Nevada Beer Nuggets – Upcoming Beer Festivals (Spring 2019)
BOB BARNES Posted On March 17, 2019 
Spring has sprung in Nevada and it’s time to take note of some beer events worthy of your attendance.
On March 30 from 3-7 p.m. (VIP entry at 1) the 7th Annual Boulder City Beerfest will be held at Wilbur Square Park in the heart of the historic city. Expect more than 30 brewery tents pouring close to 100 beers, live music, food for purchase from eight food trucks, “beer centric” specialty vendors, homebrewing demonstrations and the brewers games hosted by the Nevada Beer Lovers. For more info and to purchase tickets, visit bouldercitybeerfest.com.
The 9th annual Motley Brews Great Vegas Festival of Beer on April 5-6 will move to a new venue this year: the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center at 200 S 3rd St. It is expected to draw 10,000 attendees over the two days and is Nevada’s largest craft beer festival in terms of amount of beers poured, offering tastings of more than 500 craft beers from more than 100 breweries. The Friday night event, the Mad Craft Experience from 7-10 p.m., will feature beer paired with culinary creations from some of the top establishments in the local culinary scene. The next day, The Great Vegas Grand Tasting will be held from 3-7 p.m. with early entry at 2 p.m. For more info and to purchase tickets visit greatvegasbeer.com.
The next Big Dog’s Brewing quarterly beerfest will be its 10th Annual Peace Love Hoppy-ness, held in the outdoor area of the Draft House in northwest Las Vegas on April 27 from 3-9 p.m. As always, more than 40 local, regional and international beers will be poured, including several from the host brewery. As this is a celebration of bold hoppy beers with several IPAs and double IPAs, all hophounds will need to make plans to attend. For more info and to view the beer lineup visit bigdogsbrews.com/festivals/plh.
The 10th Annual Stone Domination at Aces & Ales Tenaya location on May 18 beginning at 3 p.m. will devote all 50 of its taps to rare and unique Stone beers, including an Aces & Ales/Stone collaboration brew and the opportunity to meet Stone Brewing’s Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Greg Koch, President and Co-Founder Steve Wagner, Senior Innovation Brewing Manager Jeremy Moynier, Senior Manager of Brewing and Innovation Steve Gonzalez and Stone Liberty Station Brewing Manager Kris Ketcham. There will also be a Stoned Brunch pre-party from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with all-you-can-drink Stone beers and a brunch food menu. Between now and then you can earn entries (by buying Stone beers or growlers with 50% off all Stone bottles) to a raffle taking place at 7 p.m. that night, with prizes of a custom ESP Guitar autographed By METALLICA, Stone Brewing/Aces & Ales custom-wrapped kegerator equipped with Stone kegs and Stone Brewing/Aces & Ales custom-wrapped Yeti cooler with Stone beer for a year. In addition, there will be hourly giveaways of Stone Magnum bottles, Stone swag and 10.10.10 Vertical Epic Ale bottles. For more info visit acesandales.com/events.
On May 18 will be the 6th annual Strange Brew Festival at The Brewer’s Cabinet in Reno. The tagline is “Expect the Unexpected,” a not-so-subtle hint that both local and regional breweries will bring some of the wackiest brews they do, most of which will only be available at this fest. Held in the back parking lot behind the brewpub from 3-7 p.m., there will be brews from nearly all of the Northern Nevada breweries, live music and food. I’ve attended this fest the past two years and have seen beers with crazy ingredients including grasshoppers, rhubarb, tea, strawberry, PB&J, sundried tomato, peppercorn, pecan and lime peel. To purchase tickets and for a list of participating breweries visit strangebrewfestival.com.
On June 8 the 2nd annual Biggest Little Invitational will gather at the centrally-located Bartley Ranch from 1-5 p.m. (early entry at noon). As the name implies, it’s designed as a showcase of the best of the best in the brewing world. In addition to most of the Northern Nevada breweries, last year’s lineup included notable breweries such as Blackberry Farm, The Bruery, Jolly Pumpkin, Mikkeller and Stillwater Artisanal. Discounted rooms at the Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel are being offered to festgoers. For more info and to purchase tickets visit thebiggestlittleinvitational.com.
As always, great beer happens in Nevada!
