Events
BJ’s Brewhouse — February 2
The five Southern Nevada BJ’s Brewhouse locations will host a five-course beer dinner featuring three unfiltered beer styles: Witbier, Hefeweizen and Hazy IPA.
The dinner will include a welcome beer: BJ’s Harvest Hefeweizen, Spinach and Artichoke Dip paired with St. Bernardus Wit, EnLIGHTened Strawberry Fields Salad matched with BJ’s Zany Zitrus Hazy IPA, Pepperoni Extreme Deep Dish Pizza paired with Schneider Weisse Original, Palate Cleanser of Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing, Parmesan-Crusted Chicken matched with Blue Moon and Strawberry Shortcake Pizookie paired with Voodoo Ranger Juice Force.
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.
Bad Beat Brewing — February 6
For this month’s First Friday in Downtown Las Vegas, Bad Beat Brewing will be releasing its “All the Kölsch Kids Are Doing it,” complete with traditional Kölsch service.
Available from 4 to 11:30 p.m., a package deal for $10 (plus fee) gets you a 12 oz limited edition glass, limited edition coaster and your first fill of the 5.6% Kölsch.
Kölsch service comes from Cologne, Germany, and to keep your beer fresh and flowing instead of ordering round after round, Kölsch servers circulate the room and replace your empty beer automatically. When your glass is empty, a server brings you a new one (no ordering needed), each beer is tracked on a coaster, and when you’re done, you place your coaster on top of your glass to stop the service.
Here’s a chance to experience this classic communal tradition at the taproom for one night. To purchase your Kölsch Service package, click here.
CraftHaus Comrade Day — February 7
CraftHaus Brewery, located within the Henderson Booze District, will host the 12th annual Comrade Day, its annual unveiling of its very potent Russian Imperial Stout. As always, the day before the Super Bowl is the day to enjoy stout paradise and also each year there is a theme, with this year’s being “Comrade Goes to the Circus.”
There will be circus-inspired Comrade variants; vertical tasting flights showcasing rare barrel-aged vintages from years past; a three-item plate specially created by Chef Darnell with Smoked Ground Turkey Slider with Vinegar Slaw, Churro Sweet Potato Skewers and a Circus themed dessert inspired by and cooked with Comrade; and carnival-style fun and games. Returning this year is an opportunity to experience a “spiked” beer from a Bierstachelen—traditional German hot fire poker plunged into the beer creating caramelization and a creamy frothy head.
The 2026 Comrade 11.2% Russian Imperial Stout delivers overtones of roasted malt and a distinct aroma and warmth from extended aging on whiskey-soaked oak, and the circus-inspired variants include Deep Fried Oreo, Caramel Apple and Smoked Turkey Leg.
There will be three two-hour seatings: 12:30-2:30, 3:00-5:00 and 5:30-7:30. The cost is $45 per person, which includes your choice of a tasting flight of four 4 oz Comrade Imperial Stout variants or vertical flight of Comrades from previous years, one 10 oz pour of the 2025 Comrade Russian Imperial Stout and a keeper logo glass.
For more info and to purchase tickets and food packages, visit comradeDay2026.eventbrite.com.
Bad Beat Brewing — February 21
An excellent opportunity to learn about the brewing process and meet Bad Beat Head Brewer Megan Hanley is the Cellar Tasting + Meet the Brewer event held at the Main St brewery from 10 a.m. to noon.
The event begins with a welcome beer—one of Megan’s signature recipes—followed by a behind-the-scenes brewery tour where you’ll get a sneak peek at a batch not on tap yet and taste beers at different stages of the brewing process from fermentation to finished pour. The tour ends with a hand-picked flight of Bad Beat’s signature beers complete with tasting notes from Megan, and a souvenir IPA glass to take home.
Tickets are $30 (plus fee) and can be purchased by clicking here.
Great Vegas Festival of Beer — March 28
The Great Vegas Festival of Beer is celebrating its 14th installment as it returns to its earlier roots, moving to its former home, the downtown 200,000 square feet block at 6th Street and Carson with entrance at 601 E. Fremont Street.
General admission runs from 3-7 p.m. and early entry and VIP ticket holders get in at 2. Your ticket will get you unlimited sampling of 300 craft brews from more than 60 breweries including several of our local breweries and numerous regional breweries; cider and other liquid treats; karaoke; silent disco; and food for purchase from several of the city’s most popular food trucks.
In addition to early entry, VIP includes admittance to the Get Motley VIP Lounge inside of the Fremont Country Club offering a large hangout with private bathrooms, rare beers and food from chefs Lili Barajas (Tacotarian), Stephen Hopcraft (STK) and John Smollen (Crab Corner Maryland Seafood House).
Although it’s a ways off, prices go up as the date draws nearer, so don’t delay in heading over to greatvegasbeer.com for more info and to purchase tickets.
Modest Brewing Co Now Open and Serving a 100% Local Beer List
The Las Vegas Arts District has another new brewery. After years of planning, the dreams of Owner/Brewer Casey Jacobson and Owner/Operations Manager Scott Seales have come to fruition.
The brewery and taproom are located at 918 S Main Street right next to Cin-Cin Brewhouse, and is equipped with a taproom with 16 taps; wicker back chairs; a lounge/living room area with comfortable couches and padded chairs; board games; an epoxy floor; dark olive green, teal and orange walls; four large screen TVs; two garage doors which can be opened when weather permits; and an outdoor patio with picnic tables and cornhole games.
The Modest name came about because the two owners originally planned to open a much smaller 5 bbl system, but realized such a small operation wouldn’t make enough money and discovered for a bit more money they could go with the 10 bbl Craftmaster Stainless system they wound up purchasing. The name also references that they (Casey and Scott) are a small team and for the most part are planning on brewing beers at a “modest” 6% or less ABV.
As they are currently awaiting one last government license hurdle before being allowed to brew, Modest qualifies as our Local Brewery Champion of the Month, with 100% of its 16 taps pouring Nevada-brewed beer. Four of them are collaboration beers which Casey and Scott designed and helped brew: Circuit Breaker, a hoppy blonde brewed at North 5th; Intergalactica Hazy, a Hazy IPA brewed at Evolve; Porter Partner, a Porter brewed at Chicago Brewing; and Get Reddy, a Red Ale brewed at Neon Desert. Others currently pouring include Able Baker Honey Dip Imperial Stout, Big Dog’s Dirty Dog IPA, HUDL Vanilla Oak Cream Ale and Mojave To Be Pear Cider. Once they are brewing their own they plan to offer core beer styles of Kölsch, Extra Stout, Belgian Witbier and a malty IPA.
In keeping with the Modest name, they’re keeping it simple with the food menu, offering five easy going delicious sandwiches and five hot dogs (all priced at $12). The menu is filling a void, as there aren’t any sandwich or hot dog shops in the area and certainly none serving beer. Examples are the Megastram with pastrami, Swiss cheese, house made thousand island and sauerkraut; R-Two with roast beef, horseradish aioli, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, vinegar & oil and spices; Meat Not Included with all vegetarian ingredients; and Slaw Dog with coleslaw and Mike’s Not Honey. To add more deliciousness the bread is lightly toasted with the sauces caramelized as they cook in the bread. In case you didn’t notice, most of the names are a play on names of robots from movies, TV and pop culture.
You might think being situated next door to another brewery would not be a good idea, but in this case it is. Both are a bit too far for most to walk from the south side of Main where all the other Arts District breweries and taprooms are, so having two breweries to hit in one stop should bring more bodies. Also, the area is blossoming and enjoying more foot traffic and a handful of housing projects are on the way.
Current hours are noon to 10 p.m. daily. For more info, visit modestbrewco.com.
Local Brewer Spotlight: David Castro
In this monthly feature, we spotlight one of our local head brewers. This month we learn all about David Castro, Head Brewer at Nevada Brew Works.
36-year-old David Castro was born and raised in San Diego but has been coming to Las Vegas his whole life. While at Sonoma State he helped his roommate/best friend Grant Weckerly homebrew to get free beer and the creative process grew on him. After he graduated in 2013 with a Liberal Arts/Education degree his buddy Grant got hired at a brewery in Austin and invited David to move out there with him. He proceeded to get a beertender job in the tasting room at the new Twisted X Brewing, and after repeatedly bugging the owner/brewer, transitioned into washing kegs and cleaning filters and eventually worked his way up to Lead Brewer.
After being at Twisted X for three years he wanted to experience working at a production brewery, so David and his wife Kelsie moved to Tampa where he brewed at Cigar City, a very large brewery operating 24/7. After a couple years, when his dad and grandma were sick, they moved to the L.A. area to be closer to family and David brewed at Phantom Carriage, a wild ale/sour brewery (since closed) and then Noble Ale Works (another large brewery) where he and his team won two gold medals—one GABF and one WBC—for their Imperial IPAs.
In 2021, after COVID and wanting a change, they moved to Las Vegas and David got a job brewing at Hop Nuts and was also traveling back and forth to Anaheim to help a buddy open Villains Brewing (at which he helped earn a GABF bronze medal for American Light Lager). After a year and a half, the traveling got to be a lot, so at that point David decided to plant roots and stay in Las Vegas. He had moved over to Able Baker until June 2025 when Tom Harwood left Nevada Brew Works to return to Triple 7 and recommended him to (Owner) Jason as his replacement as Head Brewer. David now splits his time brewing at Nevada Brew Works’ two brewery locations, both of which have similar brewing systems, but with the one on Main Street being steam fired and Boca Park’s direct fire.
David’s favorite beers to drink and make are the same because: “I like to make what I like to drink” so West Coast IPA as well as Light Lagers or Ales because “you can only drink so much and they’re refreshing after a long day.” Next on his brewing agenda are a 5% Session IPA with old school hops including Columbus, Centennial and a bit of Cascade and Citra; an English Porter with traditional English yeast and East Kent Golding hops; and of course, more West Coast IPAs.
Able Baker Expanding North with New Taproom and Restaurant
Able Baker Brewing, which opened its brewery and taproom in the Arts District in 2019, is expanding north with the launch of The Bomb Shelter. Set to open this spring, the 6,000-square-foot taproom and kitchen at 6371 Centennial Center Blvd is in the space formerly occupied by Montana Meat Co.
The Bomb Shelter will be Able Baker Brewing’s first satellite location, and will feature 24 taps pouring Able Baker beers, a full bar, 17 TVs and a full kitchen focused on handcrafted pizza. The name is in keeping with Able Baker’s theme and backstory as the brewery is named for the first two atomic tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s: “Able” and “Baker.”
Up until recently the area was quite underserved in regards to craft beer, but last year saw the openings of Rebellion Pizza and Mission Control and now this new taproom will add to the beer goodness of the northwest.
What’s Pouring
Mojave Brewing
Mojave Brewing is turning six years old on February 2 and to commemorate the occasion they will be doing six days of Celebration releasing a new or returning beer each day leading up to their six-year party on February 7.
No reservations are required, just show up on the 7th at the brewery/cidery on Water St. in Henderson to see Griff, Andy and the Mojave crew and enjoy the special beers. The schedule is:
- Feb. 2: Kiwi Herman 5.5% Kiwi Cider (returning)
- Feb. 3: Tyler’s Morning High 5.7% Coffee Blonde (returning)
- Feb. 4: Bliltzkrieg Hop 4.8% Italian Pilsner 4.8% (new)
- Feb. 5: Panic! At The Sour 4.8% American Sour and Taking Back Saison 4.5% Sour Saison (both new)
- Feb. 6: Henderson Gold 5.2% Blonde Ale (new)
- Feb. 7: 2025 World Beer Cup Silver Medal Winner 10% Barrel Aged Cider (returning)
CraftHaus Brewery
After seeing a great response from their guests and accounts in 2025, CraftHaus Brewery is now making its Sumo Stomp Tangerine Japanese Rice Lager a year-round offering. It’s perfect timing with the Brewers Association now recognizing it as an official beer style. This 4.7% beer is a light bodied, refreshing lager with a twist of Sumo tangerine peel. Look for it wherever you buy beer, or head over to the brewery in the Henderson Booze District or taproom in the Arts District.
Nevadan Brewing
Nevadan Brewing has again brewed and kegged its 5% HAZY NV, which Brewer Adam Cegavske describes as a chromatic kaleidoscope Hazy IPA that is a journey through the entire spectrum of hop expression with a collection of 10 hop varieties: Nectaron, Mosaic, Citra, Azacca, Superdelic, Adeena, El Dorado, Cashmere, Columbus and Centennial. Nevadan is situated inside Sagos Tavern at 4790 S Fort Apache just north of Tropicana and the 215 Beltway.
Triple 7
Brewer Tom Harwood at Main Street Station’s Triple 7 tells me he has Double Down Hefeweizen, a 5% traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen; and the 9.6% Bad Guys Wear Black Imperial Stout pouring at his brewpub on Main Street just north of Fremont.
Lovelady Brewing
Richard Lovelady tells me at their Henderson Water Street brewery they’re currently pouring Porn Star Sour, a passionfruit/vanilla Golden Kettle Sour; and the first week of February Steamin Nites, a Brown Lager with Anaheim, Jalapeno and Habanero peppers. Releasing in late February/early March will be a Barleywine, a Blackberry Cream Ale and Transfusion Sour with cranberry, lemon and lime.
And, mark your calendar for April 11 for an all-day 10th Anniversary Party featuring the Green Valley High School Jazz Combo and the return of Lovelady’s original opening beer: OutBock, a Helles Bock hopped with Citra and Galaxy.
As always, great beer happens in Vegas!
- Hero image © Adobe Stock – licensed for editorial and edited by A.D. Cook
- Modest Pastrami Sandwich photo courtesy of Modest Brewing
- Modest Brewing pics by David Canela
- Brewer David Castro pic by David Canela
- Great Vegas Festival of Beer credit Fred Morledge
- All other graphics are the copyright of their respective owners. Used by permission for editorial.
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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; and continues to contribute to Gayot, writing the Gayot Las Vegas Restaurant News and beer and spirit reviews.
