Vegasinc.com wrote up a nice article of the growing trend of growler fills here in Las Vegas. I managed to get a quote in there as well.

Read it here.

Two weeks from now, there are a few awesome New Belgium events coming to Las Vegas, courtesy of our local Beer Ranger, Karl Herrera. New Belgium’s Sensory Specialist/Blender/Organoleptic Educator, Lauren Salazar will be in town bringing some special beers to all of these events.
(All tap lists below subject to change)

First, a tap takeover at Khoury’s on Wednesday, March 13th at 6pm, featuring the following beers on draft: (more…)

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

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.

Stone has really been on an IPA kick lately. In past year, or so, they’ve released 6 new IPAs that I can think of. 15th Anniversary Escondidian Black IPA, Japanese Green Tea IPA, More Brown Than Black IPA, TBA (not labeled an IPA, but it’s a “hopppy, bitter, brown ale), Enjoy By IPA, and now 16th Anniversary IPA. This is a double IPA brewed with rye, lemon verbana, and lemon oil. Here are some of my tasting notes:

The beer has a bright crystal clear golden hue. It has a strong lemon rind smell, along with a wet grass and flowery aroma. Despite having lemon oil in the beer, the hops don’t veer too much in the citrusy direction. Instead the hops have more of a clean bitterness with more of an herbal flavor . The finish is a sweet, sugary lemon finish, with the rye spiciness balancing it out.

This definitely a different take on an IPA. Whereas Dogfish Head used Hellhound On My Ale to make a lemon IPA bursting with citrus flavors, Stone goes a different direction and instead uses the lemon flavor to accent more of a grassy, flowery, earthy IPA.

The one aspect of this beer that threw me off a bit was the mouthfeel. This beer seems to have a bit of a heavy body. In addition to this, there isn’t too much carbonation either, giving this beer an almost syrupy consistency. At 10% alcohol, it is in the high end for beer, but the mouthfeel is almost comparable to the beers that have more than 14% alcohol. This still is a great beer, and it hides it’s alcohol well, but the consistency of this beer makes it difficult to want to drink more than a small glass. I think a lighter body, and stronger carbonation would make this beer a bit more refreshing to have in the current 100+ degree weather. Once the temperatures drop, this will make a nice cold weather beer.

Prior to this writing, I had some difficulty finding where this beer was available. It didn’t seem like it was immediately available like last years 15th Anniversary beer. I grabbed the only bottle I saw at Whole Foods in Town Square. However, it has been confirmed on Facebook and Twitter that the beer can also be found at Aces and Ales and both Total Wine locations. Also, despite only seeing one bottle at Whole Foods, I can confirm that they have 13 cases left.

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.

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.