Vlogs with Pennys4Vegas and Downtown Grand

Long before it became Oscar's Steakhouse (named after three-term Las
Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman), this second floor pool (circa 1970-ish) at
the Plaza was your best view of Fremont Street towards the east. This
was well before the Fremont Street Experience where three-to-four city
blocks are now enclosed under a spectacular canopy that runs the length
which is traffic-closed (except at north-south road crossings) and now all
pedestrian and performer-friendly. I so love these vintage Vegas photos.  

This is the blog that's NOT my beer blog, the award-winning Brew Ha Ha. I only call it award-winning because did you know you can walk into a trophy store and they'll put whatever you want on a trophy? Seriously, whatever you tell them. You should see all the shit where I'm, like, the absolute best - sports, writing, drinking! Anyway, this is my people, places and things blog. Today, it's a place. My favourite place. The City of Las Vegas.

Okay, when I landed in Las Vegas' McCarran Airport on February 9 at roughly noon (their time), it marked my 16th trip to Vegas.

Trip #17 is coming next month, Trip #18 is booked for May. I promised myself that Trip #20 would be done in 2020. I don't gamble much but I have many friends who do - both low-rollers and high-rollers - and I am willing to bet (okay, a wager here and there) that they will find some sort of gambling significance in that whole "20 in 2020" sequence. Just sayin'...

With seven months left to play with after May, well, let's just say that's pretty do-able. In fact, I mean, we're talking Vegas so wouldn't Trip #21 make even more sense? (Shut up. Just agree. I know 2021 actually makes more sense for Trip 21. But six trips in one year? Epic!)

Just a couple of Canadians dudes drinking craft beer at Banger Brewing
on my first night there. Now Mark's a macro drinker so normally, this
would not be in his wheelhouse but he had a Group-On for Banger and
that made it more up his alley. To truth to tell, we did find him a few that
he quite enjoyed. But Mark's strength is he will always find Bud for $1.

But let's get back to Trip 16 - that February 9 to 16 trip - for a couple of reasons. One, it's now my third-annual Birthday Week in Vegas. 2018 was at the Excalibur. 2019 was at The LINQ. Both of those are located on the main Las Vegas Strip. And this year, it was at the Downtown Grand, just steps off Fremont Street in grand old Downtown Vegas. That choice was made, based on a video by British Vegas vlogger named Matt Bridger. Much more on the Downtown Grand and Grandmaster Bridger in a moment or two. (You see that clever wordplay there? No? Good for you because it wasn't even remotely clever.)

But Night One would prove to be an interesting one, involving the consumption of beer.

Banger Brewing was the place that took Mark's
craft beer virginity. But he was game to try some
new beers and, man, we found some stuff he did
enjoy. That said, Mark will always be a macro dude
at heart. I always say, "Drink the ones you like."

And while that would seem to be a "Well, duh!" statement whereas Vegas is concerned, there was a twist. A fairly significant one, I would say. My Canadian buddy, Mark, better known on social media as @pennys4vegas, was meeting me at well-known Fremont Street craft beer brewery/bar Banger Brewing.

So what? Well, here's the thing. One, we had never met in person. And two, Mark is a macro drinker. In Canada, he loves his Labatt Blue, which was my mainstay beverage for decades before I got into craft beer. In Vegas, this man has a nose for finding Bud at a buck a bottle in countless places. He's like a Buck Bud Bloodhound. (Seriously, try saying that three times fast.)

But Mark's whole gig is "Doing Vegas As Cheaply As Possible" and given the rise in his YouTube subscribers, there are a lot of people who would like to do exactly that - the Vegas thing for less dough. So I would say he's onto something good here. The whole point of being on YouTube is creating something people want to watch. He has. Mark can correct me if I'm wrong but when I started following last Summer, I think he had maybe 300 subscribers. He just hit 1,600. That's a helluva jump in a very short time. (I'll do the Math for you - that's over 500 per cent.)

I'm not trying to speak on Mark's behalf but I know THIS is his idea
of a night of drinking in Vegas!! From the back moving forward, that
would be Mark, notorious Vegas bad boy Anastas617, who also has a
YouTube vlog (search anastas617) and finally, a very funny couple,
Tamara (rhymes with camera) and Gord, who you can also find on
YouTube on vegasbestideas. On Twitter, just add @. Okay, so I think
ALL of them posted this night on YouTube. They were all at Stage
Door Casino in Vegas drinking $1 Bud's and man, that night looked
crazy. When ol' Anastas gets all, umm "unfiltered", it gets very funny.

Now since this is NOT the beer blog, I'll tell you what Mark and I drank both at Banger Brewing and Chicago Brewing in 4 Queen's Hotel and Casino in my next beer one, as well as what I drank flying solo.

But I appreciate what Mark did for me that night and lemme tell you why. If your whole gig is "doing Vegas as thriftily as possible," then craft beer does not come into play. It simply costs too much. Because we were meeting for the first time, he stepped way out of his comfort zone, just to be a good buddy. Yeah, there was a Group-On coupon involved but still, that's just a good deal for craft beer. Not a good deal for regular beer drinkers at all.

This dude tried all sorts of new and crazy tasting beers when, dammit, you knew all he wanted was a Bud. And Mark, I'll tell you this for free. The first time I tried an India Pale Ale, many years before I dove into craft beer and was a Blue drinker, would you like to know what my reaction was? Unfiltered, like Anastas does? "This doesn't even taste like fahkin beer."

So I get it. So thanks, brother, for hanging in there. I think you got a pretty decent (and certainly very different) vlog out of it so, hey, that's okay. Given the reaction to that vlog, well, a healthy handful of viewers seemed to quite like it. You can never tell, eh?

Being part of a vlog was a chance to get some interaction from viewers and while you always hope people aren't dicks, we all know the reality of the Internet anonymity.

I absolutely cannot say enough positive things about the Downtown
Grand. I enjoyed my experience there so much. Because it's a little
smaller than some places in Downtown Vegas, there is an air of, well,
familiarity to it. The bartenders knew what I wanted to drink, all the
front desk knew my name and even though I make zero demands as
a traveler, they busted their butts to make sure I was as happy as I
could possibly be. They have the "hospitality" thing nailed down.

People can be assholes... just because they can be. None of us knows who Bob6969 really is. But (unless Mark removed their comments), none were. In fact, they were kinda cheerleaders for the whole thing and man, that's cool.

In fact, some British dude named james82 kind of nailed it. He said, "Felt like I was listening in to two blokes enjoying a chat and a few beers. Nice change to see a relaxed vlog." And the thing is, having been there first-person, that's exactly how it felt. We just met, Mark was way outside his comfort zone beer-wise and yet, even when I watched it, it felt like we had known each other for 25 years or something. Taping that vlog with Mark felt like the most natural thing in the world to me. And that, my friends, is the power of these YouTube Vegas vlogs. I hide in the shadows of words though I do clearly identify myself. They, on the other hand, are front and centre, talking to you personally. I think that takes guts.

And you know what? Next time we meet in Vegas, I'll spend some time drinking Bud with him. I'm no beer snob. If it has water, hops, barley malts and yeast involved in the brewing process, dammit, I'll do it. Might not enjoy it as much as my favourite craft brews but I owe him. He did it for me. And, of course, I'll link to his vlog at the end of this. I think his one with me was just north of 800 views. Sounds good but Mark can easily get 1,500 views just on a simple room walk-through so that's his real audience.

Okay, so right now, the Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino has these
two towers. I stayed on the 19th floor in the one on the left. As well, they
have a third tower under construction and slated to be up and open by, I
believe, this November. That's the casino on the bottom right, but up on
its roof is their pool. Great set-up. Not the biggest casino in Downtown
Vegas but I loved it in there. Granted, two separate Happy Hours had a
lot to do with that. Half priced draft and appetizers at Freedom Beat 2 to
5 pm and again at 2 to 5 am. They got to know me pretty damn well... 

Okay, time to talk about the Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino, which is basically about three minutes off Fremont Street. Now I can't remember if I booked my Birthday Week there before or after I saw a video from famed British Vegas Vlogger Matt Bridger. Because he had some pretty high praise for the hotel, I suspect probably the latter. It doesn't really matter either way because it was everything he said and more. As well, he has since filmed a separate walk-through of the Downtown Grand, which I'll attach at the end.

This has a much smaller casino than the other hotels on Fremont Street but not being much of a gambler, I was fine with that. It was the little extras that I loved here. A super-friendly young man at the check-in front desk instantly offered me a room fridge, to which I happily said, "Ummm, okay..."

Though I am keenly aware there is an ongoing legal
dispute between the Downtown Grand and its bar
tenants, Hogs & Heifers Saloon (long story short,
the hotel would prefer them to vacate because of
excessive rowdiness and fighting), I saw my one
opportunity to go into the infamous biker bar, so
I took it and had a blast in there one day. Fun!!

Let me tell you why this is relevant. My buddy, Mark, from up top there, needs a room fridge to store his diabetes meds. So, too, does 2cent, the female half of Vegas vloggers, Hogand2cent. (We all love 2cent. Hog is on more of a day-to-day assessment basis. Kidding, of course, we love him, too, and their vlogs are a riot.) If a room does not have a fridge, the hotels will send one up to you on request. Seriously, it's a given. People need fridges for any number of reasons, the most important being medical. One of the four hotels Mark stayed at this time, the MGM Grand, told him that's no longer their policy. If he wanted a fridge, it had to be rented at $35/night. Mark posted that on Twitter and a huge number of us went ballistic. Eventually, they relented for his second night (he was only there for two) but I mean, come on, customer service, people. Places that ignore how they appear on social media do so at their own risk these days.

Did I use my fridge? Hell yeah, I got some of my medicine in there immediately - a six-pack of New Belgium Juicy Haze IPA and another sixer of Sierra Nevada Fantastic Haze Imperial IPA. And it is medicinal. Those meds cure the shit out of sobriety.

Now I'll get back to the Downtown Grand in a second because it's such a great spot but part of their complex is a Hogs & Heifers Saloon. Now, of course, because their clientele leans towards the motorcycle crowd, I guess their reputation isn't what you'd call sterling.

This is Emily, my server at Hogs & Heifers. Now
I almost always get a picture of anyone - male or
female - serving me to post on Twitter. There are
exactly two poses - big smiles or goofiness. Until
I asked Emily to pose, I didn't realize there was a
third option. This might be my new favourite...

So, anyway, there's a ongoing legal dispute between the Downtown Grand and Hogs & Heifers Saloon for reasons you probably guess - rowdiness, fighting, the usual stuff. But I do know this. When the evening hours roll around, this saloon brings in bouncers that look like NFL linemen. I'll also say this from my many years on this mudball, I've known a lot of bikers over the years and frankly, I prefer them by far (very, very far) to many of the judgmental "Christians" I've known during the same time period. Truth.

And while I will sidestep this legal dispute altogether, I knew I had to go into Hogs & Heifers at least once in case they, well, vacated in the future. I know of them all too well but have never seen one. So I did. During the daylight hours, of course. Their craft beer selection was limited, of course, but they had Lagunitas IPA, which now being owned by Heineken, is half craft-half not. Good enough for me in a gin-joint like this.

And man, what a blast! I was there for a few hours, just soaking in the environment. Think the Coyote Ugly bar at New York New York Hotel and Casino but with a much rougher edge. The waitresses will happily and freely insult you and to quote that great philosopher Mr T, I pity dah fool brazenly stupid enough to come onto one. She'd probably kick the shit out of you herself and then toss the bloody, pulpy remains to a bouncer to finish off the job. Of course, I loved it there. Every Vegas trip seems some degree of rowdy fun. Just a bit of crazy.

Okay, the Freedom Beat bar-restaurant at the
Downtown Grand has TWO Happy Hours. It's
from 2 to 5 in the afternoon and again at 2 to 5
in the morning. I was there for a week. I think I
made 12 of a potential 14 Happy Hours. What?
I mean, $4 pints of great craft beer? Of course!

So I had to go there! Simply because they may not be in that location some day soon. The one thing I have noticed about Las Vegas is it's a constantly evolving place. Nothing lasts forever. My first trip was July 2007. It already looks like a completely different place now. I suspect other Vegas lovers will agree.

Okay, back to the Downtown Grand. This is certainly a smaller casino than most I've seen in Vegas. Again, I'm not much of a gambler but when I watched a Matt Bridger video (two, actually) on the place, it seems to have many of the slots he prefers and what I have learned from all these Vegas vlogs is the right slots are key.

I mean, I'll throw in $20 here and there to kill time but I have no idea if what I'm seeing is good or bad. Slot machine screens that look like a dog's breakfast to me all of sudden have all these connecting lines that add up to some coin. And I have no idea how. It's a little like watching Figure Skating at the Olympics. You see someone do all the spins and you think, "Wow, that's pretty impressive." Suddenly, the announcer comes on and says, "Oh, I doubt she'll recover from that critical faux pas." And you're like, "I don't get this at all." That's me and slot machines. I'm just there to drink good beers, enjoy the environment and escape reality, if even for a week. But yeah, I'll throw $20 in a machine.

This is Samantha. I forget where she was from (Rhode Island?) but I was
sitting at an adjacent machine. Okay, this is the second time this has
happened to me in Vegas. She wasn't having much luck with her slot. It
had a spinning bonus half-circle at the top if that helps the slot players I
know. But the second I plunked my scrawny ass at my slot just to have a
smoke and check Twitter near her, she hit a bonus round. And it kept
going. As I was saying, well, good luck to you, she answered, "Can you
stay? Drink service will bring you a beer very soon." Turns out that she
just kept hitting bonuses with me nearby, chatting. Her (roughly) $150
went up to - not kidding - $2,160.10. This was at the Downtown Grand
and I guess she thought I was good luck? It was less than five minutes.

That said, if it gets up to $50, I'm cashing the hell out. I measure my wins in potential vacation beers, fast food and little else.

But that brings us to the drink service at the Downtown Grand. I would just be at a machine, having a smoke, checking out Twitter and drinking a beer and - no joke - every five minutes, some nice young lady was by, asking how my drink was doing. At first, I said, no, all good here. Because really, unless you're gambling, you shouldn't accept drink service. About halfway through the week, it dawned on me that I could make this a win-win. So one day, I said, sure, I'll have a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and minutes later, she showed up with one. She got $5 tip every single time and I got a beer. Then my drink service got even better! Because it's a smaller casino, the ladies serving were there that much faster. I forgot to ask their names - there was just a few different ones through the week - but one made me laugh when she asked if I was a big Canadian musician.

Rubie at the Freedom Beat bar-restaurant in the
Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino was the one
who had to break the news to me. I had drank all
the Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA. No big
deal. They still had their Dogfish Head 60 Minute
IPA so I was good. Then I tapped that out, just as
more Hazy Little Thing showed up. It was all cool.

No musical talent whatsoever but maybe the bigger "tips" and the long hair, I guess. But they were all super sweet, friendly and very efficient. That's one of the bigger complaints I see from the gambling community - drink service. Go to the Downtown Grand. It'll have a slot or craps table you're happy with and seriously, a drink service second-to-none in probably all of Vegas. Sometimes, smaller is better.

Which brings me to Freedom Beat, their restaurant-bar. You'll read more about this place in my next beer one because besides both an east and west coast IPA, they also had a Peanut Butter Stout that was pretty much craft beer porn.

Okay, from 2 to 5 in the afternoon and again, 2 to 5 in the wee hours, ALL beers and appetizers were half-price. So $8 pints suddenly became $4 pints. They got to know me VERY well. I ate there, I drank there. I can live off appetizers. Yeah, sure, I went onto Fremont during the day and night. But I always came back. The staff was outstanding, most of them remembered me instantly. (Again, probably the hair.) But Matt Bridger was right. The Downtown Grand is fantastic. I will absolutely be back in the late Summer or early Autumn. But what a great guest experience. Back with the beer blog! Oh, here's Pennys4Vegas vlog about our Banger Brewing fun right here: Pennys Does Craft Beer! And here's Matt Bridger's Walk-Through so you can see where I stayed: Matt Goes Downtown Grand. His history at the beginning is awesome!