Last October we visited Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada for an event and mini vacation, and while we were there we spent an afternoon exploring a small part of the Henderson beer scene. Here’s a report of what we encountered.

But first, a note about the Las Vegas brewing scene in general. In the past few years it has grown by leaps and bounds, and there is a wide variety of beer available at many more places than the last time I was there (several years ago). We stayed on the Strip for a couple of days before heading into Henderson, and I enjoyed a number of fine beers while there—though we only managed to visit one brewery during that time, the venerable Ellis Island Casino and Brewery. One of the older breweries in Sin City.

Ellis Island is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and I’m happy to report not much has changed since last time I was there, oh, over ten years ago. Cheap in-house beers ($2 or $3, I don’t remember exactly) and easy gaming. I drank an Oktoberfest and IPA, both serviceable (the IPA was old-school, hop-bitter instead of hop-flavor if you know what I mean). I’d say it should be a stop on any Vegas beer trip, if only to pay respects and enjoy decent beer.

Henderson

The city 15 minutes or so southeast of Vegas is sporting a few breweries of its own, including Bad Beat Brewing, CraftHaus Brewery, Able Baker Brewing, Lovelady Brewing, and Barley’s Casino and Brewing Company. We had time to visit two: Lovelady and Barley’s. More on those in a minute.

I’d picked up a six-pack of Hoppy Times IPA from Bad Beat Brewing (in cans, of course) to drink while at the place we were staying at. Nice beer, a piney IPA deep orange in color, overall a good profile for the style and a young brewery (just over three years old at the time). I was also able to try a pint of CraftHaus Shiny New Toy Batch 1 Idaho 7 IPA, which was decent, and a couple of beers from Big Dog’s Brewing (out of Vegas), one of which was also an IPA. I have to say all of these IPAs were fine if perhaps a bit behind what the west coast is doing with hops to produce bright, juicy, vibrantly flavored ales that pop with hop flavor instead of bitterness. Perhaps these beers were not as fresh as they could have been.

At any rate, it’s interesting to dip into the local IPA pool but really the best way to judge such things when traveling is to visit the source directly. Which is what we did with Lovelady Brewing and Barley’s Casino.

Lovelady Brewing Company opened on April 1, 2016, a partnership between four brothers: Richard, Robert, Jerry, and Jeffrey Lovelady. Richard runs the brewing side of the business, who previously spent 20 years brewing for Gordon Biersch. He brews on a 20-barrel system that features (at the time of our visit) five 20-barrel fermenters, four 40-barrel fermenters as well as a canning line (and the tap room, of course).

The brewery offers an interesting lineup of regular beers, including (of course) IPAs, a red ale, a kettle sour (with pineapple), a porter (albeit a chocolate, peanut butter, and coffee variant), a Belgian tripel, and interestingly, Outbock—billed as a Bock/IPA hybrid. From what I can tell, it’s a bock styled lager with American IPA hops (and hopping rates). Ironically I had also picked up a six-pack of this beer before visiting, and even though the mashup sounds a bit different, it works out.

When we visited, I ordered a pint of the Love Juice, the brewery’s New England-style hazy IPA. (The current beer on the website is “Love Juice #9,” but on the menu at the time it was technically listed as #8.) Easy drinking at 5.6% abv and 30 IBUs, the description read:

Northeast style IPA, with a strong aroma of tropical fruit. A juicy body and finishes with a mix of lemon peel, Mosaic, Azacca, and El Dorado hops and lemon peel.

Here’s what I scribbled down in my notebook about the beer:

Super hazy, looks the part. Savory (onion) hop aroma with bitter emphasis and a touch of pithy citrus peel. Mouthfeel is a slight bit grainy, and emphasizes hops but with a soft presence and bitter greens.

I asked about tours, and one of the Loveladys, Jerry, was on hand to conduct. Even though the brewery itself is not terribly large, this was one of the best brewery tours we’d ever been on. Among some of the interesting things we learned:

• The spent grain is sent to an ostrich farm in Pahrump, Nevada.
• They use Greek yogurt for souring the kettle soured beers.
• The brewhouse is Canadian, while the fermenters are Chinese.
• Aside from kegs, the only packaging they do is in cans — no bottling.
• They contract brew for Las Vegas’ Sin City Brewing.
• Water treatment is a several stage process: first it is softened, then carbon filtered, and finally undergoes reverse osmosis before brewing with it.

Very impressive and besides the Love Juice, I tasted a sample of the 9th Island Pineapple Sour, which was decent.

Here are other photos I took during our visit:

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Our next stop was Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company, a similar set-up as Ellis Island in that it’s a casino first with a brewery inside, billed as “the valley’s oldest and Henderson’s only brew pub.” We were there for happy hour when the (house) beers are only $3 for a 20-ounce pint, and they happened to have a Pumpkin Ale on tap so you already know what I ordered.

The Pumpkin Ale was 5.7% abv and spiced with cinnamon and allspice. It was as expected, a malty, amber-brown pumpkin ale in the conventional sense, avoiding the astringency over-spice trap to be a pleasant drinker. We ordered an appetizer of chicken fingers while there as well.

Overall the venue was as expected, a casino first geared towards drawing in the gambling crowds, with the brewpub portion adding a nice extra component. I don’t know that the beer geeks are seeking it out, but on the other hand it’s the only brewery in Henderson to offer food, I believe; the other breweries I looked into do not have kitchens to serve food (they may have food trucks on site).

Here are my photos from that stop:

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At the end of the day, I have to say I was impressed with Henderson’s beer scene, though it’s like anywhere else these days in this country of 6,300+ breweries—locally-brewed beer is appearing everywhere. If we get back down that way I’ll check out some other breweries, but right now I can easily recommend a visit to Lovelady Brewing as a must-stop if you’re visiting Henderson for beer. Barley’s is a good stop for a meal with your beer and if you’re in the mood for any of the local gambling flavor.