District Brewing Is Now Neon Desert Brewing. The rebranding of District Brewing is now official. In addition to the new name, there is new furniture in the taproom (neon green bar stools and pink/purple padded booths), additional brewing fermenters allowing it to triple its capacity and a canning line which will provide the ability to supply more outside accounts.
During my visit last month, I found 20 Neon Desert beers skillfully brewed by Founder/Head Brewer Jimmy Doyle and Assistant Brewer Cisco Talley pouring, including four core beers: Captain Haze (hazy IPA), Early Out (West Coast IPA), a Fruited Berliner Weisse (the fruit changes monthly) and Hue Hefeweizen (Bavarian-style).
I also enjoyed some intriguing, delicious seasonals such as Barreling Down Main—a collaboration blend of HUDL’s 10% barleywine and Neon Desert’s 15.4% Belgian Dark Strong; and Circles of Helles—a helles lager that you can blend with the same beer spiked with serrano, jalapeno, habanero, Carolina reapers and ghost peppers (kind of like dining at a Thai restaurant, you can ratchet up or down your desired level of heat by how much you blend).
http://neondesertbrewing.com
Three Sheets Adds Tasting Room for Astronomy and Mojave. The ever-popular Three Sheets craft beer bar in the Arts District has given us another reason to stop in. Its second level is now a dedicated taproom for local breweries Astronomy Aleworks and Mojave Brewing, bringing a downtown presence for each.
The nine taps are divided between the two and during my visit the day after the launch, taps included Astronomy’s Return of the Citra Rye IPA and Drink Me a Lot of Peaches Fruited Sour and Mojave’s Punk Lemonade Cider and Point Break IPA. As both levels are run by Three Sheets, you can bring your beer downstairs or vice versa.
March Beer Events. On March 12 Aces & Ales will host its 2nd annual IPA Smackdown competition at its Tenaya location. Similar to a Sweet 16 NCAA-style event, several IPAs from our local breweries will be on tap and patrons will vote for their favorites on their phone (using QR codes) in individual matchups of two in 10-minute rounds, with the winners moving on to the next round.
The final winner will be awarded the IPA Smackdown belt, which currently resides with and has been frequently worn by the inaugural event’s winner: Astronomy Aleworks Owner Matt Brady. As I write this in late Feb., the majority of our Southern Nevada breweries have signed up, with 15 ready to enter their best IPAs, so if you like the IPA style and supporting local beer, this event has your name written all over it. The tentative start time is noon. For the complete list, visit https://tenaya.acesandales.com/#events.
After a three-year COVID hiatus, the Boulder City Brewfest will return on March 26 and will again be held at Wilbur Square Park in the heart of the historic city from 1-7 p.m. They are expecting to have more than 36 brewery tents (including several locals), 10 food trucks and beer-centric specialty vendors.
Admission is free, but to sample unlimited beer the cost is $45 in advance for VIP admission at 1 ($60 the day of) and $35 in advance for general admission at 3 ($45 the day of). For more info and to purchase tickets visit http://bouldercitybeerfestival.com.