Sin City Amber ale

by Alastair Hooley
(Beer Delegate, London, UK)

Sin City Amber ale: Alastair Hooley loses his shirt, but not his smile, near the former Aladdin's Desert Passage

I notice that the new Beer Delegate for Nevada chose to review an English beer as his first review, so to maintain an even balance it's only fitting that I, as an Englishman, review a Nevada beer.

I was in Las Vegas recently for the purpose of gambling, eating and drinking (what else!) and paid a visit to the Sin City Brewery Company's bar, based in Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile (formerly the vaguely rude-sounding Aladdin's Desert Passage).

The bar had on draught their usual four beers (their website implies they only do four beers!), one of which was the Sin City Amber ale (5.7% ABV).

Unsurprisingly, this was an amber-coloured beer brewed to a lager style with a good balance of malt and hops. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with most American beers, it is served pressurised from the keg – the beer would have much more flavour if it was served from the cask. In fact I've only ever had cask American beer here in the UK (beers from Rogue and Stone breweries spring to mind).

Aside from the dubious dispensing method, I did enjoy the beer in an otherwise bland Budweiser and Foster's city.