This past Friday was the Tenaya Creek Oktoberfest beer pairing dinner at the Las Vegas Blvd Whole Foods. What made this event great, was that it was focused on Las Vegas. Not only does it feature local brewery, Tenaya Creek, but the food was also prepared by Whole Foods’ local chef, Chef Rachel Safran, and the ticket costs were donated to The Las Vegas Rescue Mission, serving the Las Vegas homeless community. Altogether, this was a very well paired event that I’d like to recap below:

House made pretzel bites, paired with assorted mustards and German cheeses with Dutch Belgian Style Tripel

This year was the first time that Tenaya Creek brewed their Tripel in four years, and it was wonderful. At 9% alcohol, there was a nice sweetness with this, along with some banana and clove aromas and flavors. Get this while it is still available at the brewery.
I’ve never had a bad pretzel, and I’m a huge fan of mustard, and these were no exception.

Warm German potato salad with ale braised sausage with sauerkraut and apple paired with Oktoberfest

To be honest, Tenaya’s Oktoberfest would pair with nearly everything. It’s so light, crisp, yet flavorful, that it compliments nearly every dish
In this case, the potatoes were very well seasoned, and the sausage was marinated and cooked in the Oktoberfest, making this a perfect match.

Sauerbraten with red cabbage and Calico Brown Ale

Calico Brown Ale should be one of the first beers you try if you’ve never had any of Tenaya Creek’s beers. It is so perfectly balanced in it’s malty sweetness, light body, and dry finish. This is also an example of a great beer that will pair with nearly anything.
In this case, it made a great compliment to the dark meat used in the sauerbraten. I will say though, the red cabbage was the real star in this dish. It had a nice sourness to it that contrasted the sauerbraten, and made for a perfect pairing to the darker flavors present in the meat.

Apple & golden raisin strudel with anise crème anglaise and Hauling Oats Oatmeal Stout

In case you haven’t heard, Hauling Oats is one of my favorite Tenaya Creek beers. An extremely drinkable stout, even with the dark roasty flavors.
The dessert was delicious. Aside from the sweet cream topping and fruity center, the dark roasted malts in the stout made a great contrast to the sweetness. This was my highlight of the night.

To close, please support both Tenaya Creek Brewery, and Whole Foods. Not only is Tenaya Creek an amazing local brewery, Whole Foods (particularly the Town Square location) does a great job of supporting the craft beer community here in Las Vegas.

Stay thirsty
#drinklocal

Tenaya Creek has released a new bottled beer to the market: Hauling Oats. Formally known simply as ‘Oatmeal Stout’ when it was on tap at the brewery. When I first heard that Tenaya Creek was going to be bottling their oatmeal stout, I was ecstatic. Being a fan of stouts, this was actually one of the first beers I tried from Tenaya Creek when I first visited their brewery a couple of years ago. This was also the first beer of theirs that I enjoyed so much, that I bought a growler of it to share with friends at a party I held.

There is an old myth that the darker the beer, the higher alcohol content the beer has. Or the darker the beer is, the heavier it is. In case you were not aware, both of these myths are flat out wrong, and this beer is a perfect example of a dark beer that is neither high in alcohol or excessively heavy (however, if what you’re looking for is a dark, heavy, alcoholic beer, look no further than Hauling Oats big brother, Tenaya Creek’s Imperial Stout. Release will probably be later this winter).

Hauling Oats is extremely drinkable. Regardless of the fact that it is being released in bottles during the fall, it was on tap at the brewery all summer, and was just as refreshing then as it is now.

The aroma coming off of this beer is of dark chocolate and iced coffee. The flavor is like a morning coffee, with the bitterness lingering in the long aftertaste. There is a little bit of an acidic bite in the finish, similar to the one found in coffee. In this case, it comes from the dark roasted malts.

This is a refreshing, light bodied beer that’s perfect all year round. It’s available in bottles all around town, (I bought a bottle at the Las Vegas BLVD Whole Foods), and also on tap at the brewery.

The annual Great American Beer Festival announced the winners of the competition today, and Las Vegas breweries won two medals!

Chicago Brewing Company won the gold medal in the chocolate beer category for their “Cocoa For Coconuts” beer. This is their 13th GABF medal.

Big Dog’s Brewing Company won the silver medal for the English brown ale category with their “Red Hydrant Ale.”
This is Big Dog’s fourth GABF medal.

Congrats to both breweries!

The above hash tag is used often, even by me, on twitter and untappd when talking about local breweries. I want to take a moment and expand this loose definition even further.

First and foremost, I am not trying to discredit any of the breweries here in Las Vegas, or take away from the work that they do. Instead, I want to give credit where credit is due to the other small businesses in town who are also working hard to impact the craft beer community.

First, breweries like Tenaya Creek, Joseph James, and Big Dog’s Brewery do an amazing job of making incredible beers, and distributing these across not just the state, but in other states as well. But don’t forget about everything else they do besides brew great beer. Tenaya Creek and Big Dog’s both operate brewpubs where they not only serve their own beers, but they include guest taps as well. Big Dog’s holds several beer fests each year with incredible beer lists from a lot of great breweries across the country. All three of these breweries are incredibly helpful and supportive of the growing homebrew community and the local homebrew club, SNAFU. Tenaya Creek and Joseph James participate in GABF Pro-Am competitions and offer to brew winning homebrew batches of beer in their breweries. Big Dog’s offers classes for people to come and brew Big Dog’s beer at the brewery, and take home a growler of beer that they helped to brew.
In addition to these breweries, there are several other smaller breweries who also operate brewpubs and beer fests. Altogether, without these companies, not only would we have less beer in Nevada, we’d also have a smaller pool of bars available that offer craft beer. There would be less support for homebrewers, and as a result, there would likely be fewer homebrewers and fewer new breweries in planning.

Second, I think it’s worth mentioning the other businesses who are also deserving of the #drinklocal tag, even if they do not brew their own beer. Places like Khoury’s and Aces & Ales, offer a tremendous service to Las Vegas craft beer drinkers.
Khoury’s not only has a great bottle selection, but they even offer beer on tap and let you drink beer in the store. As a result, Wednesday nights have become a weekly gathering of craft beer drinkers across the the city. Guests are welcome to open and share beers with other guests, whether they are purchased at Khoury’s or not, and best of all, there’s no corkage fee! Wednesday nights also feature local food trucks, and often a brewery tapping or serving of a new beer.
Aces & Ales has the best beer list in the city. Best of all, the prices are just right too. They hold several yearly beer fests, and even brewery tap takeovers, like the yearly Stone Domination, featuring Stone CEO Greg Koch. They offer several weekly specials, like discounted growler fills on Sunday, and Tuesday Night Tastings, which feature a specially prepared dish paired with a featured beer. In addition to their tap list, they also offer a range of beers available in bottles, including several aged beers.
Both Khoury’s and Aces & Ales, among others like Money Plays, The Dillinger, and even Public House and Todd English’s PUB, are helping to spread cask ales, double dry hopped beers, beer sharing, food pairing, aged vertical tastings, and beer fests across Las Vegas.

Supporting these local breweries and businesses also supports craft beer in Las Vegas. The more support we can give to our retailers and restaurants who serve craft beer, then the more we are building a stronger craft beer community in Las Vegas, and the more distributorship this city will get, the more craft beer events will be held, the more breweries will get started, and more retailers and craft beer bars will open. Support your local businesses and #drinklocal!

Today marks the 1st day of Oktoberfest, the German celebration of… beer? Let’s go with that, since it seems to be all anyone knows of the festival, in America at least.

Local brewery Tenaya Creek brews up their Oktoberfest beer yearly in celebration of the festival. This was released a few weeks ago, but today seemed like the perfect day to pop open a bottle.

As you can see above, this beer has a bright, clear, copper color, as is common to most Oktoberfest beers (also known as Märzen). The aroma is nice and grassy from the German Magnum and Czech Saaz hops that this is brewed with. The beer has just the right balance of maltiness and dryness, giving this beer a nice bready flavor with a quick, refreshing, dry finish. The hops give this beer a nice firm bite in the finish, with lingering spicy/peppery and floral flavors.

This beer is best served with some bratwurst sausages. Spicy brown mustard will compliment the hops and some sauerkraut will contrast with the toasty Vienna malts. Finally, the crisp finish will refresh your palate and leave you wanting more. If you are getting hungry, and too lazy to make this yourself (like me), check out the Sausage Fest food truck  and head to Tenaya Creek the next time they are there serving up their bratwursts!

This Thursday is IPA Day. A day specifically dedicated to the almighty hop! You can find out more information about IPA Day, including some awesome cooking recipes, here.

More importantly, I’ve tried to gather a list of events happening in Las Vegas in celebration of IPA Day. I’ve got 3 for you. However, they are 3 awesome options!

Aces & Ales
Starting at 5PM, all beers are $5 and growler fills are $15
Tap list:
Stone Brewing Co.
Ruination W/Simcoe Hops On CASK 7.7%~ Imperial IPA
DDH Ruination W/Amarillo Hops 7.7%~ Imperial IPA
Stone IPA 6.9% ~ American IPA
Joseph James Brewing (Local)
Habanero Hop Box 8%~ Imperial IPA
Hop Box 8%~ Imperial IPA
Ballast Point Brewing Company
Sculpin 7% ~ IPA
Double Dorado 9.6% ~ IPA
Big Eye IPA 7% ~ American IPA
Deschutes Brewery
Chain Breaker 5.6% ~ White IPA
Hop In The Dark CDA ~ 6.5% American Black Ale
Green Flash Brewing
West Coast I.P.A. ~7.3% ABV American IPA

UPDATED: Whole Foods
All three Las Vegas locations are having a 20% off sale on all IPAs

Tenaya Creek Brewery
Currently unannounced, however the brewery has confirmed that they too will be having a special event in honor of IPA Day

UPDATE: Big Dog’s Brewery
IPA and curry dinner special

If you know of any other events happening in Las Vegas, please let us know so we can spread the word!

With IPA Day coming August 2nd, I thought I’d re-share one of Goran’s recipes that uses an IPA as a base. Be sure to follow him and his blog on twitter: @cookingwthgormo
–Luis

Hello,
As we continue to embark on a journey with beer recipes, I thought about combining another favorite ingredient that I love to cook with (Bacon). In this post, we will be making a Bacon and IPA Spaghetti sauce. Many of you will wonder what the actual taste will be. I will give you a little hint: it will all depend on what kind of beer you will be using while making the sauce. Think of the beer as the foundation for the sauce. If you start with a not so good flavored beer, do not expect any miracles in the end. You have been warned. The beer I choose today is coming from the Tenaya Creek Brewery. The name of the beer is Monsoon IPA. The beer is light amber in color, full bodied and well hopped. Perfect for this recipe!

On to the cooking now!

Yield: 2 QT

Ingredients:

• 4 ea slices of Bacon
• 4 ea medium Onions, chopped
• 2 ea cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lb Beef, ground
• 1 c Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 6 oz Mushroom, sliced from a can
• 12 oz Monsoon IPA Tenaya Creek Brewery
• 6 oz Tomato Paste
• 1 t Salt
• 1/2 t Tabasco Sauce
• 1 1/3 c Tomato Puree

Preparation:

1. Fry Bacon until crisp; drain. Remove Bacon from the skillet.
2. To the Bacon fat add Onions and Garlic. Sauté until golden. Add ground Beef and Cheese. Stir often. Cook until the meat is brown.
3. Add Beer and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the Tomato Paste, Salt, Tabasco, Worcestershire, Oregano and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add Tomato Puree, Mushrooms and Bacon.
6. Continue cooking until thickened, about 8-10 minutes.

Note:

Please keep in mind, as I have stated in my previous post, when it comes to the beer recipes, I will try to keep the recipe as straightforward and as simple as possible. You can add additional flavor to the sauce by adding Basil and Parsley to the recipe. I also recommend adding just a pinch of Sugar when making any kind of Tomato sauce. It helps fight the acidity of the tomato.

The finished product should look like this:

The one and only Aces & Ales is celebrating their 3rd anniversary, and they’ve enlisted the help of the local Joseph James Brewery to help them. Together, they’ve made a beer commemorating the 3 years that Aces & Ales has been punishing palates in Las Vegas with their intense craft beer selections.

Porters have got to be one of the best styles of beer, simply because they perfectly balance dark, bitter, roasted malts, with sweet, chocolatey goodness. Not only does this beer boast both of these elements, the barrel aging gives this beer a nice smokey aroma and flavor to complement the dark chocolate. For a beer that’s 10.8% alcohol, this is extremely drinkable.

If you are reading this, and it is still Saturday the 14th, GO TO ACES & ALES RIGHT NOW! Not only is this a very limited offering, they are giving it away for free. The keg was tapped at 3PM today, and your first round is on the house, today only or until they kill the keg, whichever happens first.

As for the bottle seen above, I got bottle 34/120. So yeah, bottles are also very limited, and will probably sell out tonight, if not already.

Congratulations Aces & Ales! Las Vegas wouldn’t be the same without you!

With Father’s Day coming up, I feel it is my civic duty to educate any people who may be buying gifts for their hop loving dads. As a father myself, trust me when I say that your father does not want a tie, or slippers for Father’s Day. As Hank Hill would say, they may want “beer, and beer related accessories!”. Read on for some great local ideas for the male parental unit that you love!

Tenaya Creek

General Manager Karl Herrera of Tenaya Creek Brewery has devised a fantastic gift for fans of great, local craft brews. For just $45, you will receive a wax sealed, brewer autographed growler full of their delicious Old Jackalope Barleywine, which is perfect for aging (and ages beautifully), as well 22oz bombers of both their Calico Brown Ale and Hop Ride IPA. With three distinct, delicious beverages…how could you go wrong?

For more info visit: Tenaya Creek Father’s Day Package

Aces and Ales
Website

As of yet, Aces and Ales is not doing anything fancy for Father’s Day…however, how about surprising dad with a 07.07.07 Vertical Epic from Stone, or perhaps a bottle of 14th Anniversary Firestone Walker? With an extensive list of hard to fine and aged bottles, Aces and Ales is a great choice if you want to pick up something unique. Or, why not treat your pops to some great tap beer and food on his special day? Either way, it is sure to put a smile on even the pickiest beer-lover’s face.

Khoury’s Fine Wine and Spirits
Website

What can I say about Khoury’s? Imagine a place when you can get a great craft beer on tap, and then shop for beer while enjoying it! Khoury’s is truly a beer geek’s dream come true! Head on in, grab a glass, and then take a gander through their extensive selection of beer, whiskey, wine, and even glassware. Khoury’s would be the perfect place to pick up your father’s favorite beer, pack it with a glass featuring his favorite birthday, and perhaps get him his favorite whiskey to boot. Oh, and did I mention that you can do all of this while enjoying a drink yourself?

Whole Foods on Las Vegas Blvd

Whole Foods on Las Vegas Blvd. rivals any destination in town for their great selection of fermented craft goodness. Pick up a gift card for your dad, and let him go to town! You can also speak with their Beer Specialist, Chris Brown, and let him help you pick out a beer that will go straight to your old man’s heart. I would love to recommend every Whole Foods in town, but the one at Town Square just plain leaves the rest of them it he dust.

Do you have any great beer related gift ideas of your own? We’d love to hear them! Please feel free to share the love in the comments field below, or send us an e-mail.

Stone returns to Aces & Ales this year for Stone Domination on May 18th-20th. CEO and co-founder Greg Koch will be in attendance on the 18th for a meet and greet.
$15 gets you a 9oz Stone-etched tasting glass with your first fill included. Tasters are $4 each after that. Or you can get 12oz pours of all beers for $7 if you’d rather do without the commemorative glass.

Aces and Ales released the tap list for this event at the Great Vegas Festival of Beer. I’ve included it below for reference. You don’t want to miss this!

– Bruery/Elysian/Stone La Citrueille Cèleste de Citracado
– Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard/Troegs/Stone Cherry Chocolate Stout
– Bottleworks 13th Anniversary Ale by Stone Brewing Co
– Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels
– Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
– Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA
– Arrogant Bastard Ale
– Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
– 2011 Double Bastard Ale
– Cali-Belgique IPA
– 2010 Stone Imperial Russian Stout
– 2008 Stone Imperial Russian Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels
– 2011 Stone BELGO Anise Imperial Russian Stout
– Stone IPA
– Stone LeVariation Ale
– Stone Levitation Ale
– Stone Mix Tape – GK & LU’s Blend Vol. 1
– 2010 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine
– 2011 Stone Old Guardian BELGO Barley Wine
– Stone Pale Ale
– Punishment
– Stone Ruination Double Dry Hopped with Amarillo Hops
– Stone Smoked Porter
– Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers
– Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean
– Double Dry Hopped Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale