In two weeks there’s several beer pairing dinners happening in Las Vegas featuring local breweries Tenaya Creek and CraftHaus!
First up, CraftHaus is partnering up with Crossroads at House of Blues for a 3-course dinner featuring 5 beers on the Tuesday the 23rd. Tickets are $65 and can be found here.
Then on Thursday the 25th, Tenaya Creek is hosting a 5-course dinner at Tapas by Stratta in Tivoli Village. Cost is $45 and reservations can be made by contacting Tapas by Stratta beverage manager Peter Vitolo at (702) 494-7202 or peter@alexstrattagroup.com
Finally on Friday the 26th, CraftHaus is once again returning to Mandalay Bay, this time at Rx Boiler Room, for a 4-course dinner, featuring the restaurant and CraftHaus’ collaboration beer, Gone With the Wit, featuring a blend of locally sourced flowers, herbs and botanicals from Desert Bloom Eco Farm infused into the beer. Tickets are $60 and can be made by emailing info@rxboilerroom.com or calling 702-632-9900.
Need I say more?
CraftHaus plans on having releasing their International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day beer, United Red Ale, in their taproom on Sunday, April 12th starting at noon. Unrelated to IWCBD but as an added bonus, they will also have a new beer being tapped as well: a Belgian golden strong ale named Jean Claude.
What is International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day you ask? IWCBD is an event organized by Pink Boots Society to coincide with International Women’s Day, which occurs every year on March 8th.
The idea behind IWCBD is that breweries across the world will all brew a collaboration beer with women brewers and beer professionals. This year, the collaboration beer was United Red Ale. All participating brewers are given some beer guidelines to follow in regards to style and hops used, however they are encouraged to create their own unique variation of the beer.
Locally here in Las Vegas, CraftHaus employs the state’s only female head brewer, Steph Cope. This year, Steph collaborated with various other women who also work locally within the beer industry. They tweaked the recipe to be inspired by our local desert by adding a combination of mesquite, cherrywood, and oak smoked malt. United Red Ale will be a smokey malt forward red ale with an earthy/piney hop character.
Pink Boots Society is a worldwide non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, encourage, and empower women beer professionals to advance their careers through education. In addition to raising awareness through events like IWCBD, Pink Boots Society provides education for women to further their careers by providing seminar programs and raising money for educational scholarships. All proceeds from all IWCBD beers worldwide will be donated to both Pink Boots Society scholarship funds, as well as a local women focused charity chosen by each breweries.
Here in Las Vegas, Dress For Success will also be receiving proceeds from the CraftHaus United Red Ale beer. Dress For Success of Southern Nevada’s mission is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and career development tools to help them thrive in work and in life.
In celebration of both International Women’s Day and International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, you can donate to Pink Boots society
here and Dress For Success of Southern Nevada
here. Additionally, if you are a woman who works within any of the various tiers of the beer industry, please feel encouraged to sign up for Pink Boots Society here.
Hope to see you all at Crafthaus on the 12th!
Springtime is coming, and with it come the beer festivals. First up is the annual Boulder City Beer Festival.
March 28th you can expect to find over 20 breweries pouring beer at Wilbur Square Park in Boulder City. Entry is free to enjoy the live music and to visit exhibit tents and food trucks; but to get unlimited pours of over beers you’ll need a ticket.
Two ticket options are available: $30 for general admission at 3 PM or for $45 early entry at 1 PM.
More information and tickets can be found here.
The last time I had this beer, was I think possibly the first time that I had any of CraftHaus’ beers. This was prior to the brewery opening, when Dave was still a home brewer pouring beers at local festivals while he and Wyndee were putting together their business plan and securing funding for the brewery. The beer was delicious then, and I can only assume that it’ll be even more delicious this upcoming Saturday.
As an added bonus to what is on the flyer below, there will also be samples from the Las Vegas Distillery and O Face Doughnuts to pair with the beer.
Be sure to also visit the brewery so you can see the artwork Kellie Aguilar has been constructing on the tap room chalkboard. Above you can see a small section of it in progress.
See you there!
If there’s anything in this world that I enjoy more than a make believe rabbit with antlers, it’s barley wine.
Fun fact: The first time that I visited Tenaya Creek’s brewery, I drank Old Jackalope Barley Wine.
I had the wonderful pleasure last night of being invited to a sneak peek of Las Vegas’ newest local brewery, CraftHaus. The grand opening is slated for this weekend, and you can find more info on the special event here.
CraftHaus is located in Henderson in The Booze District. For the past year and a half, I’ve been communicating back and forth with owners Dave and Wyndee Forrest, regarding CraftHaus, and its so exciting to finally see it open and brewing beer!
First things first: The beer is fantastic. You’ve likely had some of Dave’s home-brewed batches if you have attended some of the local beer festivals the past couple of years. Now the recipes have been scaled up to 10 barrel batches by head brewer Steph Cope. Steph, the first and only female head brewer in Nevada, did a great job keeping the beers true to Dave’s original recipes, while also fine tuning them to perfection. Evocation Saison in particular was what stood out to me. With only 4.7% alcohol, the beer is very light bodied and dry, but still manages to fit in a lot of Belgian yeast characteristics. I think this beer will be perfect for not only the hot Vegas summers, but the fruity esters, clove phenolics, and dry body would make this perfect to pair with food.
I should also state though that what makes this brewery so exciting isn’t just the beer. Nor is it the clean, modern taproom, filled with board games, a chalkboard, and several cuckoo clocks. It’s the people behind the brewery.
“We don’t want you to think of this as our brewery. We want you to think of this as your brewery.”
-Dave and Wyndee Forrest
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Everyone, the day is finally here! Having covered much of the progress that Dave and Wyndee made to get this point, I am exceptionally excited and happy for both of them. The entire CraftHaus team has worked very hard to get to this point, and they have some awesome beer to finally share with all of you. As an added bonus, if you are present on Saturday, then you may recognize Big Friendly Corporation singer Melissa Marth from her and Emily’s beer review videos. I hope to see you all there!
First, I’d like to congratulate our local chapter of Barley’s Angels on their upcoming one year anniversary! Be sure to attend their anniversary party at Velveteen Rabbit on August 3rd.
The following is a guest post written by Andrea Runco of Barley’s Angels Las Vegas. Read on to learn more about the impact that they are having in Las Vegas, and how you can get involved as well.
You may have seen us floating through various craft beer events, gathered around in a bar, or at delicious beer pairing dinners and tastings, but who are we? Established in August 2013, the ladies-only craft beer organization known as the Barley’s Angels have been gracing local establishments and recruiting more members along the way. With multiple chapters all across the globe, we are completely dedicated to the love of craft beer.
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On April 26th, the fine folks at Motley Brews, along with 80+ breweries, descended upon downtown Las Vegas, and unleashed the 2014 Great Las Vegas Festival of Beer. This year’s incarnation was both the biggest, and arguably the best festival to date, boasting more events, breweries, and food than ever before. Downtown was a fantastic setting, giving plenty of space for festival goers to enjoy the event without feeling like a sardine. It was also the perfect location to continue the festivities once the festival had ended. All in all, I hope that this location is utilized again.
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