For anyone who has ever read anything by Hunter S. Thompson and has also visited Las Vegas, you know that the two go together like peas and corn. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is classic gonzo journalism from Thompson and a treatise on the extreme excesses that America provides to those that seek them.
The COMDB approach to Vegas of one and done local beer sampling would not interest Hunter in the least. But it does make it much easier to get up in the morning, and also allows you to taste and appreciate the great local beers and the establishments that serve them. But first, a few observations about “sin city”.
That’s Entertainment
If you are a senior citizen, you are in for an entertainment treat. Celine (56), Shania (59), Garth (62), Donnie (66), David Copperfield (68), Lionel Richie (75), Santana (77), Don Henley (77), Rod Stewart (79), John Fogerty (79), Barry Manilow (81), Wayne Newton (82) and Tom Jones (84) are all current or recent headliners. If you are doing the math that’s an 877 years of entertainment experience at an average age of 73 years young! And you can pay anywhere from $150 a ticket for Lionel up to $780 to see Garth Brooks Plus One (his plus one is his plus one in real life, Trisha Yearwood) in his first “final” concert tour. You can pay much more than that for VIP (Very Impressive Price) tickets for those with unlimited means and limited common sense.
Manilow at 81, more plastic than a Ken doll. Manilow was the man who sang the song “I Write the Songs” but was not the man who wrote the song “I Write the Songs”. The man who wrote the song “I Write the Songs” was actually Bruce Johnston.
Beat the Heat on the Street
Wear comfortable shoes and a hat. Why? Because the favourite past time in Las Vegas is walking the strip which is 6.8 kms long or 4.2 miles long for those of you of the same vintage as Donnie and Marie. And a hat, because during the day it’s hotter than the hobs of hell, as in walking on the sun hot, a blistering unrelenting heat that only one thing can stave off. You guessed it, a frosty cold brewski.
Vegas Baby
But before I get into where to enjoy a frosty cold one, here’s something that I can’t understand. Why on God’s green earth, or especially on the sun parched pavement that is sin city, would you ever bring a baby to Vegas. Between the heat, the freaks on the street, and countless attractions and distractions, it doesn’t seem to me to be the right holiday destination for new Mom, new Dad and newborn. On the plus side, on almost every street corner you can find an interestingly attired young lady who will be your babysitter (or another role of your choosing) for an hourly rate. I expect you would end up paying more than you pay the neighbour’s teenager back home to watch the young ones, but everything is more expensive in Vegas.
A Vegas baby dealing with “The Hangover”.
Beer Me Vegas
So here are just a few of the many options available for an adult beverage of the craft draft variety in the humble opinion of this COM, who loves his beer and his money and doesn’t like seeing the latter disappear too quickly to indulge in the former.
Yard House:
On the LINQ laneway, center of the strip, just in front of the High Roller is the Yard House. Patio, tables, bar, they brag about the most craft beers on tap in the world! 180 beers on tap. I counted 139 on the menu not including specials. The bar and taps line up is quite impressive. Great service, great selection and reasonable pricing as far as Vegas goes. And the food is top notch too. The only view is your brew, or one of umpteen TV screens. COMDB Top Choice.
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| Best in the world | Reasonable | Great | Sports Pub | TV Screens and the LINQ (patio) | Great |
Beer Park: On the strip a few landings up by Paris, it looked like an ideal place for a parched COM to take sanctuary from the sun. They sat me on the rooftop patio in the sun, no AC or fans or any other means of escaping the heat. After waiting for a while I finally headed indoors in search of AC and they sat me in the corner just like baby in Dirty Dancing, but there was no Patrick Swayze to save me. A reasonable beer selection but most of it the usual suspects, I only counted 5 or 6 local brews on the list. It wasn’t that busy but service was slow. I was planning to order something to eat but by the time I saw the server again I had finished my beer so just asked for the bill instead.
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| Mediocre | A bit pricey | Slow | Upscale rooftop | Good if you can handle the heat. | Wouldn’t know. |
Top Golf Vegas: When it comes to golf, if you suffer from LOFT like I do than this is the place for you. A fun golf experience with friends or family, the Top Golf Franchise exists in most big cities with year round fair weather (in other words, none in Canada). In Vegas it’s one block off the strip at the MGM.
The golf experience itself is not that expensive and lots of fun for golfers of all skill levels (even me). You get to play a round while you drink one. When it comes to beer they have a good selection of local beers with 12 on the menu and rotating taps too, a nice variety. Pricing is reasonable. Food is pub food with a good selection and reasonable pricing.
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| OK | Reasonable | Good | Sporty | Scoreboard | Pub food |
Ellis Island: One block off the strip is the classic Ellis Island Casino and Brewery. Reasonably priced, with a full menu, the main building is a restaurant casino (slot playing smokers welcome) rather than a pub or beerhouse. The brewery itself has more of a pub feel. They brew their own beer, 5 different basic beer types, six if you include their home brewed Root Beer. They claim their brewery won the coveted award of Best of Las Vegas (2015 and 2016).
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| Limited | Reasonable | Good | Casino | Nope | Full Menu |
BrewDog: Right on the strip just up from MGM, take the elevator to the 3rd floor and you enter a spacious pub, with a bar and bottle shop. Walk up to the fourth floor and the ultra-hip rooftop bar awaits. They claim to have the best view on the strip, and they ain’t lyin’. Complete with misters and AC so you can enjoy the view with a brew and not melt while doing it.
An interesting selection of Scottish BrewDog brews including the iconic Punk IPA and the more recent but destined to be iconic Black Heart. In addition to the traditional BrewDog brews, the Vegas location is also a brewery and you can sample local BrewDogs too. An interesting menu and service was top-notch. Pricey but worth a visit for sure.
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| BrewDog | Pricey but worth it | Great | Ultra-hip | The Best | Interesting, tasty |
Margaritaville: Unfortunately, the ultimate party bar and center strip attraction, at one time the busiest restaurant in the world, has closed its doors after 20 years of party hearty. The strip side bar where you could watch the world walk by and have a conversation with the passerbys, is no more. The three levels of raucous revelry are empty, their Flamingo lease was up. There’s a rumour that they may turn up in a new location but nothing confirmed yet.
| Selection | Pricing | Service | Vibe | View | Food |
| None | None | None | None | Depressing | None |
No Solicitations
One of the goals of COMDB is free beer. However, none of the above recommendations have been solicited. What I mean by that is despite a number of rooftop venues there were no drinks on the house. To be crystal clear, although a free beer will not sway our opinion, we would never turn one down, that would just be bad manners.
Leaving Las Vegas
There are many other places in Vegas you can go for a cold craft. Next visit will be a pub crawl of Freemont Street. So many beers, so little time. Unlike Nicholas Cage, who in the movie “Leaving Las Vegas” went there with no intention of leaving, we left Las Vegas with every intention of returning.
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