Suds from around globe to highlight beer festival

Kirk Baird

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 9:01 a.m.

Legendary rock band Spinal Tap isn't the only tap this weekend.

The fifth annual Las Vegas International Beer Festival kicks off its two-day run Saturday at Bruce Trent Park in Summerlin.

The festival will feature 100 beers from 23 breweries -- local, national and international -- as well as live music, including the Elvis/Led Zeppelin coverband Dread Zeppelin on Saturday.

The event is expected to draw more than 8,000 patrons, making it the largest beer festival in the state, said Alex Shelton, festival director for Nevada Sports Network of Las Vegas, which sponsors the festival. NSN is an event- and sports-broadcasting management group. Shelton said NSN is putting on the event to help bring more special events for locals to the city.

The idea for the event came about when the NSN officials determined there wasn't a "first-class beer festival" in the county, Shelton said. After seeing how well similar festivals fared in Portland, Ore., Phoenix and San Jose, Calif., work began to host a similar event in Las Vegas.

"With the growth of our town and with the (number of) local microbreweries in town, we thought we'd do well, and we have," he said.

Shelton said the festival's success is due to several factors, including the opportunity for people to try beers that are not in the Las Vegas market, such as Lev from the Czech Republic.

"When people go (to the festival) it's a chance for them to try different things they've never seen before, or that they weren't quite sure if they'd like it," he said. "It's a nice casual atmosphere for people to try different things they normally wouldn't try."

Additionally, the festival affords amateur microbrewers an opportunity to discuss brewing techniques with the professionals, Shelton said.

Thse pros include Dave Otto, brewmaster for the Las Vegas Holy Cow! Casino Cafe & Brewery, which also provides beer for the Big Dog's chain of restaurants.

Otto said Holy Cow has been represented at every festival. It will serve six of its most popular beers.

"It gives us a chance to show off our product to those who may not know about us or to new people coming to town," he said.

Otto said he participates in beer festivals around the nation, including the "big daddy" of them all, the Great American Beer Festival every September in Denver.

The fact that there are number of these events, he said, proves that interest in microbrewing isn't waning.

"(Microbrewing) never really did die out, it just got bad press," when the growth rate of the industry dropped four years ago from 50 percent to where it now hovers, around 10 percent.

"How long can you sustain a 50-percent growth rate?" he said.