Beer Events
If you ever wished you could be at more than one place at once, it would be for April 11, as there are no less than three beer happenings taking place on that day.
Lovelady Brewing Company — April 11
Lovelady Brewing will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a party all day long. One of the special beers pouring at the Henderson Water Street brewery will be the 10th Anniversary beer Outback, a 7% Helles Bock hopped with Galaxy and Citra hops. Also, the Green Valley High School Jazz Band will be performing starting at 5 p.m.
Modest Brewing — April 11
Modest Brewing, Las Vegas’ newest brewery that has been in soft opening mode for the past month or so, now has its beer to pour and is ready for their Grand Opening. The event will begin at noon and last until 10 p.m. and will feature multiple Modest Brewing beers crafted by Co-Owner/Brewer Casey Jacobson, specialty food items, and entertainment. Modest Brewing is located in the Arts District at 918 S Main St right next to Cin-Cin Brewhouse.
Crab Corner Bull & Oyster Beer Bash — April 11
The Crab Corner Bull & Oyster Beer Bash will be held at the Crab Corner Maryland Seafood House at 6485 S Rainbow Blvd from 1-4:30 p.m.
The event will feature unlimited beer sampling of 40+ beers from 15 breweries including Firestone Walker, New Belgium, Silver Reef, Stone and local breweries Big Dog’s and CraftHaus; spirits from Candor Spirits, Uncle Ed’s Vodka and Old Man Liver; one dozen Oysters raw or char grilled; and all-you-can-eat Maryland Style Pit Beef, Shrimp, Corn-on-the-Cob, Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Hushpuppies, Caesar Salad and Chicken Tenders.
There will also be live music and a live remote broadcast from 95.5 the Bull.
A two-for-one deal is $102.28 (includes tax and fee) for two people. To purchase tickets, click here.
BJ’s Brewhouse — April 13
The five Southern Nevada BJ’s Brewhouse locations will host a five-course beer dinner featuring Asian-inspired dishes, a Japanese whisky and a selection of Japanese beers including Waterfall Japanese-style Rice Lager, a BJ’s collaboration beer with Sapporo Brewing Company brewed with Sorachi Ace hops and jasmine rice.
The dinner will include Sapporo Premium Beer with Chicken Pot Stickers, BJ’s x Sapporo collaboration Waterfall Japanese-style Rice Lager with Ahi Poke, Kirin Ichiban with EnLIGHTened Asian Chopped Salad, Palate Cleanser of BJ’s Oasis Amber, Brewers Choice with Sweet & Spicy Asian Glaze Baby Back Ribs with mashed potatoes & roasted asparagus and 2 oz pour of Suntory Whisky Toki with Salted Caramel Pizookie.
The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the cost is $45 in advance and $50 (plus tax and tip) the day of the event. To purchase tickets, click here.
Beer Zombies — April 18-21
Beer Zombies Owner Chris Jacobs has always been extremely creative in both his genius artwork and branding and finding fun ways to get guests to venture over to the brewery at 831 W Bonanza Rd. The latest enticement is the return of their Wrestle Mania Extravaganza with four days of special happenings such as wrestling matches right in the brewery, watch parties, a meet and greet with Chavo Guerrero Jr (who they have the Los Guerreros Mexican Lager collaboration with) and special appearances by several wrestling superstars including Minoru Suzuk, Dark Sheik, Dr Redacted, Mikey O’Shea, Dimitri Alexandrov, Jake Logan, Chris Nastyy, Gin Sevani, Can’t Stop Jamaal and the Bovi Family. Details are still being worked out at press time, so for updated details follow Beer Zombies on Facebook and Instagram.
Big Dog’s Peace, Love & Hoppiness Festival — April 25
The Big Dog’s Brewing annual Peace, Love & Hoppiness Festival will be held in the outdoor area of the Big Dog’s Draft House at 4543 N Rancho Dr from 4-9 p.m.
This pay-as-you-go event offers free admission, 45+ brews on tap (more than half of which will be brewed-in-Nevada beers), live Classic Rock and Island Reggae music, BBQ sandwiches (Pulled Chicken with BBQ chipotle sauce and Hot Mess with smoked brisket and Knotty Dog Barleywine Bourbon-habanero BBQ sauce), raffles and giveaways. For more info and to purchase a tasting package, click here.
Lee’s Beer & Tequila Experience — May 2
Lee’s 18th annual Beer & Tequila Experience will be held at Lee’s Family Forum from 4-8 p.m.
The event will offer unlimited sampling of 500+ beers, tequilas and spirits from top brands and an opportunity to connect with brand experts. During the event all of the Forum’s concession stands will be open offering food for purchase. Tickets are $49.54 (includes fee) with a 15% discount for two tickets purchased. 100% of net proceeds benefit Lee’s Helping Hand, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting local children’s charities, families and communities. To purchase tickets, click here.
Local Brewer Spotlight: Josh Kunzli
In this monthly feature, we spotlight one of our local head brewers. This month we learn all about Josh Kunzli, Head Brewer at Evolve Brewing.
Josh Kunzli, at 31 years of age, is one of the youngest head brewers in Southern Nevada. He grew up in McHenry, Chicago, a NW suburb of Chicago and earned a degree in Chemical Engineering (very useful expertise for a brewer) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). While attending UIC Josh had a job working at a bar as a barback stocking more than 200 skews of craft beer, so naturally at this time his awareness and interest in craft beer was being nurtured.
In late 2016 he landed his first brewing job at a very small 1BBL brewery named The Side Lot outside Chicago, where he split time as a bartender and assistant brewer. A year later Josh moved on to Crystal Lake Brewing, a large production brewery outside of Chicago, where he was also an assistant brewer and worked mainly in packaging, doing a thousand cases a week. His first head brewer job was at Finch Beer Co (in Chicago), leading a team of five, which was also the first brewery he helped open.
It would appear that opening breweries is a specialty of Josh’s, as in 2022, wanting a change of pace, Josh obtained his 2nd head brewer job at Hi Sign, a brewery relocating in Austin, Texas. During his time there he made a yearly boy’s trip with friends and one of the trips happened to be Las Vegas in the fall of 2024, right at the time Evolve was under construction and the owners had put up a posting for the head brewer job. While in town Josh met with owners Keri Kelli and Ryan Johnson, got the job and moved here in November 2024 to help get the equipment set up. Opening Evolve (which in January celebrated its one-year anniversary) would be his third time opening a new brewery.
Josh’s favorite beers to drink are lightly fruited lagers and lists Abita Haze and Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat as his gateway beers responsible for expanding his craft beer appreciation. He says his guilty pleasure is funky sours, because “I love acidity, but can only drink about three ounces because my tongue starts to hurt.” To brew he sites IPAs as being the most fun because, “I get to really play around and tweak and improve and test out new hops. Every crop year hops taste a bit different as there are pique crop years with some years better than others.”
Coming up on his brew calendar are Bad Manners, a WCIPA; Free Hugs, a WCDIPA; Grapefruit Wheat, part of the Noon Juice series coming back for summer; and a 3-day kettle sour made with watermelon puree. Also in the works is a collaboration with Ricci Underwood, the winner of the recent SNAFU Homebrew Competition at Evolve Brewing. Josh and Ricci will recreate her winning Scottish Wee Heavy, which impressed the judges with its rich malt character and balance.
Local Brewery Champion of the Month: Evel Pie
In this recurring feature we spotlight establishments that appreciate our local breweries enough to devote the majority of their beer selection to beer made in Nevada.
Evel Pie, the Evel Knievel themed pizzeria at 508 Fremont St just steps east of the Fremont Street Experience canopy, is worth a visit just to peruse the iconic daredevil’s memorabilia that covers nearly every inch of the walls (a large part of which was provided by Knievel’s family) with photos, an actual Evel Knievel vintage pinball machine and an abundance of stickers. When the grab-and-go pizzeria opened in late 2016, the main attraction was the unique décor, but now more come for the excellent New York-style pizza cooked in a brick oven. My favorites are the Gang Green with basil pesto and mozzarella; and Hog Heaven with Evel’s BBQ sauce, smoked mozzarella, pulled pork and man candy bacon.
Now there’s another reason to stop in, as Evel Pie recently expanded its local beer selection that now includes a dozen Nevada-brewed beers such as Beer Zombies Duck Hunter IPA and Evel Ale, Big Dog’s Peace Love & Hoppiness, CraftHaus UNLV Rebel Spirit Ale, Las Vegas Brewing Chantilly Cream Ale, Lovelady 9th Island Pineapple Sour, Neon Desert Hefe Vice City and North 5th Flor de Mayo IPA.
Evolve Brewing Launches New App
Evolve Brewing Launches New App
Fresh off celebrating its one-year anniversary, Evolve Brewing has launched its new app. It’s free to download and gets you a weekly $1 Evolve beer, $5 to go voucher, a free birthday beer and a peek at what’s on tap. To download, image to left.
What’s Pouring
Beer Zombies Owner Chris Jacobs sent me info on three new beers dropping this month. They include Zombie hWhip: Black Cherry, Cinnamon Roll, Maple Syrup & Ice Cream—a 4.3% pastry-style fruited sour dripping with dark black cherry, warm cinnamon roll spice, rich maple syrup sweetness and creamy ice cream indulgence packaged in 16 oz cans; Zombie hWhip: Raspberry, Dragon Fruit, Lemonade—a 4.3% heavily fruited sour that’s tart, refreshing and loaded with bright fruit intensity delivering a punch of sweet-and-sour chaos in every 16 oz pour; and The Vegas Haze Saw Massacre—an 8.7% Double Dry Hopped Hazy Double IPA loaded with Riwaka SubZero Hop Kief, El Dorado Salvo, Centennial Hyperboost, Centennial and Riwaka with savage waves of citrus, tropical punch and a resinous bite.
CraftHaus Brewery has the return of its fan favorite Giggle Juice Double IPA on tap and in 16 oz 4-packs releasing on April 3. The name refers to the silly the amount of Citra and Mosaic it’s double dry hopped with.
North 5th Head Brewer Patrick Tofte tells me he’ll have his Velvet Goldmine, a 6.2% Oatmeal Stout full of chocolate, coffee and roasty aroma and flavor with a fuller body and soft mouthfeel from the addition of flaked oats.
Over at Big Dog’s, Director of Brewing Operations Dave Pascual will have Wonder Dog West Coast IPA hopped with Dolcita, Nectaron and Galaxy; Dog Pound, a German-style Pilsner; and Sour Hound infused with blueberries.
As always, Great Beer Happens in Vegas!
- Hero image © Adobe Stock – licensed for editorial and edited by A.D. Cook
- Richard Lovelady with beer – pic by David Canela
- Modest Brewing Owners Casey Jacobson and Scott Seales – pic by David Canela
- Evolve Brewer Josh Kunzli – photo credit Starchefs
- Evel Pie decor – pic by David Canela
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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 to 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 now writes the weekly Las Vegas Dining and Entertainment News column for FoodAndLoathing.Vegas, a monthly dining news column for The Vegas Voice, continues to contribute to Gayot, writing the Gayot Las Vegas Restaurant News and beer and spirit reviews. In addition to posting on ADCook.com, the Las Vegas Brewing News also posts on San Diego Beer News (sandiegobeer.news) and porchdrinking.com.
