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| Big Dog's IPA |
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| Big Dog's War Dog |
Big Dog's Brewery!
Late at night, I needed to take a break from editing and writing a couple weeks ago. I thought about going for a burger and a milkshake at my favorite old fashioned burger stand in Las Vegas at 3:30 in the morning. Yes, Las Vegas is a 24 hour a day town where anything can be had or experienced at any time of day! On second thought, I thought about going for the $9.99 16 ounce T-Bone steak special at the cafe in the casino down the street or having one of their late night breakfast specials. For some reason I did not want to get fancied up to look like a casino goer. I guess I was tired. Then I started thinking of casual local places that I have not frequented that sounded interesting. Big Dog's Draft House and Brewery sounded like a good late night idea!
Big Dog's Draft House is within walking distance of my home in Las Vegas, so Big Dog's became my destination for a late night snack and some beer. I usually do not frequent bar and grill establishments that have a sports theme. I was the chef at a sports bar and grill for 6 months many years ago, so I already had my fill of wild crazy sports fans early in my career. Loud sports fans can get to be tiresome at times, especially if they are fans of a team that you do not like.
The sporting events had been long been over with for the day, so a nice peaceful late night of relaxing at a local Las Vegas brewery draft house and sipping on hand crafted brew was in order. Spending a few hours at a local casino brewery pub late at night in Las Vegas is a really nice experience. There are usually only a handful of customers, people are respectful and they give plenty of room for a person to breath. That is how a 24/7 town really is late at night.
I have worked at pubs and bars in Florida and Philadelphia where the cut off time for alcoholic beverage sales is 2:00AM. Bar goers seem to only have one goal in mind when there is a time limit for being at a bar. Customers seem to only want to get as drunk as they can possibly get, before the 2:00AM cut off and that causes many problems.
In Las Vegas, a customer can have a drink any time of day and drinks are complimentary if the customer gambles. Night club parties on the Las Vegas Strip usually just start winding down at 5:00AM and many customers finally leave to go home well after daybreak. Nobody seems to be drunk as a skunk at clubs and bars in Las Vegas. Las Vegas residents have plenty going on and there is always plenty of action in Las Vegas, so staying within the sober range is far more appealing than getting drunk and blind to the Las Vegas happenings! I drove taxi for one year in Las Vegas and never had one episode with a drunken customer. While driving taxi in Florida, there seemed to be a few out of control drunken customers every few hours. It just goes to show that Las Vegas is an environment that promotes self control. A new resident of Las Vegas learns self control within a few weeks of being here, or they move back to wherever they came from broke and miserable!
Anyway, the Big Dog's bartender asked me "What'll it be?" Hmmm! I asked for a description of the hand crafted beers that were on draught and the bartender gave me a detailed run down of their products. When the bartender described the Big Dog's India Pale Ale as being a strong IPA, that sounded like a good brew for winding down and relaxing. A Big Dog's IPA it was!
I could taste the strong Cascade hops. Both Cascade and Northern Hops are very strong hops. Good strong hops do have a nice mellowing effect, but traditional English hops are better for brews that are crafted to be like English ales or India pale ales. The gravity of the IPA was not bad, and the color from the roasted malt was right on the money. The clarity of the IPA was about 93% good, but it did show signs of clouding, so I doubt if Irish moss was used to clarify the brew. There were no particles of yeast in the IPA, so it was filtered properly. There was no burning corn sugar aftertaste like what is found in cheap American national brand beers that use corn sugar to quicken the brewing process. There was no cheap cereal grain flavor either. The yeast choice seemed to be a top fermenting variety that is what is traditionally used to make ales, porters and stouts, so the yeast was the correct choice for brewing the IPA. Big Dog's IPA is a rather nicely crafted ale and I liked its qualities. I do like the flavor of cascade hops occasionally and many English ale drinkers seem to be fond of this strong hops too.
Gosh! How do I know so much about judging beer quality? I was the chef at an English pub for two years and some of my regular customers were brewmasters from the Fullers and Newcastle breweries in England. I learned a lot about beer from those guys and I studied plenty of brewmaster reading material. I can gossip about beer and ale with the best of them!
I am not into sporting events, like I mentioned before, unless the sporting event happens to be horse racing! I do not follow sports, but I sure can read between the lines on an odds board, so I do regularly win sporting event wagers. That is one of the skills that Las Vegas teaches sports gamblers. The only way to learn odds board probabilities is to practically live at a sports and race book! That is what I did for my first two years in Las Vegas and a for a couple more years later on down the line. I have and I can make a living betting on the horses, but it is an up and down double time job.
Even though I am not a sports fan, I did take one for the team while at Big Dog's. Big Dog's Draft House is Green Bay Packers fan central! Everywhere that I looked while at the bar, I saw Green Bay Packers helmets, signs, jerseys and memorabilia. Even the marquis sign at Big Dog's advertises Green Bay Packer game parties. Since I was in Packer fan territory, it was only right that I ordered Wisconsin Cheese Curds for my late night snack!
The Wisconsin Cheese Curds at Big Dog's Draft House are white cheddar curds. That is a nice cheese curd flavor! I have made mozzarella cheese from curds. Standard cheese curds for fresh cheeses like mozzarella do not have as much flavor as curds that are created for making cheddar. The Wisconsin white cheddar cheese curds were breaded and fried golden brown. They tasted great on their own, but they really tasted even better with the accompanying dill horseradish sauce. Ranch dressing was also served with the cheese curds. I hate to admit it, since I really am not a Packers fan, the Wisconsin Cheese Curds really hit the spot and they were nice as a late night snack, especially with a tall glass of strong brew while playing poker at the bar ate nearly 4:00AM in the morning! Yay for Las Vegas!
I felt like one more beer, so I tried the strong double IPA called War Dog. This India Pale Ale was extra strong in flavor and the alcohol content was at the top of the IPA scale. War Dog was good, and many Big Dog's customers like this ale, but I preferred Big Dog's IPA over the War Dog. It is just a matter of personal taste.
Big Dog's Draft House offers full menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They offer a late night bar menu too. There are plenty of creative items, gourmet burgers and one of a kind items that are offered on the Big Dog's menus. Big Dog's breakfast food looked really interesting.
The Big Dog's Brewery is located at the Big Dog's Draft House. Guided narrated tours of the brewery and opportunities to craft your own beer by attending Big Dog's Brew School can be had for a reasonable price. If you are interested in brewing beer or ale and have aspirations of becoming a brewmaster, then a tour of Big Dog's Brewery is a good fun idea!
Big Dog's Draft House has a full casino license, so food is served 24/7 and the draft house is open everyday of the year. Smoking is allowed in a bar that has a full casino license and food can be served. Big Dog's is well ventilated, so non smokers do not suffer.
Big Dog's Draft House and Brewing Company is located at 4543 North Rancho by Craig Road. The draft house is easy to find for drivers that travel there by Highway 95.
The service at Big Dog's was attentive and polite. The bar and dining areas were clean. The cook made some good food and the hand crafted ale was good too. The parking area was well lit and the customers are upbeat and friendly. Big Dog's offers specials of every kind daily and they are announced at their web site.
I highly recommend Big Dog's Draft House for local residents and visitors of Las Vegas! If you enjoy hand crafted brews and good food, this is the place to go. If you happen to be a Cheese Head Packers Fan, then you should make plans to turn Big Dog's Draft House into your second home! Yum! ... Shawna
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