Vegas Area

CraftHaus brewery is basically next door to Bad Beat and is also good. If you are going all the way over there you should hit both. Lovelady brewing is not too far from there either.

 

Vegas is an average brewery market. There’s no one brewery that stands out as a must hit. We have a number of decent ones that can hit a great beer every now and then but also can produce some stinkers. My hierarchy though:

“First Tier” Breweries
1. Hop Nuts - best ipas, best at hazy ipas, they continue to get better. They do some non ipa styles well too like their Common that’s on currently I think is superb. Pretty good stuff top to bottom. Check their Instagram and if you hit an ipa release can get cans or growlers filled. I should say I’m a bit of an outlier here. Most people probably prefer Bad Beat as the best.

2. Big Dogs - brewpub with the biggest list of their own beers in town. Been around longest, their core line is dated and I wouldn’t suggest any of it. Their seasonals though they’ve done some great ipas: wardog, wonder dog triple ipa, Lhazy, cloudy with a chance of fleury. They do some good Belgians. Their tripel won GABF gold last year. Surprising, it is pretty good though. A couple Belgian dark ales that have been quality. It’s their 25th anniversary this year so they are busting out some cool releases.

3A. Bad Beat Brewing - it’s a hit or miss experience for me. Brewer is a former home brewer and while they just had their 4 year anniversary it still shines through. Some home runs and some diacetyl, nail polish drain pours. It’s definitely improved. Pretty good hazy ipas and stouts. Just came out with 5 new beers this past weekend. Haven’t tried them all yet but the reviews are solid.

3B. CraftHaus - same parking lot as Bad Beat and equal. They love to do big fruit additions and heavy spicing, not really my thing. Just changed Brewers a couple weeks ago so unclear if they will improve, stay same or decline. Their double ipa Giggle Juice is great and just got released. They started dabbling in hazy ipas recently and thus far the only two releases I thought were both excellent. Have my favorite Belgian beer, Carillon but it never seems to be on tap sigh.

“Second Tier” Breweries
5. LoveLady - located 5 min from CraftHaus and Bad Beat. They tend to do more lagers and German styles but then lots of additives which I don’t really get like peach Weizenbock or a Chile Pilsner. Typically have a number of fruit flavored sours. Their Paleo Porter and Love Juice are the stand outs.

6. Tenaya Creek - about 5 min from Hop Nuts. Nice new facility but located in a crap area. I haven’t had their beers in a while because they are pretty poor. The best they do are their Baltic porter and barley wine. Maybe they’ve improved recently but they would need a big jump in quality for me to make it a regular. They do have a lot of guest taps of pretty good quality. Sad but each time I’ve gone here I’ve probably ordered 80% guest tap and 20% their beer.

7. Banger Brewing - only been here once. It’s in the touristy Fremont area. Beers are fine, average, rarely get much distribution. Think they may have changed Brewers and/or management. Their coffee kolsch and jalapeño hef are what they’re known for.

No Brewery Location:
Joseph James - while a brewery based in Vegas does not have a tap room. You can find their core beers all over town though and often their rarer offerings at Khoury’s. Would rank them towards the top of the list. Quality in everything they do. Putting out the best barrel aged stouts, sours, smokes beers, Brett you name it. Still confused why no tap room. They’re one of the oldest breweries.

Able Baker - I think they’ve now decided to open a tap room in Reno instead. I don’t really get the hype with them. You’ll find their imperial brown ale, stouts and ipa at a lot of places in town. People seem to like them but I’ve found their stuff average.

 

Any good beer stores? I’m at the Venitian and the best I’ve seen in store close by is Laungunitas IPA.

 

The strip I don’t go to so not really sure. I assume it’s a wasteland. Your best bet that’s closest is taking a 10 min cab to town square which has a total wine and Whole Foods. Also oddly gas stations with Speedee Mart have a good craft selection and get some of the rarer distro (Revision, LCB, Mikkeller SD) and all the local breweries. I think the owner is a big craft fan.

Otherwise the by far best bottle shop is Khoury’s in Henderson but a 20 min drive from Strip. Has 11 craft taps, Wednesday nights are new releases. Can open bottles in store as long as pay a small corkage fee. Staff is great.

 

I'd add Ellis island. While their beer is average at best, hard to beat the price....and their BBQ is very good and cheap, even more so if you join the free slot club. If you're out during the Holidays, their Holiday Nog is absolutely delicious.

I always enjoy Big Dog. A brewery doesn't have to knock my socks off everytime for me to like it. Just my humble opinion....

 

I’m looking for a place to watch the UFC fight tomorrow night. Any recommendations along the strip (Wynn/Venetian area) or near the airport? Free would be nice but not necessary. As long as I can have some good local ipa’s while enjoying the fight. Thx.

 

If you're just looking for stuff to drink while you're there - sure. If you're looking for a legit good store with unusual bottles to bring home, not really. For that you'll probably have to hit up the Whole Foods south of the strip or go a bit further down to Khoury's.
If you're at the Venetian, there's a little independent store in front of Bally's that has a decent selection. Nothing mind blowing, but they'll have stuff beyond Lagunitas IPA. There's a small shop across from Guy Fiery's place that sells 4-5 different Modern Times cans if you're just looking from something quick. The Walgreen's in front of Planet Hollywood has some decent stuff, too.

 

Haven't seen anybody mention bBd's, which opened last summer in the Palace Station Casino on Sahara just west of the 15. Very solid draft and bottle/can lists...and decent grub.

 

I'm heading back in a few weeks. Am curious what the vibe is like on the strip these days. If feels like better beer is on the rise, but it's almost all in specialty restaurants.

Almost all of the shops and bars carry the exact same Guinness, Heineken, Stella, Goose, Corona, Bud Light, and Ballast Point selection. They're even typically arranged in the same ways and the taps are in the same order. Crafthaus and Joseph James stuff is around here and there, but check those dates if you know what I mean.

3-4 years ago things were different, but it feels like the distributor made some executive decisions on the Strip. Maybe the local stuff or the smaller places from Cali weren't moving or something.

 

I agree with your sense of things Domingo. Last year, for example, TAG Spors Bar at the Linq closed, which imo was by far the best option for free craft beer on the Strip. I miss playing video poker and being comped 16oz cans of Pizza Port Swami's, among many other options. I'll be out there this weekend and will try to remember to report back any new findings.

 

I have a theory that those strong-ass Bruery bombers could be the greatest thing ever if they were on sale on the Strip. Hopefully someday it happens.

 

Had a tasty BA stout at Tenaya the week after Turkey Day. And the Holiday Nog was flowing at Ellis so I was a very happy camper!

 

Man, packaged beer on the strip is grim these days. The few stores that weren't clones either are now or they've shuttered. Even the drug stores have killed off much of their non-standard options. Plenty of good options at restaurants, but I miss being able to buy something good/local to walk around with.
Somewhat related, the Casino Royale killed off their 10+ year cheap Michelob deal. They doubled the price in 2018 and now they don't even carry it. Lame.

 

On the positive end of things, I can report that the Hofbräuhaus L.V. is shockingly legit. The beers taste just like they do in Munich. The place even mostly looks like the real thing. Well, at least the main room does. The Goose Island pub across the street at the Hard Rock has several of the non-typical GI offerings like Brasserie Noir and BCS.

Overall, I'd say the beer situation is kind of disappointing, though. Those Joseph James, Crafthaus, Port, and Modern Times cans are mostly gone. Blue Moon seasonal taps have been mostly replaced with St. Archer. There's plenty of good beer to be had in restaurants, but bottle and can selections are pretty lousy unless you love the flagships from Stone, Boston Beer, and Ballast Point. I mostly stuck to free macros.

 

If you were at Hofbrau you were around 500 feet from the Beer Zombies Bottle Shop, currently stocked up with Tilquin, Cantillon, 8 bit, LCB, Bearded Iris, Modern Times, Revision , Lead Dog, Etc etc . You can drink on site or take away. Just a heads up for next time

 

That's really good to know. Only store I've been to in LV was Khoury's. Too funny that I missed out on Cantillon and Tilquin even though I was so close. Oh well!

 

Vegas beer market is pay to play. If you are a brewery and you want beer on the strip, you many times have to pay out to the casinos (like a marketing charge); this is in addition to the cut you already take from having to use a distributor, the the three tier system, in this state as you can not self distribute here.

Wanted to point this out as it is a huge reason you do not see a lot of micro on the strip except in select places.

Good news on the way? Soon we may have a new area with many breweries within waking distance that is also easily accessable to tourists.

 

Is the pay-to-play thing a recent change? Just looking at some photos (and Untappd check-ins) from 2016 and there were way more options available. Both local and Cali+Midwest distro. The clone bars and especially the liquor shops weren't always like that.
Did something happen?