Las Vegas Brewing News

New BJ’s Brewhouse Location and Annual Holiday Beer Dinner

There are now four BJ’s Brewhouses in Southern Nevada, with the latest opening last month at 7190 S. Rainbow a bit south of the 215 freeway. The new location is a bit grander than the other three, with a semi-open kitchen and a more open feel to the dining room. The new spot provides coverage to the southwest quadrant of the Vegas Valley, joining the others in Centennial, Summerlin and Henderson.

Speaking of BJ’s, their annual holiday beer dinner is slated for Dec. 5 at the Centennial, Henderson and Summerlin locations. It has my name written all over it, as it features some of my favorite beer styles: winter warmers, holiday beers from some of the world’s best craft brewers and BJ’s Grand Cru, a beer I eagerly anticipate when it arrives each winter. The menu includes welcome beer: BJ’s 23rd Annual Grand Cru; house Caesar salad paired with Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA; BJ’s Piranha Pale Ale chili matched with Anchor Christmas Ale; classic tavern cut pizza paired with Breckenridge Christmas Ale; prime rib and mashed potatoes matched with Stone Imperial Stout; and mini white chocolate macadamia nut Pizookie paired with Delirium Noël. The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the cost is $50 in advance and $55 (plus tax and tip) the day of the event. To purchase tickets visit here.

More Love for Local Beer

In the past months I’ve been mentioning restaurants and bars supporting local breweries by contracting with them to brew a house beer for them. I’ve discovered that there are so many that this just might need to be a monthly feature for this column. This month I’m highlighting Astronomy Aleworks, which through its collaboration with Juxta Nomad is responsible for three of them. They include SerVehZah’s “Nueva Esperanza,” a crisp, easy-drinking Mexican lager with subtle corn sweetness and Mandarina Bavaria hops for a touch more citrusy hop flavor; 595 Craft and Kitchen’s “Pilau Talk,” a Southeast Asian-inspired ale made with three types of rice for a super light body and dry finish; and Peyote’s “Attack of the Killer Tomatillo,” a Mexican lager made with freshly juiced tomatillos and limes straight from the kitchen. Support local by making your way to these fine establishments and experiencing them for yourself.

October 2022

More Love for Local Beer

The Beast, Chef Todd English’s restaurant at Area 15, has proven to be a big supporter of local beer and it’s now showing even more love to our Nevada breweries. It has a house beer, Todd’s Blondie Pale Ale, brewed by Reno’s Revision Brewing. AGM/Bar Manager Madelin Goodland describes it as a golden-colored lightly hopped, crisp, clean, easy-drinking pale ale that pairs with the restaurant’s BBQ selections, wings, pizzas, salads and signature burgers. But the local support doesn’t end there. The beer menu also includes Able Baker Atomic Duck IPA and Calutron Girl Hefeweizen; Bad Beat Bluffing Isn’t Weisse; Big Dog’s Red Hydrant Brown Ale; and CraftHaus Evocation Saison, Cuckoo Munich Dunkel Lager, All the Peaches Fruited Sour, Hop Vegas IPA, Sugoi! Milkshake IPA Strawberry Mochi and Silver State Blonde Ale. The menu helpfully identifies all of the Nevada brewed beers. Currently during happy hour Mon.-Thu. from 4-6 p.m., all CraftHaus beers are $6.

Last month I gave 13 examples of local establishments partnering with our local breweries to brew a house beer for their restaurant or bar. Now here’s one more to add to the list. Circa Resort & Casino at the Fremont Street Experience has teamed up with Able Baker to brew a beer for its Vegas Vickie’s Cocktail Lounge. Called Vegas Vickie Neon Blonde, it pays homage to the leg-kicking neon cowgirl that shined bright on Fremont Street for decades, beginning in 1980. Now the 20-by-25-foot neon sign lights up the Circa lobby, overlooking her namesake Vegas Vickie’s Cocktail Lounge. The beer is a 4.5% ABV easy-drinking lager packaged in a 16 oz. can and is also available at Circa’s Overhang Bar and Mega Bar.

“We love teaming up with local businesses, and Able Baker was the perfect partner to help us develop a property-exclusive beer,” said Circa Director of Beverage Sam Pulliam. Able Baker Director of Marketing and PR Kevin Lingley added, “We are proud to partner with Circa and deliver a beer honoring the legendary Vegas Vickie. Beer has long been conduit for conversation, and we hope Neon Blonde sparks conversation about Las Vegas’ great history.”

It’s fitting that Able Baker would be involved in honoring local history, as it takes its name from the first two atomic blasts set off at the Nevada Test Site in the early 1950s.

October Beer Events

Big Dog’s annual DOGtoberfest will take place on October 15th at the Draft House outdoor area from 3-8 p.m. This fest combines the great traditions of Oktoberfest celebrations with the charm of an Old Wisconsin brat cookout and features free admission, pay as you go, with live music and more than 50 local and regional brews. There will also be a human and dog Halloween costume contest. For more info and to purchase festival packages visit www.bigdogsbrews.com/dogtoberfest.

Able Baker will celebrate its 3rd anniversary with a party at the brewery in the Arts District on Main St. on Oct. 15 from 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. There will be a DJ, drawings for prizes, a rubber ducky race tournament, special draft beer releases and their anniversary bottle release of THR3, a barrel-aged stout. There’s no admission charge and the resident Arts District Kitchen will be curating a special menu for the anniversary party.

The 10th annual Motley Brews Downtown Brew Festival, one of the larger fests in the state drawing thousands of craft beer fans, returns to the Clark County Amphitheater on Oct. 22 from 5-9 p.m. (4:00 for VIP and early entry). You can expect more than 200 beers from 60+ breweries, including 20 of our local brewing establishments, as well as live music and several food truck options. The amphitheater venue is centrally located and is a nice environment set in a grassy area in a circular configuration so everything is within steps. For the list of breweries, beer being poured, ticket prices and to purchase tickets visit downtownbrewfestival.com.

Lovelady Brewing Featured at Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival

For possibly the first time, a local brewery’s beer is being featured at the 28th annual Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival held at Sunset Park Oct. 7-9. The beer is Lovelady Brewing’s Honey Blonde Ale, a limited release 5% ABV dark golden ale with aromas of sweet bread and fruit finished with a touch of honey. As an incentive, beer fans can get $1 off of up to four single day tickets to the festival by purchasing the beer, which is available at all Lee’s Discount Liquor, Total Wine and Speedee Mart locations; and at Khoury’s and Top Shelf Wine & Liquor. If you’re picking up this beer at Speedee Mart, you can also get Lovelady’s Gas Station Pumpkin Patch, an 8% ABV stout with pumpkin spice.

New Homebrew Shop

Las Vegas has a new homebrew shop: Let’s Brew. It’s owned and operated by TJ Lynch, who after moving to Las Vegas from the Bay Area at the start of the pandemic, began homebrewing and discovered the need for an additional homebrew supply store. His store offers everything needed to brew your own beer or wine at home and is located at 4920 W Cheyenne Ave #110 (just west of Decatur). For more information, visit www.letsbrew.beer.

Scenic Brewing Closes Abruptly

We are sorry to report that Scenic Brewing has closed its doors. Both a note on the door and on their website on September 8 stated: “It is unfortunate that we must announce the closing of our establishment.” What was especially unacceptable is that the owners didn’t bother telling their employees of the closing, with their notice being upon showing up to work to find the aforementioned sign on the door. This was reported on Facebook by someone who was a Scenic employee and also observed firsthand by a colleague of mine. The business had been sold recently and no word yet on what will take its place or where the brewing equipment will wind up. Scenic opened in March 2019 and is the second brewery to close at this location at Durango and Desert Inn, the first being Old School Brewing.

September 2022

Deadwood Meadery Is Clark County’s First Meadery

While this is a beer column, I felt compelled to share the news that Clark County now has its first ever meadery. In case you aren’t familiar with what mead is, it’s kind of a cousin to beer and wine as it is fermented honey with oftentimes additions of fruit, herbs or spices. It’s also where the word honeymoon comes from. The new meadery is named Deadwood Meadery and is located in the Henderson Booze District (but on the west side of Eastgate across the street from the winery, distillery and three breweries) at 7705 Commercial Way #100 with the entrance facing Eastgate.

Deadwood is the creation of owner/operator/meadmaker Tom Nichols, who got into meadmaking while working as a bartender and wanting a softer fortified drink to put in cocktails. When he realized how costly it was for shipping commercial meads, he decided it was time the Vegas Valley had its own production facility. The process from start to finish takes about two to three months for flavored and three to six months for traditional.

Tom chose the Deadwood name because it elicits thoughts of Old Vegas when it was a railroad stopover drinking hole in the middle of the desert at the turn of the 20th century. The tasting room lends a southwestern feel with a wall mural painted by local artist Luis Abrego featuring cacti, a dead tree, skeleton atop a horse and the ridgeline of Frenchman Mountain (aka Sunrise). There are also old timey antique sofa and chairs.

Upon opening on August 20, 2022, there were nine meads pouring, both still and sparkling versions. The fruited still versions included the 12.7% ABV Lime in the Coconut with additions of flaked coconut, coconut water and lime; and the 13.5% ABV Midnight Society with sage honey, Earl Grey tea and blueberry, which Tom suggests should bridge the gap for those who like red wine. There are others with unusual ingredients like one with coffee from local Mothership Coffee Roasters; another with Madagascar vanilla beans and Guatemalan coffee honey (it doesn’t have coffee in it but honey made from bees feeding off coffee blossoms giving it a distinctive flavor); and others with peach, pomegranate, pineapple, black currant, raspberry, chamomile, tart cherry, cinnamon and ginger.

The best way to enjoy the meads is to order a flight of five 5-oz pours. If you want to enjoy some at home, they have a crowler machine that can seal your favorite into a 12 oz can and there are some varieties in 375 ml bottles. Hours are Mon. and Thurs. 4-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. noon-10 p.m. and Sun. noon-8 p.m. www.deadwoodmeadery.com.

Beer Zombies Boulder City Hosting All-Day Music Festival

If enjoying live music is on your playlist and drinking great beer while doing so, you’ll have the best of both at Beer Zombies Boulder City on Sept. 3 (Labor Day weekend). They’ll host a free all-day music mini-fest that will include the first national act ever to play Boulder City as a headliner: Jesse Hughes as Boots Electric and front man for the band Eagles of Death Metal. Other bands include Divided by Stereo, Anna Duerden, Second Echo, Lost Vagrants, Alive and Chalmer. During the fest there will be an open beer bar for the day for $50, and the craft beer bar will be launching its crowlers, which will be the first and only Beer Zombies location with that option. BZBC will open at 11 a.m. with the first band playing at noon and the last band going on at 8:30 p.m.

Lovelady Brewing Opens Second Taproom

Those in Green Valley won’t have to drive nearly as far to enjoy brews from Lovelady Brewing, as a second taproom is now open at 1550 N. Green Valey Parkway #315, which is at the NE corner of Pebble and Green Valley. The room has an inviting look with large windows, orange-yellow walls and repurposed wood tables. It’s equipped with 15 taps pouring Lovelady brews, wine and cider and a special beer for this location: Pebleicity Stunt Apple Ale, a 6.3% hybrid that is half beer and half cider fermented together. Hours are noon-11 p.m. daily.