The Maple Leafs, the Golden Knights and beer

Approaching the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for
the BIG GAME! A brand new arena with all the
bells and whistles. And my seat turned out to be a
little more upscale than I had originally suspected.

Lessee now, why did I go to Las Vegas for New Years Eve in the first place? I know there was a reason... Lemme think, lemme think...

Oh right, my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs were playing their first-ever game against the Golden Knights in Sin City on January 31st. See, I knew I was there for more than craft beer. I was also there for hockey. Typical Canadian - hockey and beer.

And I certainly wasn't the only one. With the game starting at 12:30 pm (3:30 pm Toronto time), there was tons of time to wander the strip in the morning. Along there, I saw dozens and dozens of Leafs jerseys. At one point, I posted on Facebook, "I've seen more than 50 Leafs jerseys on the strip this morning. I love it when a town comes together like this." I should have waited another hour. It was closer to 300 Leafs jerseys by the time I got back to my home away from home, Excalibur Hotel and Casino a half hour before the game. The T-Mobile Arena was literally across the street. And there were jersey-wearing Leafs fans everywhere all the way into the game, myself included.

While it's actually easier to get a ticket to a Leafs game in Vegas than it is in Toronto, there was the matter of price.

My seat pal, Al, holds up my $15 Hop Knot IPA made by Four Peaks
Brewing (Tempe, Arizona) which is 6.7% and thus the perfect hockey
beer. Al and his wife Jean are life-long Golden Knight fans... so that's a
half season so far. The couple was a rarity - actual Las Vegas residents.

The sucker cost me $325 and that was the American price-tag so closer to $400 Canadian. Because I want to go so badly, I coughed up the cash but was still curious as to why it was so high. I soon found out.

I was in box seating. I walked in and there was a bar, a washroom about 25 feet away and even a small beer and sandwich kiosk. My seat was a movable, cushioned fold-out right on the railing between the upper and lower tier seating. To one side of me were Vegas residents, Al and Jean, season ticket holders and on the other side, a Toronto family with their young son in a wheelchair. So the box seating was all-access. And damn convenient when you needed the can during a stoppage in play.

I walked by the Beerhaus brewpub on my way
into the T-Mobile Arena but never actually
made it inside. That situation will be rectified
when I return in the Summer. Or even earlier.

And while many friends back home exhorted me to try and get on camera, there was good reason why I would never appear. On the other side of the Toronto family were the banks of TV cameras, all aimed at the rest of the arena and the ice. If one had swung way around, he could have got a close-up of my nose and that's about it. No hockey fan needs to see that.

Okay, first the game summary, followed by the beer summary. The Golden Knights made short work of us, winning 6-3. Sophomore superstar Auston Matthews potted a pair for us but was outdone by Vegas' William Karlsson who brought the New Years Eve party early to Sin City by scoring the team's first hat-trick in franchise history. But as fellow Leaf fan, Beer Bro Glenn said optimistically afterwards, "Hey, at least you got to see a nine goal game!" As for the Jersey Score, well, that was closer to even but I'd say there were slightly more Golden Knight jerseys than Leaf jerseys in the stands. The fans have really embraced this team down there which as a hockey fan makes me happy, as well as disproves all those nattering nay-sayers who said the Sin City was no place for an NHL team. Armchair idiots, all of them.

Which brings me to the Beer Summary. At $15 a pop, I only had a couple but the craft beer options at the new arena were huge!

So, who are you guys cheering for? A couple of Leaf
fanatics went all out with the face-painting and team
appropriate fashions in Las Vegas for the big game.

My quest for Nevada-Only Craft Beers was a little stymied as I didn't have a chance to search out the whole arena and frankly, I wasn't too keen on leaving the comforts of my box seating, except at intermissions when we all flooded out to a humongous multi-tiered balcony for smokes.

First on deck was the Wolf Pup Session IPA made by Grand Road Brewing in Los Angeles. Sweet Mother of Moses, (I've never read the Bible so I need help with her name) was this a tasty one. They didn't hold back on the hops as this is goosed with Cascade, Simcoe, Chinook, Equinox, Mosaic and Galaxy - that's a lotta hops for a wee little wolf pup. At just 4.5% with a hefty 50 IBUs (international bitterness units), it's all tropical fruit and citrus. A fantastic sessioner!

Number Two was Hop Knot IPA from the good folks at Four Peaks Brewing in Tempe, Arizona because after you open with a session beer, you gotta step up your game. At a stronger 6.7% but low-end 47 IBUs, this, like the Sin City IPA, was more of a hybrid British-west coast brew. But I always have time for those. Tons of grapefruit and orange on the nose, this had a malty, bready back-end, giving it tons of balance. Quite liked this one.

Sometimes in Las Vegas, you gotta go old school and in
this case, that meant the always-reliable Stone IPA,
coupled with a classic Lynda Carter Wonder Woman
slot machine. I put in $20, cashed out $37. Not a huge
win but then again, I'm not much of a gambler either. 

But just before the game, I went to the check-out at Excalibur (check-out time was noon) because I was due to fly out at 12:15 am, just after New Years Eve celebration to head home. The lady at the counter looked at me quizzically and said, "You have this room booked for tonight, as well." Well, hold the phone, then. I sped up to my room, hit the laptop and found a cheapie 9 pm flight on WestJet to Hamilton for January 1st. I booked it. Yeah, I burned myself for my Air Canada return flight (no refunds) but who cares? I was staying in Vegas for New Years Eve! Time to celebrate! (The best thing about traveling solo? Spontaneous but often costly and foolhardy decisions! My specialty!)

But that also meant another 24 hours of hunting down the best Nevada craft beers! And I knew my first stop since moderation in all things beer was now off-the-gaming-table for the day. That would be Pour 24 at the New York New York Hotel and Casino and my old bartending buddy, Anthony. We'd been friends for two whole days now so, hey, we were tight. Also, never mind the slots or the Poker tables. You want a for-sure wager pay-out every time in Vegas? Hand the bartender a $20 bill and you get a beer and change back! Guaranteed winner.

Please note the lovely amber colour of the Sin City IPA
with the back-drop of the Paris Hotel and Casino. It's a
majestic view! The beer, I mean. Not the wee Eiffel Tower.

So now it was time to try the Hop Ride IPA from Tenaya Creek Brewing in Vegas. The brewery is nowhere near the strip but off in the desert where there's rattlesnakes and shit. They first opened in 1999 (that's practically geriatric in the craft beer community) as a brewery-restaurant but then switched to just beer. They moved to a new location, still near rattlesnakes, in 2015 and the rest is history. Because it happened before today. Thus, it's history. And the Hop Ride IPA? The 7.2%, 70 IBU ale has Cascade hops for that floral aroma with some Summit and Magnum hops giving it a fruit and pine back-end. Very nice Nevadian brew!

With a second visit to the Yard House in the shop-filled alley beside The LINQ Hotel and Casino, I decided a half-yard of Bad Beat Brewing (Henderson, Nevada - a bit of a craft beer hotspot in the State) Hoppy Times IPA was definitely in order. While my new favourite craft beer bar in Vegas with 146 taps has what appears to be a 7.5% and under limit on what goes into a 32-ounce (about a litre) half-yard glass, meaning no Imperial or Double IPAs, Bad Beat Hoppy Times just made the cut at 7.2% and roughly 80 IBUs.

Aren't hotel bathroom photos just the sexiest, he asked very much
tongue in cheek? Okay, not a great shot but one fantastic beer as
Belching Beaver, out of San Diego, has seen its Peanut Butter Milk
Stout become its number-one seller. Small wonder. It's delicious!!

This one is not 3D but rather 3C as Cascade, Chinook and Citra hops combine for floral nose with a wonderful citrus and pine on the tongue. I tell you, every IPA machine on this Vegas trip was hitting the jackpot big-time with this hophead.

Okay, time for my Favourite Las Vegas Beer now. Except it wasn't from Nevada and very much to my surprise, it wasn't even an IPA or an Imperial IPA. No, it was a stout. But this was no normal stout. Turns out there's a San Diego place called Belching Beaver Brewery, which, as a Canadian, makes me think of home because it's our national animal. (I actually had to Google that because I thought it might be the moose.) Also as beer lovers, we are prone to belching. Well, Belching Beaver makes this Peanut Butter Milk Stout. I know this because I was told by a server at another establishment up that alley-way to get my stank-ass Canadian butt to the Yard House so I could try this stout.

Our good friends at the Yard House craft beer bar in
Las Vegas are facing a bit of a dilemma regarding
Super Bowl Sunday. It turns out they can not use
either "Super Bowl" or "Super Sunday" in their ads,
due to NFL mumbo-jumbo reasons. Can you help?

Once there, a nearby patron, Craft Beer Carolyn, asked me if I'd had the peanut butter stout yet. When I replied that no, with the IPAs on their menu, I was unlikely to, she told me exactly where to get a bottle on the Vegas Strip and strongly (menacingly, even) advised that I do so. So I did so. Turns out this stout is the brewery's biggest seller. Small wonder. As smooth as a politician making false promises, this 5.3%, 30 IBU stout was a silky taste of peanuts, coffee and chocolate. Frankly, it might be one of the best flavoured stouts I've ever enjoyed. Next time, a half-yard at the Yard House, for sure.

And since we're already there, let's finish off our look at Vegas with my friends at the Yard House. They recently took to Twitter, asking for help getting alternate names for their Super Bowl Party. At first, I assumed it was because they didn't serve Budweiser, the official beer of the NFL. Nope, they told me, the NFL does not allow bars to use either "Super Bowl" or "Super Sunday" in their ads, due to the copyright warning you hear 227 times during any NFL game. So they asked their Twitter followers to give them a hand with a party name. So far, one of the better ones they have is my suggestion of "The Only NFL Game In February" Which is true... but oh-so-lame. Follow them @YardHouse and help my favourite Vegas craft beer bar come up with a better name, I beg of you. Tell 'em Donny from Canada sent ya. But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...