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Celebrator's
Beer Camp : Las Vegas
Las Vegas,
Baby!
Article: Tom
Dalldorf |
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It all sounded so innocent. Well,
as innocent as a trip to Las Vegas can be. Put together a trip
to Sin City with beer as the agenda and hang it on a major beer
festival. Sound good so far? Thought so.
Then the beer festival got canceled, and we had to change the
date. Tours and tastings at a few of the best local breweries;
lunch at the famous Hofbräuhaus; a tasting talk with the
Freakin’ Frog’s professor of beer, wine and spirits,
Adam Carmer; and a finale at the rock ’n’ roll tap
house Aces & Ales with featured brewery Lagunitas pouring
rare beers on most of the taps. Sound like fun? Where the hell
were you!
Those of us who showed up had an incredible beer experience
in a town known for everything but beer. Thanks to our local
beer writer, Bob Barnes, and Nevada Brewers Guild President
Michael Pfohl, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable contingent
of local beer geeks showed up to take part in our first Celebrator
Beer Camp Las Vegas. Our motto: What happens in Vegas…
never happened. And we’re sticking to that.
| An enthusiastic and knowledgeable contingent of local
beer geeks showed up to take part in our first Celebrator
Beer Camp Las Vegas. |
We first met up at Tenaya Creek Brewery, a
former brewpub turned production brewery with a great pub–tasting
room attached. Brewer Anthony Gibson led a large group of beer
lovers through a tasting and tour of his expanded facilities.
(I first met Gibson when he was the brewer at the Monte Carlo
Resort and Casino.) His beers are amazingly diverse. He is using
three yeast strains and heading toward an annual production
of 1,600 barrels. He is not afraid to use hops in his beers,
and the locals seem to know that this is the place.
After the tasting tour, we headed up the I-15 freeway to Big
Dog’s Draught House (see cover of the June/July
2010 Celebrator) to see what longtime Head Brewer Dave
Otto was up to. Dog themes were the password, from the giant
yellow lab (with the “Don’t Climb on Me” sign)
at the entrance to the dog-themed beer on offer. Leglifter Light,
Tailwagger Wheat, Red Hydrant Ale, Black Lab Stout and Dirty
Dog IPA gave us the doggie names, but the “best friend”
was in the glass — great bow-wow beer! I loved the Holy
Cow! Original Pale Ale (from the first brewpub in Vegas), with
its rich Northwest hop character.
World Beer Cup multiple-gold-medal-winner Red Hydrant Ale was
a kick-ass mouthful of wonderfulness. The Black Lab Stout was
roasty-rich in malt character, with coffee and cocoa in pleasing
balance. My favorite was the Dirty Dog IPA, at 7.1% abv. Not
your usual Vegas brew.
The next day, survivors of the previous night met for lunch
at Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas, an authentic reproduction of
the original in Munich (which I had visited a few years earlier).
The German beer tradition is partly about the beer and mainly
about the party. We had a great time watching beer games like
“Hold your hand out with a full liter of beer and see
if you can be the last one holding” contest. The winner
got a free beer and a very sore arm.
Entertaining music and even more entertaining beer servers kept
the Hofbräuhaus event lively. Only three beers are on regular
offer (lager, wheat beer and dark beer), but we were lucky enough
to still be able to order the fest beer, or märzen. All
of the beers served were brewed at the mother ship in Munich.
Classic dishes like Schweinebraten and Nürnberger Rostbratwürstl
(among many others) were as authentic as you could imagine.
Our attempt at learning something consisted of a quick visit
to the iconic Freakin’ Frog and a class in tasting techniques
from Adam Carmer, who knows a few things about the subject.
An eclectic tap selection and an amazingly diverse selection
of bottled beers make the Frog a true “must stop”
on your Vegas beer journey. And spirits? Professor Carmer has
somewhere in the neighborhood of 640 bottles open for tasting.
That, my friends, is a nice neighborhood.
We finished up at Aces & Ales multi-tap with our friend
Tony Magee from Lagunitas in the house. Included in the draught
lineup for the evening were Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Capp Stout,
A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’, A Little Sumpin’
Wild, Hop Stoopid, Wet Hopped Pale Ale, the regular IPA, the
pale ale and the exceptional PILS. There’s a good evening,
don’tcha think? Lagunitas owner and roots blues savant
Magee led the assembled true believers through the amazing lineup.
Aces co-owner Ryan Johnson was in the house to lavish hospitality
on us. We seemed to like that. Excellent pizza and exotic Lagunitas
beers were an awesome match. The other co-owner, Keri Kelli
(lead guitar player for Alice Cooper), was on tour in Germany
and missed our gathering. Lagunitas’s Tony Magee soon
took the stage for some live music and did an inspired set of
roots blues. Your publisher sat in with the house band, led
by John Zito, for some Rolling Boil Blues Band beery parodies.
No one sued us so, we’ll take that as a good review.
The word is Las Vegas has great beer. Yet another excuse to
get thee to Sin City and enjoy the best life has to offer. Next
time we do our Celebrator Beer Camp: Las Vegas, we
hope you will join us. Our new friends Tom and Michelle from
Pub Crawlers took videos of the events and posted them at thepubcrawlersroadshow.com.
Check it out and get ready for CBN's Beer Camp : Las Vegas II! |
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Tenaya Creek
Brewery
3101 N. Tenaya Way
Las Vegas, NV 89128
702-362-7335
Big
Dog’s Draft House
4543 N. Rancho Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89130
702-645-1404
Hofbräuhaus
Las Vegas
4510 Paradise Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
702-853-2337
Freakin’
Frog
4700 S. Maryland Pkwy.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
702-597-9702
Aces
& Ales
3740 S. Nellis Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89121
702-436-7600 |
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Celebrator Beer Campers party down at Aces &
Ales on Saturday night, with Lagunitas Brewing’s
beers featured on tap |
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Big Dog’s Dave Otto (center top) and campers |
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Tenaya Creek Head Brewer Anthony Gibson explains the brewing
process |
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Publisher Tom Dalldorf does some Rolling Boil tunes with
the house band at Aces & Ales |
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Adam Carmer of the Freakin’ Frog in his massive
cooler. |
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| Tom Dalldorf is publisher
and editor of the Celebrator Beer News. |
