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.

Deciples of Papazian: Denver CO

Well my travels have taken me back to the city at the edge of the Rocky Mountains.  And once again I find myself wandering the streets around the LoDo district of Denver.  Last time I was here, I stopped by the Falling Rocks Tap room for a taste of what they available at the time.  It was tempting to go back, last time I was there around the holidays they had an amazing selection of dark winter beers, I decided it was time to venture onward.  On this day I stopped by Wynkoop brewing company.

I am pretty sure I have spoken before about this city's deep connection with the art of craft brewing.  I think I saw something along the lines of 4 or 5 different breweries in the LoDo district alone, and if you happen to find yourself on the outskirts of town, history has shown that new and creative brew can still be located and enjoyed.  Denver is a beer town, to put it mildly, and from what I heard from the bar staff, this bar is ground zero.  The head brewer, Russell Schehrer, brought the art of craft brewing to Colorado back in 1988.  His ideas and brews were so innovative that after his untimely death in 1996 the American Brewers Association awards those who make great strides in the art of brewing with an award that bears his name. 

Given the history of this bar, I suppose that it is no surprise in retrospect that one of the first things I noticed in the bar was a hand-painted wall decoration honoring the greats in the craft brew revolution and the resulting Great American Beer Festival that contributed to its rise.  It stands as an altar to the legends that revolutionized the art of brewing in America.  From the top and center, Charlie Papazian looks down over the bar reminding us to "Relax and have a home brew."

I started with Pattys Chile Beer, a light beer brewed with Anaheim peppers.  This is not the first beer that I have had that uses hot peppers and I quite like the spicy aroma that it produces.  The peppers add a good amount of flavor with heat that doesn't linger the way spicy food does.  This beer was all that and more. Along with the strong smells and flavor from the peppers there is a goodly amount of hops at the back that really complement the sweet and spice that first hits the palate.

Next was the St. Charles Extra Special Bitter.
I found that I made the mistake in ordering the gumbo. That isn't to say it wasn't good, it was absolutely delicious.  It was also very spicy; it's the sort of spice that makes me physically sweat when I eat it.  Suffice to say that when it came time to taste this beer, my sinuses were in a state of moderate distress. The brewery notes on the beer says it has, "an elegant hop aroma," and I am inclined to take their word for it.  Flavor wise, it has a wonderful smooth taste. A little on the sweet side with orange spices back with a healthy dose of hops that manages to come through without being overpowering.  The pint came out with a very thick snow-white head that looked as good as it tasted.  Overall I think this was my favorite of the beers that I sampled.

Sadly, my obligations to my employer forced me to cut it short on this night so that I could be in some sort of state to wake up very early the next morning.  I finished Wynkoop's flagship beer, the Railyard Ale.  The first thing that really made me arch my eyebrows in interest is the body of this beer.  It's brewed as a session beer, it has a very light aroma and the flavor has some light roasted malts with just a touch of hops in the back for balance.  The body on this beer is a different matter.  I reminded me of one of those guys on ESPN 5 who are about 4' 5" and can bench press a tractor trailer.   I'm still not sure what I think about this one.  As a session beer, it's really not my ideal, but I got to respect how different it is.  I don't think I would buy a lot to keep at my house, but I would buy a lot to bring to parties and force it upon my friends.

I got one more destination before we bid 2011 goodbye and move on to the bright and shiny new year.  I will be finishing my 2011 tour in Las Vegas, Nevada before heading home. 
Cheers!

The Coldest Winter: San Diego, CA

I'm down in San Diego this week. As a man who is used to spending the winter freezing my freaking balls right off, San Diego in December is kinda surreal. It is as if I just skipped winter all together and emerged in springtime. As I am sure my readers in the frigid northlands have absolutely no sympathy for me, I will move on.

Of course the pirmier brewery in San Diego is Stone Brewing. I thought hard about visiting, but I came down with a sudden case of not wanting to try and fight crowds on a Friday night in San Diego...itis. Its been going around. Besides, the West Coast is basically the micro brewery breeding grounds. I was talking to my client this afternoon. After the meeting I stated that I was going to find a place to relax. As if she knew exactly what I meant by that statement, she pointed me to a nearby microbrewery called Callahan's pub and grill.

Callahan's is a vaugly Irish themed sports bar that happens to brew its own beer.
I started off with the Monster Mash. As near as I could tell this was basically a porter. There was lots of caramel toffee and coffee aroma. Mildly sweet roasted flavor. Slightly bitter coffee flavors on the back. This was a pretty good one, and came just behind the nut brown, which I will talk about later.

Extra Pale Ale: Not expecially pale. Aroma is all northeast citrus hops.
I have to admit when the barman, Ted, said the name "Extra Pale Ale". and described it as "kinda like an IPA," I was scared. Was there a brewer out there who wussified the IPA? A man who sipped a hop bomb and said, "That won't do, there is far too much flavor!"
The answer is, no. This is just an IPA with vowel replacement identity disorder. It has a medium body that helps balance out the generous load of citrus hops. Kind of a middle-of-the-road IPA.

Nameless Nut Brown
This quickly became my favorite. True to form it has a very light roasted aroma. It feels like there is light fruit off the top, slightly toasted flavor, and just a hint of spice. Has a warming quality that would be great on a winter night... Not that anyone here would know.