Beer Events
As the temps begin to cool, the fall beer events season is heating up, with several events this month.
Pub 365 — October 3
Pub 365 at Tuscany Suites & Casino will host an Oktoberfest Beer dinner featuring Enegren Brewing, a German-style craft brewery in Moorpark, California.
The food menu will include Kasespatzle German-inspired mac & cheese with spatzle, caramelized onion, and crispy cheese crust; Cucumber Salad with dill, red onion, and sour cream; Wurst Station with selection of sausages served with sauerkraut, horseradish, curry ketchup, and spicy mustard; Schnitzel crispy pork tenderloin with warm potato salad and lemon brown butter sauce; Pretzel with rosemary-scented duck fat and beer cheese fondue; Strudel with pear, apple, cinnamon, raisin, and vanilla cream; and Streuselkuchen with plum, crumble, and sweet cream. Enegren beers will include Edel Pils, Festbier Lager, Oktoberfest Bavarian-style Marzen, Schoner Tag Hefeweizen, and Valkyrie German-style Amber.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m. and the cost is $45 per person ($64.45 including tax, tip, and fee). To purchase tickets, click here.
Big Dog’s Brewing Company Dogtoberfest — October 4
Big Dog’s Brewing Company is a Wisconsin- and dog-themed brewpub and has several beers with canine names like Tail Wagger Wheat and Black Lab Stout, but its annual Dogtoberfest takes it a step further.
Held at the Draft House outdoor area from 4-9 p.m., the free admission pay-as-you-go beerfest will offer more than 45 beers from independent craft breweries including 25 from Nevada breweries. There will also be a human and dog Halloween costume contest; live Classic Rock and Island Reggae Music; Wisconsin-style grilled brats loaded with Bavarian-style sauerkraut, pretzel bites served with pub cheese dip, and schweinebraten (boneless pork shoulder roast topped with a pan gravy served with roasted root vegetables); and raffles and giveaways.
The first Big Dog’s Dogtoberfest was held in 2010 and the brewpub/craft beer bar has hosted more beer fests than any other venue in Southern Nevada, with this year’s Dogtoberfest marking the brewpub’s 53rd beer & music festival.
For more info and to purchase ticket packages (with lower prices until the day of the event), visit bigdogsbrews.com/festivals/Dogtoberfest.
BJ’s Brewhouse — October 6
The five Southern Nevada BJ’s Brewhouse locations will host a five-course German-style beer dinner featuring seasonal favorites and Oktoberfest style beers.
The dinner will include welcome beer of BJ’s Pumpkin Ale, Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier paired with Broccoli Chedder Soup, Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen matched with Fryckle Fries, Angry Orchard Crisp Apple paired with Hot Honey Buffalo Bone-In Wings, palate cleanser of Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest, Sam Adams Oktoberfest paired with Deep-Dish Ziti, and the new BJ’s Hard Root Beer Float.
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.
Brews Best Beer Garden — October 11
The New Vista Brews Best Beer Garden will be held at Town Square from 2-6 p.m.
The outdoor event will feature unlimited sampling of 40 beers from local craft brewers and nationally recognized breweries. There will also be live entertainment, activities, games, and each guest will receive a souvenir tasting glass and a festival tasting guide to track their favorites throughout the day.
Tickets are $40 for General Admission ($50 the day of) and $50 for VIP with one hour early entry ($60 the day of). Proceeds help support New Vista’s mission of empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to live independent, fulfilling lives.
To purchase tickets, click here.
Beer Zombies Flannels & Beer — October 18
Held at The Usual Place at Maryland Pkwy and Fremont, Beer Zombies will host this beerfest with unlimited sampling of beers from 25 breweries from across the US being poured by the respective brewers. More an experience than just a beerfest, three bands featuring 90s grunge music will be performing and the 25 breweries (three of which are local) are all handpicked by Beer Zombies Owner Chris Jacobs.
Early Bird VIP for entry at 7 p.m. are $67.86 (includes $7.86 fee) and general admission tickets for entry at 8 p.m. are $46.76 (includes $6.76 fee). Prices will be higher the day of the event.
Click here to purchase tickets, and check back periodically as participating breweries and beer lists are dropping weekly.
Downtown Brew Festival — October 25
The 13th Annual Downtown Brew Festival, one of the larger fests in the state drawing thousands of craft beer fans, returns to the Clark County Amphitheater from 5-9 p.m. (4 p.m. for VIP and early entry). You can expect more than 200 beers from 60+ breweries, including most of our local brewing establishments. There will also be live music and several food options.
The VIP lounge will feature the artistry of Chef John Simmons (Tacos & Beer), John Smolen (Crab Corner Maryland Seafood House), Adam Rains (The Golden Tiki and Las Vegas Rum Club) and Gio Rivera (Amari Italian Kitchen & Wine Shop).
For the list of beer being poured, food vendors, performing artists, ticket prices and to purchase tickets, visit DowntownBrewFestival.com.
CraftHaus Brewery Chili Cook-Off — October 26
CraftHaus Brewery will host their 6th Annual StationHaus-Hot Honey Ale release and Chili Cook-Off at the Henderson Booze District brewery from noon to 4 p.m.
The collaboration beer brewed with Henderson Firefighters Benevolent Association (HFBA) raises funds for our community in need with 100% of sales donated to the Association. The free family-friendly outdoor event will take place in the taproom and outside in front of the business. There will be free tastings of the Chili Cook-Off entries, a real firetruck to explore, bacon chili and mac and cheese bites from Slater’s 50/50 and ice cream tacos from Happy Ending Chocolates.
The chilis will be voted on by a group of judges (including yours truly) and attendees with the two winning chilis each receiving a $100 CraftHaus gift card for the Judges Favorite and Fan Favorite. Those wishing to enter the competition can do so by emailing info@crafthausbrewery.com.
The StationHaus-Hot Honey Ale was made with dried and roasted chilis. Those purchasing the beer will have their first pint poured by the Henderson Fire Department Chief.
Local Brewer Spotlight: Patrick Tofte
In this monthly feature, we spotlight one of our local head brewers. This month we learn all about Patrick Tofte, Head Brewer at North 5th Brewing.
Patrick was born and raised in Las Vegas and attended high school at Palo Verde and went to UNLV. In his last year at UNLV, around 2011-2012, he took an elective class for fun on the history of beer and beer styles taught by Adam Carmer. By the end of the class he had become so interested in beer that he began homebrewing with a friend.
After earning his degree at UNLV in Sociology he was hired as an Investigator for Child Protective Services, but found it to be a tough and stressful job and not for him. Around this time, Patrick became friends with the owners of Banger Brewing and would bring his homebrews in to share with them. One of the owners, Roberto Mendoza, hired Patrick to work at the brewery, and he worked his way up from working front of the house and bartending to assistant brewing. After the head brewer moved on in 2015, Patrick took over as Banger’s head brewer.
While at Banger he became friends with Amanda and Matt Payan, the brother and sister who were planning to open their family-owned brewery in North Las Vegas. After they picked his brain for advice on how to open and run a brewery for several weeks, they eventually asked him to be their first head brewer at the first brewery to open in North Las Vegas, North 5th, The brewery opened in 2020 and Patrick is still going strong and works alongside his brother Sam, who is assistant brewer and also worked with Patrick in the same position at Banger. Patick says it’s a great partnership because, “I prefer working with Sam. It’s way easier to communicate with him and I don’t have to worry about him taking something the wrong way. I don’t see myself as his boss, because Sam’s got a lot of brewing experience and can do everything I do in the brewery. He wears a lot of hats, and does brewing, sales and bartends.”
Beer styles Patrick likes to drink include crisp, light lagers like Mexican Lagers and Pilsners, West Coast IPA and the occasional barley wine usually during the holidays. To brew he also likes the lighter beers, partly because they are less work since they use less grain so there is less stirring.
A beer he just released is an Oktoberfest (one of his favorites). For the North 5th fourth anniversary in December he’ll have a Czech Pilsner collaboration with 595 Craft and Kitchen (Patrick and Matt from 595 agreed on the style), and a special Imperial Stout for the anniversary named 4 Degrees North (the name is symbolic of the North 5th fourth anniversary.
Local Brewery Champion of the Month:
Rock N Grapes Wine Pub
In this recurring feature we spotlight establishments that appreciate our local breweries enough to devote the majority of their beer lists to beer made in Nevada.
If you think the word Rock in the name of this pub references the musical genre, you would be absolutely correct. Nearly every inch of the walls of this wine pub located at the corner of Atlantic and Water Street in the Henderson Water Street District is adorned with rock and roll memorabilia, concert posters, vinyl LPs and real guitars and drumsticks.
You might also be tempted by the words Wine Pub to not expect a great beer list, but you’d be wrong. Nearly the entire draft list is local and the packaged offerings include several as well. Of the eight draft beer handles I encountered during my recent visit, six were pouring Nevada-brewed beer: Able Baker El Pato Loco Mexican Lager, HUDL Super Mini American Lager, Lovelady Hop Atomic Double IPA, Mojave Caught in a Mosh Pit Cider (red wine barrel aged), North 5th Flor de Mayo West Coast IPA and Revision Vegas as F*** IPA. The packaged list has several more, with Able Baker Atomic Duck IPA and Calutron Girl Mango Heffe, Beer Zombies Duck Hunter West Coast IPA, HUDL Wrathful Rose Sparkling Ale, Lead Dog Fade to Orange Wheat Ale, a rotating sour from Lovelady and Mojave Punk Lemonade Cider.
While there, be sure to try some of the food offerings, which include a variety of tasty sandwiches, salads and appetizers. Several have music references like the Lemmy sandwich (roast beef, blue cheese cream, peppadew peppers and house made bacon jam) named for the late lead singer of Motorhead and the Power Trip Greens Salad (mix of power greens, feta and dried cranberries with creamy dill ranch dressing) named for the California music festival.
For more info and to view the food and beverage menus, visit rockngrapes.com.
Update on Nevada Brew Works Second Location
As I write this, Nevada Brew Works is just days away from opening its second location in Boca Park at Rampart and Charleston. I promise to provide more details after stopping in after the opening.
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- Rock-n-Grapes sandwich with beer pic by David Canela
- Rock-n-Grapes 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 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.
