Beer in Vegas

Go to Khoury's Fine Wine & Spirits (Beerfly for info), and support a great mom&pop shop.
They have individual cans/bottles available for purchase of the JJ products, as well as the other local breweries (Tenaya Creek & Big Dog's Brewing Co's) that you can open then&there.
Try out the can, as well as the 10+ taps they have in their tasting room, and see for yourself!
Enjoy the city!
*Edit: Yes, it's worth trying!

 

I am not sure if they do bottles to go, but Freakin Frogs is a good stop as well. Ask to check out the bottle cellar.

 

If you want to overpay a crap ton. I dont know many of the people in the local scene who actually go there. It's mainly Khourys, Aces 1 and now Aces 2, and Tenaya creek. Lots of tourists get sucked into Freakin.

 

I'm not going to claim one wouldn't pay a premium for a good bottle in a bar. This is the same with most bars who carry a bottle list. As a tourist I enjoyed a visit though.

 

no... its not the same. Aces has a bottle list, its reasonable for the beer. I once saw a guy buy a Voodoo maple for $23 bucks. Thats the problem with a place like that. Also, he has old beer. His "1000" bottles do not get rotated after that expire. I know for a fact that he has sold year old DIPA's and other stuff. I understand its unique and all. If you are going to go there, stick to their tap list which is just okay, but at least you wont be getting ripped off.

 

I don't know the frog has had $16.00 drafts there before!

 

But they have the smoothest white whiskey east of the strip!

 

As a regular visitor for business travel, I think Freakin' Frog has some value for an out of towner. While you pay dearly for the privilege, and you need to know something about what's on the shelves to avoid out of code hoppy beers and the like, I have been able to find some bottles over the years that I could not find elsewhere.

Oddly, or perhaps not, I have had much less success at Khoury's, which is well shopped by the locals in the know from what I can tell. I'd love to spend more there, but rarities and seasonals do not last there so timing is everything.

 

Except we aren't talking about rarities or even seasonal/limited beers. We are talking about $18 for shelf beers from local breweries or $40+ bottles of shelf California beers that aren't legally distributed here (year round Alesmith and the like). Paying $40 to consume a FiftyFifty Eclipse at a bar or $25 for a Parabola is one thing...$12 for 6oz pours of World Wide Stout or $9 for a pint of a local year round IPA is another.

 

Not trying to defend all of their business practices by any means. I remember my excitement when I found The Dissident there several months after release when it was nowhere to be found. Pricey, yes, but a beer we love and could not get at the time in PA. FF has a certain limited appeal to an out of town beer lover if you know what you are looking for. I can understand that others' mileage may vary, esp. If you live here.

 

For those types of limited releases...you'd have just as good of a chance of finding them at the Aces & Ales locations for considerably cheaper.

Obviously you're right, they aren't going to sit on retail shelves like Khoury's for long.

 

I really enjoy Big Dog's. Lee's Discount Liquor is just down the street from them.

 

It is near Tenaya Creek northwest of the strip. You can kill two birds with a trip up there. Big dogs is close by as well.

I haven't been it just "opened" last Friday. I believe they are planning a grand opening.

 

Literally 2 minutes from Tenaya Creek (passed it on my way tonight; it's on the same street). Fun place, great service. Problems with the hood for the pizza oven limiting the menu right now. I think I prefer A&A 1's grittiness, but maybe that's just because the bar had plenty of rowdy Yankees fans tonight. I will certainly be at A&A 1 Friday before heading to the airport...