Madame Rose is a bitch. You wouldn’t know it from meeting her; she’s actually very friendly and personable. But to those who have to work with her: Madame Rose is a bitch. I met Madame Rose last week, while attending a Goose Island beer pairing dinner at Todd English. The darkly lit restaurant featured several of Goose Island’s barrel aged beers, and a very unique and diverse food menu.
Cisco Brewers is a Massachusetts based brewery that is one part of a 3 part brewery/winery/distillery located on Nantucket Island. Soon, they will begin distributing their beers to Las Vegas. I was given four of their year round beers for review, and after tasting these beers, I’m excited for what may soon be available in Las Vegas. They also have a line of sour beers, and their current fall seasonal is a smoked pumpkin beer; all of which I’m very interested in trying! Without further ado, below are my tasting notes for the beers that I tried:
This past week, May 13th-19th, marked American Craft Beer Week. American Craft Beer Week is basically a week to celebrate the small and independent breweries and the fine work that they do.
For the first time that I can remember, local brewery Tenaya Creek went all out to ensure that craft beer fans got a chance to whet their palates with some rare offerings. Each day, Tenaya Creek released a new beer (sometimes more), and all are worth talking about. (more…)
As much fun as it is to see new Las Vegas breweries on the horizon, it is equally great to see new names pop up in familiar breweries. Roughly a week ago, Tenaya Creek unleashed their new Easy Rider Pale Ale, the first release from assistant brewer Marcos.
What this pale ale does really well, is blend the crispness of a west coast pale ale with a solid, but drinkable body. You are met right away with a big, citrusy aroma, followed by slight malt sweetness, and finished off with a piny, grapefruit bitterness that is surprisingly refreshing. This is the kind of beer that you want to sit on your porch and sip on a mild spring day, and at a respectable 5.8% ABV, you certainly can!
Personally, I’m quite looking forward to what Marcos dreams up next!
This past Friday, Dave and Wyndee Forrest launched a Kickstarter campaign to open CraftHaus Brewery. While I met with them to discuss their plans, a donor had just pledged $400, putting CraftHaus over the $5,000 mark, or about 26% to their goal of $20,000, in only four days. (more…)
While I was visiting Washington last month, I finally got the chance to stop by Sound Brewery and try their beers. They are located just a couple miles down the road from where I grew up, and over the past year, I kept hearing about this brewery. Friends still living in the state would tell me about Sound, I’d see websites announce Sound as one of the best breweries of the Pacific Northwest, and I even started to see their beers for sale on Letspour. Needless to say, I had some high expectations, and was anxiously awaiting my chance to taste their beers. I scheduled an interview with one of Sound’s founders, Mark Hood, so I could learn a bit more about what has made Sound so successful, and to taste a few of their beers, of course. (more…)
I just want to take a moment and point out how much I like Unita’s label artwork. I love the minimalistic look to them. Very few colors are used, the label is primarily two-toned between the background and the font colors. There is only a simple, single, two toned image in the center, and that’s it. It’s perfect.
And not only are the labels great, the beers are great too. Any of the below 12 oz bottles should be go-to session beers for all of you.
Uinta also has another set of beers available in cork finished 750 mL bottles, called their ‘Crooked Line’ beers. While these labels are not as clean cut and simple as the others beers, they do still have great artwork on them.
Uinta’s beers are available at the usual craft beer shops in town: Whole Foods, Khoury’s Fine Wine, and Total Wine.
Little known fact, the owner of Las Vegas’ Tenaya Creek Brewery, Tim Etter, got his start as a brewer at Uinta!
*all of the above images were taken from Uinta’s site.
Mammoth Brewing Company is tucked away in the mountains of California, and sadly, does not distribute to Nevada. Thankfully, it is close by to some of the Hooked on Hops extended family! We were able to get our hands on seven of their beers and had a tasting of them all. To get to the point, these beers do not disappoint! Next time you are in California, be sure to scope out some of these!
GOLDEN TROUT PILSNER 
This is a solid pilsner! This is very refreshing, with a toasted bread aroma and a dry, cracker-like finish. There is a firm hop bitterness (as any good pilsner should have!) that gives this beer a nice, long, lingering grassy, finish.
REAL MCCOY AMBER ALE
As light and refreshing as the pilsner, but with less hop flavor, and more maltiness. This beer smells like caramel and has a maple-like finish. This is extremely refreshing and would make for the perfect session beer during the hot summer months!
PARANOIDS PALE ALE 
This beer smells incredibly like fresh oranges, with a nice orange zest-like finish! In fact, this has such a strong orange aroma and flavor, that we decided to mix orange juice in with the beer to create one of the best beermosas we have ever had! This is very citrusy, with a lightly bitter aftertaste. Also, an amazing summer beer, or breakfast beer for that matter!
DOUBLE NUT BROWN 
This beer recently won the gold medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup, and for good reason! An amazing coffee aroma greets you, along with a smooth coffee flavor in the finish. The aroma, and initial flavor, is lightly smokey with a nice smooth and chocolatey body. One of the best porters available!
BLONDIBOCK 
Blondibock is an incredible uniquely flavored beer. This is brewed as a traditional blonde bock-style lager, but it is then aged for 3 months in bourbon barrels. The result is an extremely flavorful beer, especially for a lager. The nose is filled with bourbon and coconut, with a hint of pineapple, giving this an almost piña colada-like aroma. The flavor is also filled with coconut, in addition to a firm bourbon overtone. The overall flavor and aroma of this beer would make for an amazing candle!
DEVILS POST PALE ALE 
If there was a grapefruit beer, this would be it. Generously hopped with centennial hops, this beer has a strong grapefruit aroma, along with a firm grapefruit style bitterness that lingers long after the finish. Calling this beer a pale ale is an understatement, as this beer has the alcohol and bitterness to match any other well respected IPA on the west coast!
IPA 395 
Lastly, we tasted the juniper-themed IPA. The juniper is exceptionally strong in this beer, so much so that it is difficult to discern the sage that is also added to this beer. In the flavor, the juniper immediately jumps out, followed by a firm hop bitterness in the finish. A very solid, and unique, take on the IPA style.
All in all, Mammoth has some solid beers. We strongly recommend you seek these beers out the next time you are in California. The most favorited beers amongst the Hooked on Hops crew were the Blondibock and the Double Nut Brown Porter. Not sampled today, but also an exceptional beer, is their Hair of the Bear Doppelbock!
Photo Credits: Danny Szeto
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
Last week, the Whole Foods at Town Square held a beer pairing dinner with Sierra Nevada and Bit & Spur Restaurant in Springdale, Utah. The food and the beer was amazing, so I’m just going to cut to the chase and show you some pictures.
Gazpacho soup with roasted green chiles, tomato, cucumber, and garnished with a hard boiled egg and croutons.
Paired with Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Kellerweis is a wheat beer, and a perfect companion to lightly spicy, flavorful soup. The soft textured, sweet beer cleanses the palate between each bite.
Smoked baby back riblets with red chile ketchup BBQ sauce with & citrus ginger cole slaw with fennel, apples, and pomegranate seed, ginger yogurt, lime dressing.
Paired with Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye
If you read my Ruthless Chicken article, you know that I love rye beers with barbecue. These ribs were no exception. The sweet smokey taste compliments the harsh, rustic IPA.
Picadillo empanada garnished with queso fresco & pico de gallo
Paired with Ovila Quad
Quad is probably the first Ovila beer that I’ve really liked. The malty sweetness was a good choice for the ground beef inside this empanada.
Warm brownie with espresso creme anglaise & raspberry coulis
Paired with Sierra Nevada Porter
You can never go wrong having a porter with desert.
As a bonus, we also got a taster of Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. Holy hell is that a bitter beer! Probably one of the most bitter beers I’ve had in a while. A must try for the hop heads!
The above photos were either taken by me or by Whole Foods. See the rest of Whole Foods’ photos here.
