Vegas craft beer tour

I'm going to have some time on my hands during my August Vegas trip, so I figured I'd combine this gambling trip with my other favorite pastime, craft beer. Here are some places I'm planning to visit.

The Pub at Monte Carlo. I stop here on every Vegas trip. Too bad it's not a brewpub anymore.
The Brewpub at Main Street Station. Been here once before and thought it was pretty good.
Sin City Brewing at Venetian (I think). Visited them when they were in the Miracle Mile shops. Meh.
Yardhouse at Town Center. I love Yardhouses! I've been to this one, San Diego and Honolulu.
Todd English P.U.B. First time. Anybody been yet?
Freakin' Frog. Over by UNLV, appears to have a good beer list. Anyone been there?
32 deg Draft at M Resort. Anybody tried this?
Hofbrau House. The Wizard recommends.

I'm interested in any comments on these places, or anywhere else you might know of to get a good beer in Las Vegas.

Quote: PapaChubby

I'm going to have some time on my hands during my August Vegas trip, so I figured I'd combine this gambling trip with my other favorite pastime, craft beer. Here are some places I'm planning to visit.

The Pub at Monte Carlo. I stop here on every Vegas trip. Too bad it's not a brewpub anymore.
The Brewpub at Main Street Station. Been here once before and thought it was pretty good.
Sin City Brewing at Venetian (I think). Visited them when they were in the Miracle Mile shops. Meh.
Yardhouse at Town Center. I love Yardhouses! I've been to this one, San Diego and Honolulu.
Todd English P.U.B. First time. Anybody been yet?
Freakin' Frog. Over by UNLV, appears to have a good beer list. Anyone been there?
32 deg Draft at M Resort. Anybody tried this?
Hofbrau House. The Wizard recommends.

I'm interested in any comments on these places, or anywhere else you might know of to get a good beer in Las Vegas.

There's was/is an interestin bar in NYNY that had a lot of good bottled craft beer. There is also the Ellis Island Brewery that does a fine beer or two. Sin City is in the Flamingo and still in the Miracle Mile as well, as far as I know.

Todd English is good but pricey according to my spy who was there last month.

My next trip will have a real beer crawl, we are just working out where to go... ;)

Quote: thecesspit

There's was/is an interestin bar in NYNY that had a lot of good bottled craft beer. There is also the Ellis Island Brewery that does a fine beer or two. Sin City is in the Flamingo and still in the Miracle Mile as well, as far as I know.

Todd English is good but pricey according to my spy who was there last month.

My next trip will have a real beer crawl, we are just working out where to go... ;)

I don't think I was aware that Sin City has a facility at the Flamingo. I've got friends who will be staying at the Flamingo, so that'll be worth a stop.

The pub at Main Street is pretty good. Be sure to sit at the Boar's Head bar and play 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker to get your beers comped.

There's a bar in the MGM -- can't remember it's name -- but it's a real upscale, cigar lounge type place. They have really high-end Belgians and such.

Todd English P.U.B. does $.05 PBR's on Tuesdays from 9-11 PM. Sh-tty beer, I know, but you can't beat the price or the location.

I had a pretty good IPA at Todd English PUB while I was there. Some IPA I can't get in Texas, wish I remembered the name. Sadly, it was while watching my Sabres lose in the playoffs.

I'm not a very big fan of Yardhouse. Their beer selection kinda sucks for having so many beers - at least here in Texas, it's full of macros. There's lots of local bars with better beer selections.

I concur with the Main Street Station and Yardhouse. The Chicago Brewing Company is worth mentioning too. There is one at the Four Queens, and another close to my place at Sahara & Fort Apache. The reason I like the Yard House is not so much for the beer, but the food.

Mrs. Seattledice and I Just got back from four days in Las Vegas, and we tried a few of these places. I would love to do a real beer crawl -- just not in the heat of summer months :-)

I agree that it's too bad that The Pub at Monte Carlo is no longer a brewpub, but I think they made up for it with a large selection on draft, including some locally brewed, but I don't recall the name of the brewery -- I had the Imperial Stout which was served too cold, but was very good once I let it warm up a bit. Check the beer menu - they have several selections from a Oregon's famed "Rouge" brewey, such as Dead Guy Ale. For those who don't know, it's really "Rogue" - the Mrs. noticed that typo, and we had a good chuckle. The food was good too.

I can confirm that Sin City is still in the Miracle Mile.

We stayed at Aria, and stopped by Todd English P.U.B. They also had a good selection on draft, but I also thought it a bit pricey. They have a promotion where if you can drink a pint in 7 seconds then it's free. (Or maybe the next one is -- we saw at least two versions of the rules.) If you are trying to enjoy a craft brew, there's not much point in downing it in 7 seconds, so we did not try that stunt.

Quote: seattledice

If you are trying to enjoy a craft brew, there's not much point in downing it in 7 seconds, so we did not try that stunt.

That is good. It seems an offer more suitable for the drunken frat-rats at O'Sheas beer pong tournaments. However if you know you are able to accomplish the feat then atleast you would indeed get to enjoy that second one in a leisurely style... for free!

You can get Tenaya Beer in Vegas but the Tenaya Brewery itself has its own brew pub with daily video poker specials. Its just I'm usually too wasted to find where Tenaya Blvd is located.

Quote: seattledice

We stayed at Aria, and stopped by Todd English P.U.B. They also had a good selection on draft, but I also thought it a bit pricey. They have a promotion where if you can drink a pint in 7 seconds then it's free. (Or maybe the next one is -- we saw at least two versions of the rules.) If you are trying to enjoy a craft brew, there's not much point in downing it in 7 seconds, so we did not try that stunt.

Oh, boy. I know a few people (mostly from England) who would drink this place out of business.

Quote: seattledice

We stayed at Aria, and stopped by Todd English P.U.B. They also had a good selection on draft, but I also thought it a bit pricey. They have a promotion where if you can drink a pint in 7 seconds then it's free. (Or maybe the next one is -- we saw at least two versions of the rules.) If you are trying to enjoy a craft brew, there's not much point in downing it in 7 seconds, so we did not try that stunt.

Todd English does serve some average beers that you do this with (Bass, Stella) without losing any CAMRA respectibility. Down a Bass then try a Fuller's ESB or Dogfish Head or Speakeasy IPA. Depending on your taste.

On another tack, the Orleans used to (and I believe still does) sell/serve Fat Tire, which is another good thing.

Quote: thecesspit

Todd English does serve some average beers that you do this with (Bass, Stella) without losing any CAMRA respectibility. Down a Bass then try a Fuller's ESB or Dogfish Head or Speakeasy IPA. Depending on your taste.

On another tack, the Orleans used to (and I believe still does) sell/serve Fat Tire, which is another good thing.

Oh my God--sorry for the interjection--but Dogfish Head IPA is the best thing ever! I just had it for the first time a few weeks ago. Didn't think a beer could be that good.

Edit: I've only had the 60 minute.

The Dogfish head Midas Touch is worth the extra you'll pay... if you like something very different, but still beer. I've never gone wrong with Dogfish. Rogue occasionally does (but it's rare).

Quote: teddys

Oh my God--sorry for the interjection--but Dogfish Head IPA is the best thing ever! I just had it for the first time a few weeks ago. Didn't think a beer could be that good.

They make a few. Do you know which one?

My favorite is the 90 minute, but 120 & 60 are great too. I've also had their squall IPA.

Last year, I attended the Dogfish Head off=centered film fest in Austin. Pretty cool. Sam, the head of DFH talked, and we sampled like 12 of their beers. Lots of variety and craftsmanship, and all good in their own unique way.

They're my favorite brewery.

Well, well, we seem to have a Dogfish Head fan club here. I concur, my favorite brewery! There's a Dogfish Brewpub quite near me and I have to fight off the urge to hit it everyday. One thing that does indeed hold me back from that is they have nothing I have discovered low enough in alcohol to make a good session beer. Occasionally perhaps there's "Lawnmower" offered, but I don't much care for it. Seems to me they specialize in high powered stuff.


btw do not go to dogfishhead dot com, it's dogfish dot com

I haven't been but a friend of mine who brews his own was impressed with both the Main Street Station and Four Queens establishments. Now if you ever need to know about craft beer locations in St. Louis, I can definitely help you with that!

Good Luck & Good drinking!

Here are the experiences from my trip.

Drank a fair amount of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale during the week. It was readily available at several of the casinos I was playing. A perfectly acceptable everyday drinking beer. It was also nice getting free draught Fat Tires whilst playing Pai Gow at Paris.

Visited the Yardhouse at Town Square on Monday. Excellent selection of drafts, of course, but not too many obscure beers. I've had most of 'em before. Tried a Speakeasy White Lightning and an Anderson Valley Boont Amber. Both were acceptable but unremarkable.

Went downtown on Tuesday and visited Chicago brewpub in the Four Queens. Had the sampler. The Brown Ale was the best of the bunch, so I got an extra pint. It was very good. I saw that they had an award for it on their wall. I didn't get a chance to get to the brewpub at Main Street Station, but I've been their before and I remember it to be acceptable but unimpressive.

Found the Freakin Frog near UNLV campus on Wednesday. Very divey craphole of a bar. I was there midday, all alone except for the bartender. They advertise 777 beers in their cooler. The beer list is about 80 pages long in a looseleaf binder. They didn't have the Big Sky IPA I tried to order, so maybe they only have 776. The bartender recommended an IPA from Utah while I perused the list. I then selected a Wasatch Devastator Doppelbock, which also turned out to be from Utah, and was quite good. But it paled compared to the Schloss Eggenberg Dopplebock Dunkel that I finished with. I have a friend who loves Samichlaus, and this was from the same brewery (they had Samichlaus, too, but I didn't feel like taking on the 14% ABV). The bartender warned me that he would charge me $15 for the bottle, but I wanted to try it anyway. Very rich and smooth and tasty, well worth the expense. Before I left, the bartender gave me a sample of Deschutes Jubel 2010, which they were featuring on draught. I guess it is their Christmas Beer recipe that they brew in the Eisbach method once every 10 years. It was also very delicious. The Freakin Frog also advertises 600 types of Whiskey in the attic, if that's your sort of thing.

The only other stop I'd planned to make, but didn't get around to, was the beer bar at the M resort. Something to try next time, if the M resort survives.

Oh, I did visit Todd English P.U.B. too. I got a cask-conditioned beer there, it might have been the Speakeasy IPA. Had another beer there that I can't remember. I think I had an Alaskan Amber somewhere, maybe it was there. The chili was disappointing. Good pub vibe, it seemed very lively.