State program hopes to boost craft beverage industry in Nevada
A group of 45 craft breweries, taprooms and wineries throughout Nevada shares a similar goal: Sell more of their beverages.
For the third consecutive year, they’re getting help in their efforts from what may seem an unlikely source: the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
The agency last week launched its 2024 Nevada Craft Beverage Passport promotion, the third year in a row for the program. Participants in the program, which is open to Nevada residents and visitors 21 and older, can earn a passport stamp for at each craft brewery location they visit and purchase an adult beverage. Prizes are offered for passport holders, with the more breweries visited and stamps collected, the bigger the prize.
For example, 10 stamps earns the passport holder a branded pint glass and sticker from their choice of one of the 45 participating businesses statewide.
The first five people to collect stamps from all 45 locations and turn in their passports will receive a Made in Nevada gift basket and an exclusive winner’s sticker. Those baskets include swag from the participating breweries and are valued at $150, officials said.
“We are excited to offer this program to get people involved and get people visiting our establishments, and get people out there,” said Dillon Davidson, senior trade officer with the Agriculture Department.
Craft beer in Nevada is big business, Davidson said. Last year, it brought $42 million to the state, he said.
Getting a stamp from all 45 participating businesses will require logging some miles. The participating venues range from Beer Zombies and Boulder Dam Brewing Co. in Boulder City to Kruze Rd. Winery in Lovelock, the Northern Nevada town of about 2,000 residents.
Last year, 10,000 passports were issued, state officials said. The Agriculture Department is still tallying how many people returned a full stamp book, they said.
A launch for the 2024 program was hosted last week at HUDL Brewing Co., 1327 S. Main St. in the Arts District, with Gov. Joe Lombardo among state officials in attendance to show his support. Lombardo labeled the craft beverage industry as an important “economic driver” in the Nevada economy.
“Craft breweries, you know, the small-business environment versus the Anheuser-busches of the world, make a difference, right? And it brings it home to Nevada,” Lombardo said.
To qualify for the program, breweries must “make their brewed, distilled or fermented beverages locally,” officials said.
The hope is the campaign paves the way for new customers to visit breweries. Then, it’s up to the business to transform the new customer into a regular visitor.
“I encourage everybody to get around the state, have a taste of what Nevada has to offer and all the different flavors. A lot of these establishments use Nevada-grown ingredients in their brews and distills,” Davidson said.
Able Baker Brewing in Las Vegas is participating in the passport program for the first time. It saw how the program helped spur business for other Arts District breweries last year and hopes to replicate the impact, general manager Scott Seales said.
Able Baker opened at 1510 S. Main St. shortly before the pandemic and survived a wave of business closures, having celebrated its four-year anniversary in October. Its owners are most proud of their West Coast IPA beer — Atomic Duck — which Seales says is considered one of Las Vegas’ best local IPAS.
He’s hoping being part of the program will attract new craftbeer enthusiasts to Able Baker for a chance to sample an Atomic Duck or one of its other offerings.
“But we’re just happy to be a part of it and be included with the other local breweries and the like in the craft beer (industry),” Seales said. “It’s a huge thing that’s a great benefit to all of us, so we’re super excited about it.”
HUDL Brewing, which is also participating in the passport program for the first time, is already seeing some new business, co-owner Skip Norfolk said.
He describes the craft beer community as being full of camaraderie.
“Our friends at Able Baker here today … if they called up and said, ‘Hey I need 20 pounds of this hop,’ if I have it, they’re going to get it,” Norfolk says.
Physical copies of the passport can be picked up at participating locations and digital copies can be obtained at agri. nv.gov/passport. The passport includes a page for each participating venue with a description, space for notes and a designated spot for the stamp.