I Have Sinned on Christmas: Las Vegas NV

Contrary to the title of this post, I am not actually spending my holidays in Las Vegas.  As much fun as it would be to get a pint of holiday cheer from a showgirl dressed in half a Santa outfit while listening to Sinatra sing 'White Christmas' over the cacophony of people pouring their children's college money down an insatiable maw while desperately hoping that it will vomit up a small portion of it into their face, it's just better to be home.  I was actually in Vegas about a week ago, and have only just gotten the time to sit down and assemble my notes into some legible form.  So for friends and family that may read this and worry that I spent Christmas alone, far from home and neck-deep in depravity, do not worry.  I spent Christmas at home neck-deep in depravity.  I just thought the title was kind of funny.

On a side note, typing the title of this post into Google did not produces half as much hilarity as I would have liked.  Oh well. 

 

One would rightly assume that The Strip is probably not the best place to seek craft beer.  There is a place, however, that is hidden in and behind and around the florescent nooks and crannies of this city.  The Sin City Brewing Company has managed to carve out a few holes in the endless hotel/ casinos that line the street.  These places are a bit hard to find if you are looking for them, but they are there.  I managed to unearth two out of the three locations, and I can safely assume that I wasn't missing anything new at the third.

I stopped at the Sin City location within the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile first.  It took quite a bit of walking around, but I finally found it right next to the indoor rain storm that goes off every hour on the hour.  Once I had located it, I figured out why it was such a pain in the ass to find, it is really small.  It is little more than a dent in the wall that contains a bar with about 8 seats, a rack of merchandise and a window for picking up a glass of beer to go.  It kind of reminded me of an airport bar complete with displaced denizens drunk on overpriced booze.  While I am on the subject, although a glass of beer will set you back $6 at Sin City, it's actually not that bad when you keep in mind that you are in a city that has the audacity to sell bottles of Bud Light for the same price.  However, I do object to their serving beer in a plastic cup.  I am aware that most of their customers are not as interested in aroma and flavor as they are simply getting as much alcohol into their bloodstream as quickly as possible, but still...

Sin City Brewing boasts four regular beers and a seasonal offering.  I managed to try them all except their light beer which I assumed was something they brewed for people who demand a Budweiser regardless of where they are in the known Universe.

I started off with their Refreshing German Wheat.  It was pretty good, but nothing surprising.  It had an aroma of light tropical fruit and clove. It has medium body, starts with light banana, tropical fruit and subtle clove and coriander spices in the middle. It finishes with a light lingering banana flavor that isn't unpleasant.

Next was a glass of the Full Bodied Oktoberfest.  It had a very light, almost non-existent roasted aroma.  The first sip was a different matter, this beer is a malt bomb. It is very sweet with nutty, roasted flavors and no detectable hops whatsoever.   Much like the German Wheat beer, it follows the style of an Oktoberfest, but that's about it, there's not a lot of complexity here.

Curiosity drove me further North along Las Vegas Blvd.   The little booze nook at Planet Hollywood was fine, but I wanted to see Sin City's largest bar was housed in a Vegas original, The Flamingo.  I didn't have the presence of mind to actually clock the amount of time I spent wandering the casino, but I am pretty sure I stumbled aimlessly for at least an hour.  Right as I was about to give up, I finally found the bar tucked away among the clothing shops near the parking garage.  I took my seat and continued my tour.

Next was the Classic Irish Dry Stout.  This was basically a Guinness clone with a barely noticeable increase in hops that produces a dry, bitter aftertaste. It was pretty enjoyable, but nothing all that complex or interesting.

 Their seasonal offering while I stopped by was an IPA. This seemed to be an odd choice for a winter seasonal.  I asked the bartender about this at Planet Hollywood, and was informed that their seasonal beers just kind of rotate arbitrarily.  This kind of defeats the purpose of a seasonal beer in my book, but that's just one traveler's opinion.  True to form, there was nothing all that earth shattering here either.  It was pale with a light head, slightly sweet off the top and contained just enough Northwest citrus hops to be considered an IPA, but not much more than that.    This beer, like all of their beers, seem built to be approachable for the typical Vegas tourist and not much more than that.  Their beers are pretty good.  Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but good.  The staff wasn't at all knowlagable about their beers, but they were friendly and kept the plastic cups filled.

One more side story before I wrap this one up.  While sipping the stout at the Flamingo, I managed to see a bottle labled 'Sin City Whiskey' tucked among the rest of the bottles.  I asked the bartender if this was a whiskey distilled by the same brewery.  He said that it was and so I ordered a shot.  It was quite good, extremely smooth with a sweet quality that made me think of rum complete with hints of nut, pine and leather.  When I got home and did some reasearch, I found that this was not produced by the brewery, but a seperate company all together.  I'll keep that as a cliffhanger for now.

And that's my last post for 2011.  I hit the road again early next year.  Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.  Raise a glass.