Great Vegas Festival of Beer

HUGE fan of the Great Vegas Festival of Beer! I am making this an annual event! I do wish that they will give us bigger sampling cups!
The Silent Disco was one of my favorite event activities. Drunk people dancing, nothing better.

From 4÷11÷15
The Great Las Vegas Beer Festival, was so much fun! Located in the Downtown area of Vegas, this event was jammed packed full of thirsty patrons like myself just itching to get their hands on some cold brew samples. Once we got our tickets, which were fairly priced, we were given a 4oz cup for beer sampling. At first I thought, «What a small cup, how am I going to get buzzed off of this?» I felt this way because any other Brewfest I’ve gone to has bigger cups, but hence the word «sampling.» I had to remind myself a little goes a long way when sipping on beer all day.
As soon as we were in the event, we went from beer tent to-​beer-​tent. There were excellent selections from local, and guest breweries, outside of Vegas. One disappointment was that we could not find Ommegang, which was on the list of outside brewers. Ommegang is one of our faves from NY, so I was a little sad we could not find it, but at least Brooklyn Brew was there.
There was a good selection of food trunks. I opted for the Gringo Nachos from Nacho Daddy– they were just what I needed to soak up their beer I drank. Since we were about to eat, we needed a place to sit which brings me to another con; there was a limited amount of seating for such a large crown. I didn’t plan on sitting much, but it is nice to be able to sit when you are eating. We ended up sitting on the curb and keeping it classy.
Anyway, this was a good event, we had lots of fun, meet cool people, and consumed a metric ton of beer out of those little cups. I will definitely be back next time this event comes around.

Absolutely love this event. We have attended it for three straight years. Go ahead and splurge a little and get the VIP tickets. You get free food and beer parings in the Brewers Lounge, and access to an actual bathroom so you don’t have to use the Porta potties. It is also worth it to get an hour head start and a souvenir tasting glass. The food trucks were amazing this year. I will say that the Brewers Lounge food offerings were better last year. There were a lot more options. We still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as usual.

WOW! What a fantastic event for DTLV. This event took place on Sat 4÷11÷15 at what is known as the Llama Lot and the former Western Hotel and parking lot of East Fremont and 8^th St. They estimated that 6000 people attended this fun craft beer showcase featuring 400+ beers, 100+ breweries, live music and some delicious food. For one flat rate for admission you then earn your right to sample every single beer with your little 4 oz. tasting cup. I dare you to try them all.
We had such a good time at this event and I would recommend it to any local’s or visitors. The weather for Saturday could not have been better. The sun was shinning, and the cold beer was flowing you couldn’t ask for anything more. Motley Brews organized the event and they did an excellent job. The lot had plenty of space for the crowd of people so you did not feel packed like sardines. The beer tents were well organized and had such a great variety for all beer tastes. Even some you might not even have known you liked such as a featured Jalapeño Beer «the El Jeffe.» It was quite good actually. Motley Brews also hand selected some of the best Local Las Vegas Restaurants and Food Trucks to serve during the event to fulfill any drunken craving’s.
The Great Vegas Beer Festival featured 100’s of beers from the southwest region and beyond. One of my favorite things about this festival was the separation of all of the local and Nevada craft beer brewers in one area located in the Western Hotel parking lot. This is a great idea and I hope they do it again next year. Many of my favorite Breweries were staged here like Great Basin, Hop Nuts, Joseph James, and Tonopah Brewing. Many national brands were also featured like Stone, Hornsby’s, 312, Leinenkugel, and Green Flash who was a sponsor. So many beers and not enough hours in the day. I think the short time frame that they allotted for the Great Beer Festival was perfect. People were not so intoxicated that they would start fighting or just start being A holes. During the entire event I did not see one incident and security was visible on Trikke’s to ensure everyone was safe and responsible.
Now let’s speak about the awesome food selection that was available for all festival goers. Some of the great vendor’s were DTLV exclusive’s like MTO Café, O Face Doughnuts, and The Goodwich. Food Trucks that attended were Cousin’s Maine Lobster, Sausagefest and Truck U BBQ. I did not have a chance to try everything but what I did have was very delicious. The Goodwich Patty Melt with Jalapeño’s was amazing as well as the nachos from Nacho Daddy.
Atomic Liquors was setup as the VIP Brewer’s Lounge where you could get a break from the sun and they were serving complimentary featured drinks and free food prepared by the Culinary Arts Academy. Some of the features were amazing meatball sliders, fried green tomato’s with pimento, and fried catfish. All the dishes here were hot fresh and tantalizing to the palate.
I am looking forward to next years Great Vegas Beer Festival. This was the best event I have been to in a long time. Kudos to Motley Brews for putting this event together with out a hitch. I am sure everyone had a very memorable time.

Horrible, how do you have an event and run out of water and first aid. Great beer and great vendors so I’m sooo sorry to leave a bad review but this is the worst planning ever.

This is a great beer festival. Unlimited samples of beer. A nice collection of breweries from Nevada. A few food trucks and food alley, where we indulged on Stack’s roasted pig sandwiches and the delicious chicharones.
Only complaint, when entering the festival, the line situation was a little confusing.

This was definitely the best beer festival I’ve attended in Las Vegas — BY FAR! I’ve always been very disappointed in other festivals, but will definitely be attending this next year again.
From other reviews, it appears as if Motley Brews made a great choice by moving the festival from Sunset Park to Fremont. Most everything was well organized. We didn’t have any issues parking (we actually parked in the Fremont Street Experience Garage). The entire festival area was gated so people couldn’t just wander in.
My friend and I didn’t purchase tickets in advance and were going to buy them at the gate. We were surprised to see that there was no line for tickets and got kind of worried that they may be sold out. We were then stopped by an older lady who said that they had 2 tickets they were unable to use, which they had purchased on Groupon. This ended up saving us about $ 15 each and they were for early entry, so we were pretty stoked!
The only bad thing was the ridiculous line we had to stand in for early entry. They didn’t open the gates on time, and this line went down Fremont, hooked down 7^th St and then around another corner. Once they opened the gates it moved pretty quickly though, since everyone had their wristbands already.
Once inside I thought that everything was well planned out and spread out as well. At the far end there was an area with a ton of port-​a-​potties, which we used a few times (Gross!). We never waited in line, which was good.
There were actually A LOT of really good beers and great breweries. I have to hand it to Motley Brews — they got The Lost Abbey and Pizza Port there, and neither of those places sell their beer here in Vegas! All of the local breweries were also there. There was a great selection and definitely something for everyone. I actually discovered a new, up and coming local brewery (Able Baker) and can’t wait for them to hit it big. That was some of the best beer I’ve had in a LONG time!
We also enjoyed lunch at one of the many food trucks/​vendors that were available. My friend and I shared carne asada fries from the taco truck and also pulled pork fries from one of the BBQ trucks. Both were delicious and reasonably priced (and great for sucking up beer). It looked like there was a great selection of vendors — Naked City Pizza, Echo and Rig, Desnudo’s Tacos all had booths.
Overall this was a great event — well run and it was a beautiful day for beer drinking! The bands were decent and I thought it was nice that they were giving out free water, rather than charging for it. I thought that ticket prices were a bit high ($ 50 for day of purchase — early entry).
It was great running in to some Yeeps I haven’t seen in a long time — shout out to Anthony M, David S. Stephanie S. Vanessa N. and April D. Hope you all had as much fun as I did! I’m looking forward to the Downtown Beer Festival in September now!

Beerfest! Awesome!!!
To help the truth I had been living under a rock because I had not heard this was going on till 3 days before! But was extremely lucky as I had friends with spare tickets.
This was another one of those cool things that the downtown area is bringing to the locals here in Vegas and guess what, «we Iove it» I could not count how many beer tents, kegs, back of cars or even trailers the vendors had but it was well organized and something i hope stays for years to come.
They also had a bunch of awesome restaurants that put on some food, no they were not included into the ticket price but were all reasonably priced. One of my favorite places Echo and Rig had these killer sandwiches that I nearly purchased 10 of.
Entering the festival you received a 4oz cup to use and at first I thought this won’t be enough but it was!!! Try the 100 shots of beer challenge some day and try this festival! 4oz was enough. The night before I was at a bachelor party so I didn’t get to all the beers as well I was hurting a bit but this festival was awesome!!!
One knock I will give is there wasn’t much seating, after a few hours of standing my feet and back were on the fritz!!!
4 outta 5 stars for sure

Yay, I’m a fan, and I didn’t drink! Several of my friends were going, and I wasn’t doing anything, and I really dont like beer, so I volunteered to be the DD. So, April D, Anthony M, David S and Mark B could drink all they wanted and I would get them home safely!
Worked out fantastic for me, I got treated to dim sum lunch at Cathay House (thanks again David S!), treated to the festival (thank you Anthony M) and had Taco y Taco for dinner (thank you Mark B!). April treated us all to some gut busting laughs afterwards at Taco y Taco.
This years festival was downtown. I really love when they close off the streets and you can walk around like you own the place! Upon arrival, there was a HUGE line. Like, intimidatingly long line, but no worries, it moved quickly. I am not sure what the tickets prices were, but for me, being the designated driver, it was $ 20 bucks (you get free water… but so did everyone else, lol!)
When you first enter, you pass the food trucks, the food «court» area and all the local beers. Going in towards La Comida (who I heard catered a buffet for the VIP’S) that’s where the stage was, and all of the other beer vendors.
It was pretty crowded by the end of the night, and the lines were long, but everyone was so chill throughout the day. No fights, no yelling, and no obviosuly wasted people (ya know, stumbling around… swaying like they are on a boat… none of that. At least that I saw).
Walking around the festival, ran into some other very awesome Unilocalers. Hey there Traci T, what up Teri W and it’s been so damn long Stephanie S! Oh, and also hung out for a bit with Kart P! Tien and his friend Millie also joined us, but only for a little while. They… I’m sure not what happened. But they didn’t stay to long.
Can’t tell you much about the beers, but it was a really good time with great people. I’d be the DD for this anytime! (and I dont charge or expect anything… except good times!).
It was a great day spent with wonderful people. I look forward to next years event!

How fun!!! Thanks for the tickets, Unilocal!
There was so much we loved about this event, and so much that can be improved.
The pros were that some of our absolute favorite breweries were there and we were able to try things we’ve been interested in but didn’t wanna commit to a sixer. The food was absolutely delicious and thank goodness for the hand washing stations outside of the port-​a-​potties.
The cons were that the port-​a-​potties were all on one side of the event, pulling you far far away from the festivities, the lines for food were more than an hour long and by the halfway point, most of the breweries were tapped out of some of the more exciting brews on the menu.
We found the Unilocal tent at around 5:30, and were really looking forward to the delicious pretzel necklaces, but they were all gone, so we stocked up on pins and a bottle opener. The man (I forget his name) greeted me with a hug because I was one of the winners of free tickets — and that made me glad.
I’m interested to see what next year brings with the Beer Fest, for sure.

I’ve been to many a beer fests and a few hosted by Motley Brews. I had a great time at this festival.
VIP tickets were $ 55 in advance and included admission to the private VIP area (complete with special brews and free food), early admission (get in at 2PM instead of 3PM), and admission to the entire event. It was definitely worth it and I would highly recommend doing VIP at beer fests if you have the funds to do so.
First, the food in the VIP area was delicious and helped me maintain a certain level of sobriety throughout the afternoon. The portions were small enough to allow me to sample all the items (spicy sausage, mac and cheese, and yummy tacos with mango salsa) but big enough to keep me full.
The area for the event at Sunset Park was much smaller than I had anticipated and looked much bigger on the map. For this reason, it was hard to tell where some of the lines began and ended. A tad annoying, but oh well.
I love that they provided a detailed map so I could plan out my afternoon accordingly without having to scope out the area too much. I also appreciate that they had hydration stations set up with tons of water and the awesome mister fan thing was going. As most people lamented about, it was a really hot afternoon attributed to a really hot random week in April, but hey, Motley Brews can’t control the weather so it’s silly to ding them for that.
Parking was a pain though. I don’t remember any signage on the street pointing us in the right direction, and the parking staff seemed a tad clueless on how to organize and direct traffic. Also, the ladies restrooms ran out of toilet paper during the afternoon and the sinks (while I’m thankful they had sinks) also ran out of paper towel. I wished there had been a set of private bathrooms in the VIP area. It would’ve just been a nice added touch for the money.
I know some people complained about the size of the tasting cup (about 4oz), but it’s a tasting cup! The goal is sample beer, not get smashed (although I know many people had that goal going into the event). If you really wanted to appreciate beer and find new favorites, it was a decent sized cup to accomplish the task.

I was able to score some VIP tickets at a recent Elite event, so I couldn’t wait to attend, being that it was in its third year running, and the two previous years had sold out.
We got to try brews of all kinds, and even drop by the Unilocal tent for some DIY pretzel necklaces. Of all the brews sampled, I loved the Shock Top Apple Brew, Blue Moon’s Cranberry Brew, and Joseph James’ special hourly limited Taps. One thing that also helped this 92 degree day were the mist machines and water stations set up within the venue. Those cooling stations were great!
The VIP section was pretty cool as well. We got to sip on special brews from Khoury’s, and nosh on some Short rib tacos, mac and cheese, and chipotle-​cheddar sausages-​YUM!
I just don’t get the constant bitching and moaning other reviews mention– parking, long lines, hot weather, out of a certain brew, no rinse stations, etc… Everyone’s coming out for the same reason you are, so if you don’t plan accordingly or didn’t go over the Festivals’ website to know what’s going on to make your experience a good one, that’s on YOU… I got a good solution for y’all next year… STAY HOME… ALOHA!!!
Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE 2013−(94÷100) «Mahalo Motley Brews!»

They had a great selection of beer, but the lines were really long. We liked the music, but the food selection was mediocre and it was very hot. Maybe it would have been better a month or so earlier. The designated driver service was a 2-​hr wait before the festival was over, so we cabbed it back to our hotel. It was fun and we might go again.

Being in the industry myself as a beer event co ordinator /​planner I was very impressed attending the GVFB this past Saturday in Las Vegas. The set up in Sunset Park was well planned with plenty of space for the most part… that is half the fun though to mix and mingle with fellow craft enthusiasts while waiting a relatively short period in line for a new taster.
Two suggestions: Have a couple of portaloos staged in the holding area outside the festival entrance… witnessed an elderley gentleman denied access by security to use one which were of course just inside the sampling area prior to 2pm. Probably needed a few more ice runners to some of the breweries bottle sampling… it was 90 degrees on Sat and the ice quickly melted to water and a few beers were a little warm… all in all a great event and would rank with any festival I have attended anywhere with good breweries in attendance and typical craft beer drinkers enjoying and behaving themselves in a comfortable environment… I will certainly be back next year… Tony C.

This was my first time attending the festival. While there were many good craft beers to try, maneuvering the festival was down right miserable. Festival management has room to improve for next year.
Parking was a total cluster. Seemed as though they only made sure enough space existed for the expected participation level, but forgot to think about the efficiency of traffic flow. The walk to the festival entrance from the parking was a road trip and a half without the use of your car.
Line efficiency was non-​existant. Most breweries offered 2 – 4 options and were not efficient at delivering. Often many beer servers/​pourers had to toggle back and forth/​change places in order to serve the requested brew. Lines were on average 30 – 40 people long. So, you grabbed a pour and went to stand in the next line of interest. Not the relaxing and fun experience that I was looking forward to.
They offer a single small plastic tasting cup. In every other tasting event I’ve attended there were rinsing stations with water and/​or napkins. Without the ability to taste each beer without remnants of the previous, it becomes difficult to evaluate theeach unique flavor profile.
It was very hot and icky, and there was an extreme shortage of shade or shelter. The bathroom sitch was strictly gross port-​o-​potties.
I want to love this local event more, but there were too many variables overlooked that put the customer in the ‘zone of pain’. Now if this event were cheap of free I would have overlooked the shortcomings, but is in fact neither.

I had a blast at this beerfest. I saw some complaints about parking but my friend and I were dropped off and picked up so I can’t speak to that. I’ve been to a few beerfests in town and I was very happy with the water stations at this event. It isn’t summer so it was crazy hot but when you’re drinking beer in the sun all day, water is key!
There was a great selection of brewers and beer and it was great to see all the local breweries together. My friend and I bought the Living Social deal so we had early entry. From 2 – 3 there weren’t many people so it was easy to get some different samples without waiting in line. Suddenly around 3:15 this place was packed. Still, the lines weren’t too bad in some spots and the most we ever waited was 10 minutes. But we were waiting with our previous sample in hand so I’m not complaining.
I thought there was a good selection of food at this ‘fest and there were some freebies going around. I would definitely hit this up again next year!

This used to be in Tivoli but has been moved over to Sunset Park. I did not attend the previous location, just this year but I’ve been to other Motley Brews organized events.
The park has one lane in and out into the parking lots. The closest parking lot was a clusterfuck to get into and had a long queue causing traffic so we parked elsewhere and walked around the park to get down to the area.
The usual suspects are the line up. I usually go purely to those pouring out of taps and not bottles then narrow down to mostly seasonals or specialty brews like Joseph James does exclusively for festivals. Since this was a Spring/​Summer fest, there is a strong show of lighter, fresher styles and IPA heavy.
I’m glad craft beer and events are gaining popularity. Events I go to annually are much busier now than they ever been. With that though, I feel they should make sure the space is far more than adequate. Sunset Park is a large park and they used part of the lake as a barrier, and then put up fencing around the festival space. We were not encroaching on the regular park goers space at all, so I feel that could have made the space bigger.
If this was held maybe a month ago, it would have been perfect weather.
It was a hot sunny day and that with drinking is crappy enough. Trying to distinguish where long lines ended and where crowds hanging out begins sucked. Trying to squeeze through people to get places sucked.
One big thing for me is that I like to be able to throw away remnants of my brew, wash it out well before getting a new beer. I noticed some vendors had their own thing behind the bar to do that, some didn’t and just dumped the beer in the grass. This is not well prepared at all and was a complaint before in a review 2 years ago, so not a newcomers mistake. I would use my own water bottle to rinse except you know, I actually need to have a lot of water because it is hot and I always hydrate so I don’t end up as a sick and sorry as the day progresses. This fest did not provide free waters I could fine (maybe there was and I’m wrong), there were food vendors with beverages though. I found sporadically a table with a cooler and a dump bucket, but really it was so hard to jump through the crowd to get to the next area, I can’t keep going back and forth to the 2 tables I’ve found in the park grounds to rinse and then push through again.
The combination of being hot, having to touch and get really near people when I’m already feeling sticky and icky, cant find a rinse station, can’t find shade, no water made us over it pretty fast. I’m very thankful I got free tickets, but I’m also highly relieved I didn’t waste money for this.
With it growing in popularity and is in the 3^rd annual state, I feel it should have been more thought out and improved each year. I hate leaving bad reviews, I love supporting craft beer things, but this simply was not pleasant. I didn’t know if I should put A-​OK 3 stars or a 2 star… but after 2 hours I was done and left to get ice cream in frustration. Maybe A-​OK for you, but was not for me.

I’d like to start by saying that the VIP Area was a damn joke. Long lines for OK food which ran out and was not replenished.
Otherwise, it was a great event. The vendors were amazing, the entertainment was fantastic and the whole day was just splendid.
Also, the Unilocal!both with the pretzel necklaces was nifty.
CAN’T WAIT for next year!

TIPS FOR NEXT YEAR…
MAKE SURE TIMES ARE CORRECT ON ALL FORMS OF INFO
DON’T LET THE RED HEAD YELL AT PEOPLE lol
DON’T LET BREWERIES HOLD SPECIAL BREWS WHEN YOU ADVERTISE VIP ENTERANCE.
START MUSIC AT 4 NOT 6!
I was totally bummed with this event. My husband and I attend beer festivals regularly in many states & GVFOB was very unorganized. I was so stoked too :(
First the VIP tickets that we printed off said early enterance was 3PM & other sites said 4PM so of course we showed up at 3 & it wasn’t till 4.
So they started letting people in around 345. cool right!!! so we made our way to the VIP area where their were other attendees figuring we could mingled a little. well out of nowhere a guy with red hair & a green shirt came by yelling at everyone to get out of the VIP lounge!
Let me tell you about the VIP lounge that we paid extra for. No chairs. hahaha. absolutley nowhere to sit. standing only & it was 100 degrees. the food they offered ran out immediately & everyone was standing around waiting. lol. The beer they featured in VIP area was disgusting too. Nothing I can’t get at Lee’s.
Ok so we go outside the VIP lounge to stand in the shade under a tree, we didn’t even want anything to do with the VIP «lounge» at this point. lol. BUT here came the red hed shouting at us to get away from the VIP area. hahahaha. My husband & I along with a few others were pretty pissed at this point. CHILL OUT DUDE. its a beer fest not the presidents arrival!!!
OK so the fest finally started. YAY. went to a couple breweries that were having specific brews only featured at that beer fest. and I’ll be dammed that they hade signs up saying they wouldn’t be tapping those beers till 6 and 730!!! Are you kidding me. All these breweries & the fest advertised to get VIP tickets so you could get these special brews first!
Music did not start till 6 pm either. so the first 2 hours were horrible. hot, hardly any good beers, no music and we had already been yelled at by a marketer with a power trip. hahaha. SO WE JUST LEFT
you only got 2 stars because you offered food vendors & I had never been to Tivioli

This was a really good time! Tivoli Village hosted the event. I was a little worried that it sold out and approximately 2,000 people would be attending. It took a while to get in but once I got inside, it was great! All the staff for all the breweries and vendors were super friendly and had tons of beer to try. 30 different breweries/​vendors in all. They also had four different food vendors, including Haulin Balls and Slidin Thru, in addition to the restaurants already at Tivoli Village.
Tivoli Village turned out to be a great venue. The breweries were set up in a U-​shaped design and it really worked. A little crowded but easy enough to get around. The music was terrific! I hope they can pull this off again next year.