For those of you who didn’t attend New Vista’s Brew’s Best Festival at Lake Las Vegas this weekend, you missed out on sampling over 90 beers from local and regional craft breweries, as well as live music, great food, and what only can be described as a fantastic overall day of craft beer tasting. For $30 admission, you got an all-you-can-drink ticket and the proceeds went towards a great cause: the New Vista charity dedicated to empowering the disabled community.
As far as the brewers in attendance, I’m not sure where to start as each had their own specialty brews on tap for all to sample – and without exception, they were all excellent! Here’s a quick rundown on who we saw and spoke to at the event:
- Aces and Ales – Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA, Deschutes Black Butte Porter, and Bear Republic
- Banger Brewing Company – A Happy Ending IPA, Juniper Berry, El Heffe, and Chocolate Stout
- Barley’s Hotel and Casino – Black Mountain, Red Rock, Barley’s IPA
- Big Dog’s Brewing Company – Red Hydrant, Holy Cow, Tailwagger Wheat, and Dirty Dog IPA
- Boulder Dam Brewing Company – Powder Monkey Pilsner, Boulder Bean Espresso Stout, Special Seasonal Brew
- Coronado Brewing Company – Orange Avenue Wit and Idiot IPA
- Ellis Island Casino – Special Brew and Amber
- Firestone Walker Brewery – Double Barrel Ale, Union Jack IPA, and Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout
- Goose Island – Goose IPA, Mild Winter, Honker’s Ale, and 312 Urban Wheat Ale
- Gordon Biersch Restaurant – Hefeweizen Bavarian Style, Golden Export Golden Lager, WinterBock Dark Bock, and Marzen Traditional Oktoberfest
- Indian Wells Brewing Company – Lobotomy Bock, Orange Blossom Amber, Draft Valley Pale Ale and Spicy Pumpkin Ale
- Joseph James Brewing – JJ Lager, JJ Tahoe Blue, JJ Hop Box, JJ Red Fox, Joe’s 2022, JJ Raspberry Saison, and JJ Citra Rye Pale Ale
- Left Coast Brewing Company – Hope Juice Double IPA, Una Mas Amber Lager, Vood Doo American Stout, and Asylum Belgian Tripel
- Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ – Lucille’s Honey Blonde Ale and Lucille’s Amber Ale
- Mendocino Brewing Company – Red Tail Ale, Eye of the Hawk Select Ale, White Hawk IPA, and Oatmeal Stout
- Money Plays – Barrel Brown Ale, Breakaway Pale Ale, Apple Cider, and Mojave Red Amber Ale
- Riley’s Brewing Company – The Sancha Honey Blonde, Signature Dark Wheat, and Wildcat IPA
- Tenaya Creek – Hauling Oats, Hop Ride IPA, and Calico Brown Ale
- Three Monkeys Brewing Company – 3 Monkeys Brown Barrel Ale, 3 Monkeys Tres Vaqueros Amber Ale, and 3 Monkeys Yosemite Fall IPA
- Khoury’s Fine Wine and Spirits – Dogfish Head Brewery, Tommyknocker Brewery, and North Coast Brewing Company
- Nevada Beverage / Craft Brew Alliance – Shock Top End of the World, Midnight Wheat, Project 12, Brr Winter Red Ale, and Kona’s Big Wave Golden Ale
- Noble Ale Works – Good Ship ESB and Big Whig IPA
- Snafu – Pumpkin Wheat, Dry Stout, American Wheat, Munich Helles Lager, Mexican Style Lager, Dunkelweizen, American IPA, and Coffee Milk Stout
- Wirtz Beverage – Hoegaarden, Leffe Blonde, Blue Moon Belgian White, Blue Moon Seasonal, Blue Moon Specialty, Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, Ballast Point Pale Ale, Ballast Point Abandon Ship, Smoked Lager, and Shiner Bock
The entire event went from 1:00pm to 6:00pm so there was plenty of time to sample all these great beers. Unfortunately – or fortunately in some cases – a sample just wasn’t enough as there were fantastic beers to choose from.
As mentioned earlier, all the beer we tasted was excellent. But I’d have to say the guys at Banger Brewing put out the most original variety of craft beer, with a close second being Three Monkeys and their Yosemite IPA. All their selections were awesome! Noble has a great IPA as well, but their Good Ship ESB really won us over – trust us, it’s a MUST try regardless of the kind of beer drinker you are. The folks over at Big Dogs also outdid themselves with the varieties they had for sample – very impressive selection. Rounding out our top 10 were Tenaya Creek Calico Brown Ale, Joseph James Tahoo Blue, Ellis Island’s Amber, Money Plays Breakaway Pale Ale, Mendocinos Oatmeal Stout, and Indian Wells Lobotomy Bock.
After all, beer brewing is chemistry and science, and like the old saying goes, “I’d rather have a beer in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”
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