If you’ve been following us for a bit, you may undoubtedly hear us speak highly of the local breweries that we have here in Las Vegas. I am often contacted by out of town followers who are planning a trip to Las Vegas and need to know where they should go for craft beer. There are plenty of places that I typically recommend that the visiting beer enthusiast should check out. Often times however, they do not rent a car and are limited to the selections that the strip has to offer.
Worry no more, as Las Vegas is now home to Brew Tours Las Vegas!
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As craft beer becomes more prevalent, so does its most popular ingredient, the hop. Many people recognize the hop as the truly differential factor between craft beer and the more common light American lagers. But what does it mean to describe a beer as ‘hoppy?’ Hoppy is often used as a synonym for the word ‘bitter,’ but there are plenty of beers that use loads of hops and don’t taste the least bit bitter. So, does ‘hoppy’ even mean anything at all? First, it’s important to know what the purpose of hops are in a beer.
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There’s room though for every neighborhood to have a brewery, as long as the brewery can make world class beers and the brewery can differentiate themselves and understand how to run a proper business. To me that is no different than saying, ‘Should every neighborhood have a restaurant?’ and, ‘Should another restaurant open up down the street from that other restaurant?’
Julia Herz is the craft beer program director of Boulder, CO based Brewers Association and publisher of CraftBeer.Com. Full interview can be found here.
I’ve lost count of how many emails I’ve received from people flying into Las Vegas, asking where to get craft beer here. Serious Eats just posted an article I wrote, talking briefly about six different spots that I think should be on any list for Las Vegas craft beer.
Keep in mind though, this list is far from complete, as there are plenty of places with great beer menus. Places like Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay, Holsteins in Cosmopolitan, and The Pub in Monte Carlo are a couple more examples for places on the strip that have a great beer menu. Off the strip, there’s places like The Dillinger, Money Plays, and Freakin Frog that also have a great beer list. If you’re looking for bottle shops, in addition to Khoury’s, the Las Vegas Boulevard Whole Foods is always my go to spot, and for most people, there’s a Total Wine nearby that’s a trip too. There really is a great beer culture here in Las Vegas, as long as you know where to look.
The Serious Eats article can be found here.
The new Aces & Ales location lives up to, and even exceeds, the expectations it set with its original location. This new location is incredible!
Granted, it’s hard to argue with 50 craft beers available on tap, or a soon to open dog-friendly patio! There will even be a private lounge for special events, and they will feature the same made from scratch, fresh food menu that Aces has been known for. While there are still a few odds and ends to tie up, this bar still stands as one of the best Las Vegas craft beer bars, despite only being open for just over 48 hours!
Be sure to check this place out, and if you happen to see Ryan or Kerri in there, congratulate them on a job well done!
Address: 2801 North Tenaya Way, Las Vegas Nevada 89128
If you haven’t heard, Aces & Ales will be opening a second location on the west side of town. One thing that they are considering, to make it stand out from the original location, and most bars in Las Vegas, is to not serve any macro beers. They wouldn’t be the first bar to do this, Tenaya Creek comes to mind as bar that only serves craft beer, but I doubt there’s any others, outside of local breweries.
Looking through comments online, some people feel that this is outright beer snobbery at its finest, or that this is a poor business decision. Some things that I think about with this: (more…)
Taco Tuesday is one of Hooked on Hops’ favorite days of the week; tacos being a favorite dish amongst all of us. And of course we prefer to enjoy a craft beer with our tacos. So what better way to celebrate Taco Tuesday, then with a craft beer cocktail, appropriately named, ‘Taco Tuesday?’ The base beer for this drink is The Bruery’s Black Tuesday. An imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels, with a 19% alcohol content, that the brewery only releases once a year. This is not an easy beer to get your hands on, and it is surely worth the effort if you can get it!
As for the rest of the ingredients for the ‘Taco Tuesday,’ well… just take a look at this video for the details: (more…)
Crafthaus currently has $13,540 pledged of their goal of $20,000, or about 68% to goal. There is only 9 days left to raise another $6,460.
We are fans of all the great local businesses here in Las Vegas, especially those that promote craft beer, whether they be bars or retailers. In the case of breweries, we get exceptionally excited.
I’ve agreed to host an “All About Beer” class at the brewery once they open. For a donation of only $30, I’ll take you on a tour of Crafthaus’ brewery and discuss how beer is brewed. We’ll sample the beers and discuss sensory evaluation and food pairing.
Of course, there are plenty of other awesome gifts for other donation amounts, like entry into the Propagation Program.
For more information, read my interview with founders Dave and Wyndee Forrest here, and visit their Kickstarter campaign here.
I wrote an article for Serious Eats on using a French press to infuse flavors into a beer, similar to a Dogfish Head Randall. I’ve never used the Randall Jr, but I’ll go ahead and assume that a French press works just as well, if not better.
Read it here.
Once again, Aces & Ales is holding their annual Stone Domination tap takeover. As always, Stone co-founder and CEO Greg Koch will be in attendance, probably signing bottles, probably preaching, probably stage diving off of the bar…
See below for the incredible tap list: (more…)