Record Street Brewing, Reno NV

Summer 2022 Trip, Day 8

Last year when I was in Reno, I’d stopped at Great Basin Brewing (great beer, great food, horrible service) so of course I wanted to try somewhere different. So many choices …

After reading about everything online, I decided on Record Street Brewing. It turns out that’s in Brewery Row (or something like that) – there are three breweries, a distillery and a mead maker within the space of two city blocks! If only my stomach were bigger … but I was certainly happy with Record Street.

It’s an industrial-style space with an attached room for events and concerts, but it really works. They do flights of either 4 or 6, and of course there’s a story behind this flight of “6”:

The bartender took my order without writing it down (always impressive) and when he brought the first five, he said that he had, sadly, forgotten the sixth. I was a little confused by what was there so asked him to name them, and he’d actually missed two and given me the oatmeal stout by mistake. I said that was no problem as I love that type, so I’d drop the lager and to just bring the pale ale to make up the flight. He insisted that it was his fault, so brought me both of those, and that’s how I ended up with 7!

Although it doesn’t really make sense based on style, for the sake of simplicity, I’ll mention these left-to-right, top-to-bottom, but with the caveat that they were all something I’d drink again – there wasn’t a loser among them!

High Rollers Pale Ale – 5.2% – The bartender had said he’d ask me to pick a favorite, and in the end, this was it. And he said it was also his favorite of everything they brew! Wow, this was just a superb pale ale, absolutely something I would want to drink over and over.

Common Science Lager – 5% – Also very good, easily one to drink all day.

Devil’s Haircut Brown Ale – 5.5% – An interesting name, and a very palatable yet not terrifically outstanding English Brown.

Kingston Oatmeal Stout – 6% – And this is the “mistake” of the lot, but a very tasty mistake. I do love an oatmeal stout (although prefer them in winter, not summer) and this was a very good example of that type.

Wam! Weizenbier – 4.8% – I’ve sort of gone off wheat beers lately as they all taste alike … but this one stands apart. It has a slightly different quality to it that I really enjoyed, and I wouldn’t ever say no to a repeat of this one!

Soundwaves NEIPA – 7% – This hazy IPA was very tasty, but as good as it was (and it certainly was good), it just couldn’t quite overcome the flavor of the High Rollers.

Wam! Blood Orange – 4.8% – This is the former wheat beer with Blood Orange added, but not enough of it in my opinion. I’ve had a better Blood Orange at Barley’s Brewing in Cleveland.

Of course, when drinking beer one has to also eat, so there was this “Cosmo” pizza with fennel sausage, roasted tomatoes, broccolini, and fresh mozzarella. It was really good but just way too much for me to finish, I’m afraid.

I had expected this to be my last-ever trip to Reno, but between the great beers at Record Street and the lure of the other establishments around it, I may have to do this drive again some year 😀

Tomorrow, I’ll arrive in Oakland where I’ll be for four nights for the wedding. There may not be any updates appearing here until Monday the 13th, but tune back in then!