Beer Events
Mojave Brewing Company – February 3
Mojave Brewing Company will celebrate its 4th anniversary with an event titled 4 Years of Hops. Held at the Henderson brewery from 11 a.m.-11 p.m., there is no admission charge and four special beers will be pouring. They include 4 Year Pale, a single malt, single hop collaboration brew that was brewed with the help of four local breweries. Mojave provided the water profile, North 5th the New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops, Silver Reef the Maris Otter malt and Las Vegas Brewing a Kveik yeast strain. During the brew at Mojave there were four brewery owners, four brewers, a couple of assistant brewers and one or two reps from each brewery.
Also pouring will be Three Wheel Motion, a Triple IPA; Hop 2 O, a non-alcoholic hop water drink; and a yet-to-be-named hopped cider. During the celebratory event there will be food trucks and a Steal the Glass, which means you pay for a pint fill at a special price and keep the glass.
North 5th Brewing — February 3
North 5th Brewing will host a taco and beer pairing featuring Balazos Tacos, which will provide a menu of three tacos designed to complement the flavors of North 5th beers. Tickets are $35 and include three 5 oz beer pours that pair with each taco, plus one full pint palate cleanser that will be served with chips. There will be a seating from 2-4 p.m. and another from 5-7 p.m. To purchase tickets, click here.
CraftHaus Brewery — February 10
CraftHaus Brewery will host the 10th annual Comrade Day, its annual celebration of its Russian Imperial Stout at the brewery in Henderson. This year the theme is a camping trip through the woods, with an opportunity to experience a “spiked” beer from a Bierstachelen—a traditional German hot fire poker plunged into the beer. There will be three seatings, and the cost for general admission is $42 per person, which includes two hours seated at a table, tasting flight of four Comrade imperial stout variants and a keeper gold logo glass. You can also add a food pairing from Chef Darnell of Dazzling Bistro for $30. For more info, available seating times and to purchase tickets, click here.
Tenaya Creek/Beer Zombies Update
After purchasing the Tenaya Creek Brewery in November, Chris Jacobs is continuing to move along the transition to Beer Zombies. During my visit last month, he pointed out two of the first Beer Zombies beers to be brewed at the brewery: the aptly named Zombie Creek, an Imperial IPA; and Here’s Zombie, a double dry hopped Double Hazy IPA. Chris says by April 1 all Beer Zombies beers sold in Las Vegas will be made at the local brewery, while AleSmith and Mason Ale Works will continue to brew beers being distributed in L.A. and S.D., both of which are #1 markets for the Beer Zombie brand.
There are also a handful of other new developments. In the taproom is a new digital menu and the addition of a five-door cooler with about 200 beers for purchase, which not only include Beer Zombies and Tenaya Creek beers, but a plethora of other local and regional brews. Beyond the taproom where office space was previously, is now a communal space with additional seating, more TV screens and a game area with Big Buck Hunter, Golden Tee, skee-ball and a basketball hoop, and more are on the way. Plans in the works for the coming months are to double the size of the taproom and create a beer garden.
Events to come include the May the 4th Be With You (Star Wars-themed beer fest) and a Revenge of the 5th afterparty the next day, and on September 14 Free the Whales being held in Las Vegas for the first time featuring all one-off beers from 100 breweries.
Trustworthy Closed
Trustworthy Brewing has closed its location in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Palazzo/Venetian. When it opened in 2020, it became the first brewery on the Strip since Monte Carlo Brewing had closed in 2005. The original Trustworthy Brewing location in Burbank, which had supplied much of the beer for its Vegas venue, remains open. BrewDog Las Vegas, which opened in late 2022, is now the only brewery on the Vegas Strip.
What’s Pouring in February
Mojave Brewing Company Owner/Brewer John “Griff” Griffith tells me they’ll have Red 5, an American spin on an Irish Red Ale with a red hue, delicious amber malt profile and a clean finish. Griff also mentioned that they are now canning their Punk Lemonade and Ruby Soho (grapefruit) ciders and they always have a cask ale or two pouring at the brewery.
Brewer Joe Cuozzo at HUDL Brewing has the 13.1% Panic Rev, a West Coast Triple IPA made with 100% Briess Synergy Pilsner Malt and hopped with Columbus Cryo and Amarillo Cryo and dry hopped with Simcoe, Columbus and Amarillo Cryo. It’s barleywine-esque because of the huge malt-forward profile. Joe also brewed Wobbler Joint, a 9.8% American Strong Ale with Pilsner and Crystal 120 malts and heavily-hopped with Chinook. Joe explained the Pilsner malt allows the Chinook to drive through and as he says, “You don’t see Chinook used much anymore, and I want to reintroduce the Chinook hop to the world.”
Las Vegas Brewing is doing a quarterly series called “If You Know You Know” illuminating Las Vegas history. As the name implies, the subject matter spotlights things a longtime Las Vegas resident would surely know. For the second beer of the series Brewer Amanda Koeller brewed Who Loves Ya, Baby—a throwback to the iconic local The Furniture Store commercials in the 1990s featuring a bald salesman with the look, phrase and lollipop actor Telly Savalas was known for. It’s a 6.5% West Coast IPA with a strong malt backbone and hopped with Magnum, Talus and Chinook giving it notes of stone fruit, pine and grapefruit. The brewery is also brewing Vegas Light, a 4.2% crushable American Light Lager with corn and Liberty hops, which is available at T-Mobile and the Vegas Golden Knights games. And, they are supplying the Nine Fine Irishmen Irish Pub at New York-New York with River Trent Ale, a 4.9% English-style Pale Ale with Maris Otter malt and Northern Brewer and Challenger hops (to replace the discontinued Bass Ale) to be used in Black & Tans.
Brewer Patrick Tofte at North 5th Brewing is bringing us Flex Your Brussels, an 8% Belgian Golden Strong Ale that he describes as having “fruity notes and esters from Belgian yeast that leads into a dry, spicy finish, full of complexity and character and yet surprisingly smooth and easy to drink.”
Another Restaurant Supporting Local Beer
A repeating update in this column is giving a shout-out to establishments that are supporting our local breweries by carrying only beers made in Southern Nevada. My find this month is Boom Bang Fine Foods & Cocktails in Henderson. Their beer lineup includes Tenaya Creek Bonanza Brown Ale, Beer Zombie Duck Hunter IPA, Able Baker El Pato Loco Mexican Lager, a Beer Zombie seasonal release and a seasonal rotating draft. If you know of a restaurant or bar that is doing the same, email me at [email protected] and I’ll investigate and mention it in this column next month.
Correction
In this column last month I reported that Ashley Navarrete had moved over to Able Baker Brewing and was hired as an assistant brewer. However, her title is brewer, not assistant, the difference being a brewer has more responsibility, independence and participation in recipe formulation and an assistant works under a brewer assisting in tasks determined by the brewer. My apologies for not giving Ashley her just due and the experience she had with HUDL will surely make her a great asset to the Able Baker brew team.
- CraftHaus Comrade Day courtesy of CraftHaus
- Chris Jacobs at Tenaya Creek brewery pic by Jack Banks
- Hudl outside sign pic by Dave Canela
- Las Vegas Brewing Who Loves Ya courtesy of Las Vegas Brewing Co.
- North 5th owners and brewers pic by Dave Canela
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
- More info
Bob Barnes began his food and beverage writing career in 1998 as Regional Correspondent for Celebrator Beer News and wrote the Nevada Beer Nuggets column from 1998-2019. He was Editorial Director of The Las Vegas Food & Beverage Professional from 2012-2021 and has covered Las Vegas for Gayot since 2010. He continues to contribute to Gayot, writing the Gayot Las Vegas Restaurant News, features on new restaurants, and beer and spirit reviews. He also writes regularly for Off The Strip, The Vegas Voice, Neon Feast, and Las Vegas Magazine.
