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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April 21, 2012 marked the second annual Great Las Vegas Festival of Beer, held once again at Tivoli Village. Last year’s festival was a bit underwhelming. There was little room, and a strong lack of organization. I’m pleased to say that this year, they seemed to alleviate both of those issues. The space given to the event was three times larger, and the overall professionalism of the event was greatly improved. While I could do without loud bands playing throughout the event, I’m sure that many people enjoy the live music atmosphere. Now…on to the beer!
My wife and I decided to be fancy and go with the VIP tickets this year. This allowed us to enter an hour early, and to enter a “Brewer’s Lounge” with food and special beers. The special beers were simply bottled Ommegang beers, which are available at most liquor stores, and Tailwagger Wheat, and Rebel Red from local Big Dog’s Brewery. While these are all solid beers, there is nothing really special about them. With that being said, the VIP tickets were worth the extra $10 for the early entry. By the time Tivoli Village started filling up, we had already made one lap around the area.
I was very happy to find some nice surprises amongst the beer selections this year. Noble Ale Works was in attendance, sampling their IPA, Pale Ale, and phenomenal Alpha Red. Hopefully we will see these on Las Vegas shelves sooner than later! (UPDATE: Khourey’s Fine Wine is currently carrying Noble Ale Works) Dogfish Head were pouring both their refreshing Aprihop, as well as their coveted 120 Minute IPA in the “Hop Tent.” Stevens Point and Three Monkeys, both new to the Vegas market, were also in attendance. I quite enjoyed the Brown Barrel Ale from the latter, and their Tres Vasqueros Amber Ale is about as fine of an amber ale as you will find! I was only able to try the Cascade Pale Ale by Stevens Point, but it was a nice, if unspectacular pale ale. Other breweries in attendance, included Wasatch, Squatters, Crispin Ciders, Unibroue, Green Flash, New Belgium, Left Coast, Uinta, Firestone Walker and Ballast Point.
Not to be outdone, Las Vegas’ locals had a fantastic showing of their own! On hand were breweries, Tenaya Creek, Joseph James, Big Dog’s, and local craft beer bar Aces and Ales. Aces and Ales were pouring two fantastic Rogue selections in XS Imperial IPA and Brutal IPA. Tenaya Creek had a fine selection of their own local brews, including Calico Brown and their Hop Ride IPA, which made it to the Elite 8 in the National IPA Championships! Thankfully, if you missed out on either of these brews, you can always visit the brewery year round! Big Dog’s really managed to surprise me with their Alpha Dog double red imperial ale. Big Dog’s has always been hit or miss for me, but this hoppy concoction won me over at first sip! Last, but not least, is Joseph James. Joseph James had their stellar Hop Box and Tahoe Blue on hand, but what really blew me away was their “experimental” crafts. The first beer they unveiled was a Cherry Pie Blonde Ale. In my opinion, this was a splendidly refreshing beer with nice subtle notes of cherries. The second new brew that they unleashed, was appropriatley titled Baby J’s German Chocolate Cake Stout. All in all, this may have ended up being my favorite beer of the event! Just as the name implies, this was German chocolate cake in a glass! Big, chocolate and coffee stout flavors, with a perfectly balanced coconut flavor throughout. I really hope this one ends up in a bottle someday soon!
Overall, I would highly recommend that any lover of craft beer does not miss this event next year! Las Vegas craft beer needs your support, and the prices ($27 for regular, $37 for VIP) are very reasonable when you consider the amount of beer you will be experiencing!
The Great Vegas Festival of Beer is back again this year at Tivoli Village on April 21st!
This was one of the better Las Vegas beer fests I attended last year. A lot of great beers from some great breweries.
The things I didn’t like about last year was the length of time it took to get into the festival, and how small and crowded the festival area was. It looks like Motley Brews learned from last year by adding an express lane for online ticket holders and three times more space than last year! Also exciting are some of the breweries that will be present this year that are new to the festival: Brewery Ommegang, Ballast Point, Uinta, and Green Flash, to name a few. Expect to see the local breweries on hand as well: Tenaya Creek, Joseph James, Chicago Brewing Company, and Big Dog’s Brewing Company.
More details, and pictures, can be found at Motley Brew’s website.
