I'm interested in trying new beers and would like to do it by flights. Where do you recommend to have some interesting beer flights? Thanks!
I'll be interested to find out the answer to this myself. Maybe The Pub at Monte Carlo or Todd English Pub at Crystals?
The 777 Brew Pub at Main Street Station downtown offers a beer flight. If I remember correctly, it includes five of their beers.
Public House @ V/P has some nice beer flights... Burger Bar & The Pub at Monte Carlo have some nice / more "exotic" choices. But, I'm sure the list goes on Vegas - La Cave at Wynn, anyone?
Are you sure you want to do it that way? It's hard to get a fair impression of a brew from a few ounces tasted right before or right after several other brews. I say in for a penny, in for a pint.
We've had good luck at some of the places we like to go in getting special flights (eg created by the bartender based on our preferences, not the standard whatever listed on the menu) At slow times when we've been chatting with the bartender, not on a busy Saturday night or anything. Any place with a halfway decent selection of taps (and the right size glasses) could be willing to help you set one up, depending on their attitude & work load. Have fun! I love a flight as an intro to a style or breweries I'm not as familiar with, seasonals, etc. (also, I haven't been, but I would guess Yard House does flights as well...)
McMullan's Irish Pub (over by The Orleans) has a good flight of beers. They have two or three different ones, with 5 or 6 beer types. Ashley (Mrs. Russgrad) enjoys them. We have a photo of them in one of our previous trip reports (not the one from September '13)
It's not tough at all to get a true taste in a multiple sampling of beers, all you need is a palate cleanser between beers or styles. I attend many tastings as a Cicerone and the most common are unsalted saltines, but the best IMO is plain bread and water but I have also had green apple slices used at a couple and those a great cleanser especially with high hop beers like Zombie Dust, Pliny, Stone 10 or Ruination. The best thing though is to do the flight according to the strength of the taste profiles, lagers and pils first, then browns, reds and blonde ales, then Stouts, if your lucky a nice Abby and finish with the high hops.
Well at the time I am merely a certified server, but am testing for the Certified Cicerone in January when the next session close to me happens, which I shall ACE I started this when my friend Sarah who is certified was telling me my knowledge is as good or better than hers and I should go for it. There is so much more to beer than many people realize and so many details that can truly make a difference in the quality of ones experience with different beers and when you get to higher end beers it can truly make a massive difference. Anyone who is truly a fan of beers, homebrewer and definitely server should take this test IMO.
This could be a whole new topic, but let me ask what you might recommend with raw oysters? I had a pint of Arrogant Bastard with east coast oysters awhile back and thought it couldn't get any better than that. I am an ex-home brewer, no grains, just cans of malt extract so I had to look up Cicerone. I learned something today. And because I'm geographically ignorant, how's the craft brew scene in OK?
With Oysters a strong hop IPA like the Bastard would actually be my last recommendation, but what one finds pleasing another well may not. For a briny seafood like Oysters I would choose a Stout personally and even better an Oatmeal stout, the high malt content and smokiness of a good Stout is a wonderful pairing with shellfish of any kind. Take it up another notch and go for Flying Dogs Oyster Stout, that combo I have had before personally and man oh man it was nearly perfect, a bit of brine in the beer along with the great malt up front went so well it really made oysters and beer an aphrodisiac The craft beer scene here has exploded the last few years and especially in the realm of the Abbey style ales and IPAs, but then again IPAs are the flavor of the week it seems. Currently my one of my top 5 IPAs is one actually produced in my hometown where I got to tour the brewery three weeks ago, the brew is called Hoptometrist by Roughtail brewery and it is outstanding, hoppy but not overly so. We are also producing some great Saisons here. We have had a craft beer scene here actually for decades but till recently they were a bit hard to find, breweries like Coop Ale works and Choc have been producing for years, Coops DNR is one of my top 10 Abbey pale ales in the world, a high ABV at 10% but a flavor that very well masks that ABV, more like a wine than most pale Abbeys are.
Check out new (?) show Brew Dogs on Esquire Network - 2 Scottish brewers exploring craft beer in the US - fun show. I think it was the San Francisco episode where they did pairings with seafood including oysters? Each brewer picked his favorite pairing and the chef who cooked the seafood picked her preference. Could have been San Diego - they did food/beer pairing in each one and those are the 2 eps I've seen so far. I have 2 more recorded on my dvr (my husband is an avid homebrewer and loves hoppy IPAs - he even grows his own hops! I prefer sours, farmhouse ales, and malty Belgian ales....)