One unifying force in our brewing landscape is the state’s largest recurring beer gathering, the Great Vegas Festival of Beer. On March 28, the 14th annual event will assemble around 20 local and Nevada breweries and 60 total—everything from Lazy Dog, Brewdog and Big Dog’s to Hop Nuts, Triple 7 and Lovelady—under a shared banner at a 200,000-square-foot space near 6th Street and Carson Avenue.
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Back when founder Brian Chapin launched the inaugural event under the Motley Brews brand in 2011, the Valley was home to just half a dozen breweries. Today, it’s closer to two dozen.
“I saw a niche for not only craft beer—because it was at its infancy and starting to evolve in surrounding states—but also to try and bring the community together as locals,” Chapin says. “It was neat, because it truly was friends who hadn’t seen each other in years getting together. It was breweries who hadn’t had a chance to reach local Las Vegans yet.”
Great Vegas has served as a showcase for the state’s ever-expanding roster of breweries ever since, and it’s moving to a new but familiar location this year after spending most of the last decade at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. It will instead return to Fremont East, where it was previously held in 2014.
And don’t forget the lineup of food vendors, which this year includes Fast Eddie’s Burgers, Di Sab’s Mangia Mobile, the Glazed Nut Hut, Sharp BBQ, Golden Oven Pizza and more.
“It’s gone way farther from an offering and quality standpoint than I thought it ever would,” Chapin says. “We’re known as an entertainment and service city, and these are products that people can taste and touch. The festival leans deeply into that.”
GREAT VEGAS FESTIVAL OF BEER March 28, 3 p.m., $55-$135. Downtown Las Vegas, greatvegasbeer.com.
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