complements the chocolate.
Tom Harwood over at Bad Beat Brewing has brewed a special beer for both National IPA Day and the aforementioned Truck Food Mania. His signature Carlsbad IPA is a 7% So Cal/West Coast IPA aggressively dry hopped with Citra, which Tom asserts has a substantial bitterness and massive tropical and citrus aroma. He also has New Beer Fridays, in which they tap extremely limited variants of their beers, such as the grapefruity Hoppy Times IPA releasing on August 4.
Las Vegas Beer News: Where to Find Local Beer on the Strip
In addition to the two breweries on the Vegas Strip, BrewDog and Trustworthy Brewing, there’s an eatery that devotes all 12 of its taps to beers made in Nevada, which it has done since it opened in 2015. The restaurant is none other than Yardbird, located in The Venetian’s Restaurant Row.
I visited recently and was happy to see the lineup that included Able Baker Chris Kael Impale’d Imperial Brown Ale, Big Dog’s Dirty Dog IPA, CraftHaus UNLV Rebel Spirit Golden Ale and Tenaya Creek El Charro Mexican Lager. While you’re there, do yourself a favor and try the Fried Green Tomato BLT. The B actually stands for house-smoked pork belly, and the combination of pimento cheese, frisée, smoky tomato jam and lemon vinaigrette makes for a phenomenal appetizer that is perfect for sharing.
