This rainy-ass east coast weather has me longing for my days back in Nevada. The Sunshine State? No, the Silver State. Whatever, it rains less than three weeks a year there, and I feel like it’s been raining for three straight weeks here. When I lived in Vegas, I never went down to the strip unless people were visiting, and this brewery would always be the first stop. Banger Brewing.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Banger Brewing is located on Freemont Street. If you know where Heart Attack Grill is, it is the bar right next door. It doesn’t have quite as big a sign as the Heart Attack Grill, but if you’re looking for it you’ll find it. Despite Freemont Street being the biggest shitshow in Vegas, I’ve never seen this brewery too packed. I highly recommend visiting here next time you’re hitting Vegas for a bachelor/bachelorette party or whatever event drags you here.

Anyway, let’s get to the beer of the month. The Morning Joe Kolsch. The Kolsch is a German beer obviously, and if you know how to pluralize it, go ahead and tell me in the comments, but for the time being, I’m going to pretend it’s like “deer” – the same whether is singular or plural.

When you think of coffee beer, you think of stouts and porters. You think of deep espresso and varieties of chocolate tastes. But not with the Morning Joe. This is the first Kolsch I have ever had in my life, so when I ordered it, I just assumed a Kolsch was a darker beer. I was way off. The Morning Joe comes out with light gold body and thin white head. It is smooth and slightly crisp with a clear coffee taste without the heaviness of a porter or stout. The taste of coffee isn’t subtle by any means. It is surprisingly rich but light. I haven’t exactly had hundreds of Kolsch beer, but this one introduced me to Kolsch a few years back and I always pick one out whenever I see one at a brewery now.

Ultimately, this is a beer you can have a couple of. It isn’t going to fill you up although the richness may get to you. Luckily, I found a similar beer here in North Carolina, that is also a Coffee Kolsch which I will discuss next week on a “try these ten Kolsch list.”

This brewery is in the perfect place to get your Vegas party started, so start the morning off with Banger Brewing Morning Joe next time you’re there. You won’t regret it.

Vincent DelGiudice
Vincent DelGiudice

Beer Analyst

Vince Del is a therapist living in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is originally from New York where he grew up and went to college. Vince has been writing for four years now creating his blog about the unfortunate events that happen to us on a daily basis – mycousinvinny.blog. In his spare time, he drinks beer, and now writes about that as well.

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