When we checked into the hotel, the bell-boy and I chatted and he suggested Ellis Island. I got myself a map and checked the internet to make a plan. I intended to get started first thing in the morning, thinking that in a place like the strip that wouldn’t be an issue. I was wrong.
Brew pubs and beer bars open at 11:00 a.m. Since I’d left our room at 8:30 that morning, I walked an awful lot before I got my first beer - at the Sin City Brewing Company bar at the Flamingo.
Sin City Brewing Co.
Sin City Brewing has two other locations, one at the Miracle Mile and one at the Venetian, but both are tiny - just a small bar with a few stools, open to the shopping centers in which they’re located. They didn’t have a sampler, but the bar tender agreed to pour me a sip of whatever I wanted before I bought a pint. I paid $6.00/glass, and all things considered it wasn’t a bad price for where I was drinking and what I was getting.- Their stout was pretty good - smooth and very drinkable. It had a mild caramel nose, Light mouth feel that coats your mouth with a soft maltiness, and a little bitterness on the aftertaste.
- Their Amber was my favorite. They describe it as a “Full bodied Octoberfest beer.” It was malty and smooth without much bitterness. Very pleasant.
Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.
Gordon Biersch was recommended by my friend, Scott, and I have to admit they are fantastic! I had a salad and their garlic fries along with their beer sampler. The following are the beers I sampled in order from my least favorite (which was still a good beer) to my most favorite:
- Czech Pilsner - Crisp and malty, balanced nicely by a bit of hop bitterness
- Märzen - Bready with a slightly floral hop finish, and a sweet-malty scent
- Golden Export - Malty with a hint of hops. It has a mild scent and a good aftertaste
- Hefeweizen - Malty with a little pleasant sourness and a scent that was a bit sour and musky. It was light and very nice
- A Seasonal IPA - Despite the floral scent, the flavor was more of a sweet, fruity hops with a bitterness that lingered into the aftertaste. It was a good IPA
- Schwarzbier - Normally I’m not a big fan of schwarzbiers, but theirs is really good. It has a mild, malty scent, and the flavor, predominantly malty, leads with a bit of bitterness and ends with a fairly clean finish
- A Seasonal Winter Bock - Sweet and malty. The flavor was strong (although not overpowering) with a lingering finish. This was also their darkest beer
Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas
Compared to the Old German Beer Hall in Milwaukee, I found it a little disappointing. – The Las Vegas location is bigger, but that's all it has on Milwaukee. The dining hall is separated from the front bar and gift shop. The taps at the bar are on a giant stainless steel T that is mounted on the bar, and it takes up enough space to visually block what seems like nearly half of the bar. The beer was great, but I’ve long been a big fan of Hofbräu beers. My suggestion is to get a table rather than sitting at the bar. They have daily lunch specials, but it looked like their menu paired sausage with fries rather than kraut, potato salad or red cabbage like I would have expected.Ellis Island Casino & Brewery
If I were to do it over, I would skip Ellis Island Casino and Brewery, but if you’re short on funds, you should know they were the least expensive beers I’d found. There is a seating area near the brewery equipment, but it isn’t a brew pub. It’s the seating for pizza and for BBQ, which open late in the day. The bar at the other end of the building serves the beer brewed there. I can say, that the bartender working the day I was there was very nice.
- Their IPA was light amber and tasted much like a light beer with a little bit of hoppiness. I’d prefer it to a macro brew, but it wasn’t much when you expect an IPA.
- The Weiss was not impressive either, and after that I wasn’t interested in trying their other beers.
The Pub at Monte Carlo
This was my favorite place to drink, and the atmosphere was great. The lighting was subdued, and the décor emphasized two things: beer and sports. I sat at the bar and behind the bar was a wall of kegs and beer signs. They had a 7 page beer menu which clearly indicated where beers were from and whether they were in bottles or on one of their many taps. I had two Nevada beers there:- Joseph James Brewing Co. Hop Box IPA - It was a beautiful reddish-amber color, and the lacy head clung to the glass. The scent was mild and floral. It had a great mouth feel. There was a nice lingering bitterness around the back corners of my tongue. The flavor was sweet, not overly malty and had a floral bitterness. I could have drunk a lot of it if they weren’t charging $9 for a pint.
- Tenaya Creek Brewing Co. Hop Ride IPA - It was a crystal clear golden orange with a dense lace from the head. The scent was fruity, like a citrus-mango scent smelled across the room with open windows on a cool spring day. The mouth feel was light around the edges of the mouth and the back of the palate but clingy and pucker on the roof of the mouth. Bitterness is a little strong at the front of the mouth, reducing as it rolls to the back of the throat and there is a fruity sweetness that fades quickly.
Amanda’s partner at the conference told me that there was a nice bar a little further from the strip that was the place to go, but I didn’t have a chance to make it. My conclusion is that you are better off looking for a bar with a good beer selection than looking for a brew pub, but I had a great deal of fun on my beer tour of the strip.
