Motley Brews

One of the best days I have had in a long time!!! Dressed up in my Beer winch outfit… took pictures with perfect strangers… and just had a blast!!! Just wish that after purchasing my VIP tickets again… There was no food!!! and that really was a poor way to get Todd English out there… they are not a very fabulous catering restaurant!

The weather was great, the music was rocking, lots of people came out to have a good time and drink some beer. The best vendor stand by far was Unilocal’s. They had killer pretzels. I didn’t get to wander too much because I worked the entrance. Everyone that came thru our gate was cool and seemed to be having a good time

I haven’t been to any Motley Brews events except for the Great Vegas Festival of Beer at Tivoli Village. Although it was crowded as heck, I thought it was very well run. The lines to get beer were not too long and there were food trucks outside, which kind of helped lower the crowds around the beer. Some people were drinking in one area while others were eating in another. Perfect crowd management device! The entertainment was great. Selection of beer was amazing. I’m looking forward to other Motley Brews events.

The Motley Brews beer fest at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip was a real winner. I’ve been to a few beer fests, and I’ve drank a lot of micros in my life. It was nice to see such a good (albeit small) selection of quality beer in one place here in Las Vegas.
To start, the price was nice (at $ 35) though I won tickets from Unilocal,I did have a few friends pay for the entrance. After having experienced this, I would definitely pay for this event in the future. My only complaints about the event were at the beginning. First, we arrived about 1:30 (the event started at 1pm) and we waited in line until almost 2pm. This was not conducive to getting the most out of the experience. Second, the security check was worse than any concert I’ve been too, and rivals an airport. I was amazed. You would think that the President of the USA was in attendance, or you would be exposed to state secrets.
As for the beer… the selection was nice! From the typical, Sierra Nevada, to the local Joseph James. There was also a nice mix of international beers as well. I was excited to see a few breweries I’ve not had the chance to experience before (Knee Deep), and others that I have developed a deep love for (Squatters & Wasatch). I was able to try a few new favorites (Red Tule from Buckbean) and drink old favorites (1554 from New Belgian). I found the people pouring the beer to be very friendly, and the ones who were from the breweries were all having a very good time. I also didn’t have to wait in line for more than 2 minutes, which was also very nice.
The other things… the atmosphere was nice, and I enjoyed having the many football games on. I didn’t watch too much, as the beer and friends took precedence, but it was nice to have them around. The food line was long, but the food I had was decent (cheese and veggies). However, the food area closed about an hour or so before the event ended. It seemed that that was the opposite of what it should have been. The food should have been opened an hour or so into the event, so that people could eat up until the end to help their stomachs and sobriety.
I will definitely hit up a Motley Brews event again, and would definitely go to an event at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip again.

Motley Brews was a well run, well sized beer fest with a nice variety of beers. It wasn’t too crowded so getting beers was easy. It wasn’t huge, so I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the size. There were some very cool craft beers — I’m with Jade, Tahnilla was incredible !! There were imports, tiny breweries from Henderson, and some big names like Sierra Nevada. We brought a friend from London with us who brews his own beers — even he seemed very happy with the event (his main complaint was the glass was too tiny!!).
The venue was awesome — great view of the strip and perfect for football watching. My main complaints were the insane pat down I received upon coming in (did this happen to everyone or do I just look really sketchy?), and the HUGE line for food. We never ate anything because I was too excited about the beers and I hate lines. Other than that this event was great– I look forward to coming back next year.

Beer fests FTW!
This weekend, we had a choice of two. There was one at Lake Las Vegas the day before. Since we already did that one back in March, we opted for Motley Brews inside the Hard Rock Café on the strip. I think it was the right choice. Overall, they had a better beer selection. It was slightly disappointing that many of the beers were out of bottles, but I got over that pretty quickly.
Luckily for me, we got there right as the doors opened at 1pm. We made a quick round of beer tastes. Then, realizing that I hadn’t eaten a thing, I decided to hit the buffet tables. First time through, no line. Second time through, a small line. I got a nice fill of pot stickers on my second pass. With my belly no longer empty, I was ready to soldier on.
Many of the beers I tried were in the 8−10% range. Needless to say, it didn’t take long to get me buzzed. I was extremely happy to see Deschutes there with their Jubelale. I also enjoyed the Squatters table with their high ABV offerings — considering they’re from Utah. There were plenty of others I enjoyed. I won’t list them all.
Incidentally, the glass we drank out of was pretty tiny. At least it seemed that way at the beginning. In hindsight, I think that really is the right size glass for these events. That way, if you don’t like the beer, you don’t feel so bad about pouring it out. Or better yet, just down that sucker. It’s only 4oz.
All said and done, we had a lot of fun at the event. I think I’m all beer fested out for a while.

This review is for the Motley Brews Craft Beer Tailgate Festival that was held on 11÷14÷10 at the Hard Rock Café On The Strip.
This was my first beer festival and being that my husband loves trying beers from all over the world, this was right up our alley.
The venue should have been pointed out heavily that it was the one on the strip. There is a Hard Rock Café on Paradise, right around the corner, so that was kind of confusing for some people.
When we pulled up at 1:30pm, there was a line out the front door and around the corner. We pulled into the Showcase parking and realized that it was $ 3.00 per car, CASH ONLY!!! and no coins. We had 3 cars behind us, and neither my husband and I had any cash on us (doh!) but the car behind us paid for us (THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE! I will definitely pay-​forward this good-​deed of the day!)
We parked and went inside, only to wait another 15 minutes to get into the venue. The venue itself was good size and it was layed out nicely. There were TVs with the football games on and LOTS of beer tasting. You can taste unlimited amounts of beer. You get a 4 oz. shot glass (bigger than a regular shot glass) that you get to keep and that is what you taste all the beers out of.
The food line was pretty long, but we thought the food was damn good. Coconut shrimp, wings, wontons, fresh veggies, cheese, nachos and so much more. Good job on the free food!
Everyone was really cool, friendly and helpful. I would definitely head back to the Hard Rock Café for any sort of festival and I hope that Motley Brews puts on another festival!

This review is for the Motley Brews Craft Beer Tailgate Festival at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip (the new one by the M&M and Cola store).
Overall it’s a pretty decent festival with a few setbacks.
The good:
The variety was nice with a few breweries that you’d have trouble obtaining anywhere close without the distribution in Vegas. There was enough space… I’m sure they wan’t it packed, but some festivals are way past capacity or at a venue too small too start with that it isn’t fun anymore. You can spend time asking questions about brews you like so it made for it being more intimate.
I LOVE BEERS!
Soooo I was really happy the a few wholesalers were there. Bevi Beverages brought some imports that you’re not gonna find distributed to stores around town. Good luck if you want some of them though I’m sure you can ask who are they selling it wholesale to (ppsstt. I found some Italian imports at Ferraros so far, trying to find others). A few smaller breweries I haven’t heard of that was pretty good like Knee Deep (Tahnilla was lovely– planning to get this for a beer dessert preparation). A few imports that I need to figure out to get (if only I can remember all those damn Birrificos).
More good comes from the proceeds of the event. $ 30 – 35 is really reasonable to try out some awesome beers and c’mon, part goes to a charity (Boys and Girls Club of America this year) so it’s a deal.
The bad:
We were standing outside in line and couldn’t go in for what? It was already nearly 2 and a bulk of the people are downstairs instead of cueing on the 2^nd floor stairs already to just keep it all steady instead of big rushes on people like that.
The ugly:
That motherfucking venue parking lot. You try the 50 degree incline ramp of the Showcase parking lot with a STICK SHIFT and douchebags in front of you who are stuck because of the asshole architect doesn’t have common sense to go with their diploma and decided to make it where people pay first (yes, you actually pay $ 3 to park… casinos and pretty much everywhere else– free) thus backing up the line onto said incline. Burnt tires and hoping we don’t roll far enough to hit a car behind is pretty ugly. I know it’s not Motley Brews fault, but if this is the venue for the next one– AVOID. Go to MGM or MonteCarlo and get some exercise.
The buffet line is pretty clusterfucked. It’s slow… soo slow. Small plates– really?! Won’t stop making people eat less but makes it an even slower line with people having a hard time putting enough food on too small several plates and their beer glass. Choice of food– do it yourself nacho area SEEMS cool of an idea, but with everyone slowly stacking and maybe 2 people max being able to do it at a time, it’s backing up the line greatly. It should have been a bunch of pre– prepped, ready to scoop up finger foods and maybe some chips and guac, but fuck the meats, bean, cheese, jalapeño, sour cream, beans, 2 salsas, etc. etc, etc… Took 30 minutes to get some appetizers, yet takes maybe 5seconds-​1minute to get a beer. Food is ESSENTIAL to be able to taste so many beers… empty stomach is a unhappy, quick drunk. It could of course, be on fault with Hard Rock and out of Motley Brews control what’s served. Definitely the plates can easily be the restaurant not having enough big plates… which is kinda shocking for a big place.
I think they did good and if they can work on the few traffic jam lines it would definitely be «the» Vegas festival to go to. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and would consider doing the next Motley Brews event. Definitely gotta thank Unilocal/​Misti/​Motley Brews for the ticket contest giveaway or else I might not have discovered Motley Brews.