Couple reach for draft dreams with CraftHaus Brewery
Dave Forrest has been brewing up an idea for years.
As a connoisseur of beer, he has used his house as a tasting space to craft different ales using a variety of ingredients such as rosemary and orange peel.
“It’s like a mad science but a little fun,” Forrest said.
Now that he has some of his creations down, Forrest is working to take his home brew and turn it into a local business called CraftHaus Brewery, which he plans to open in Henderson in the fall.
“We have been planning and researching and tweaking for the last 2½ years,” said Wyndee Forrest, Dave’s wife and co-owner of CraftHaus Brewery. “Now it’s crunch time and everything is coming together.”
The duo plans to unveil the company at local beer festivals, including the Great Vegas Beer Festival on Saturday at Sunset Park, 2601 E. Sunset Road.
CraftHaus Brewery also plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising $20,000 in 35 days. The money raised will be the final steppingstone to seeing the idea come to life.
The Forrests’ love of beer came about on a trip to Europe.
“We didn’t know anything about beers,” Wyndee said. “We didn’t know how to pair them or the high quality of ingredients.”
When ordering their lunch, they asked the server to bring the best beer that matched the food.
“With the first sip, it was like the beer gods were shining down on us,” she said.
It wasn’t just the tastes. The Forrests enjoyed the culture that centered around enjoying good beers.
Wyndee said she feels larger corporations that focus on beers in America are more interested in quantity as opposed to the quality of ingredients.
“They focus on improving their packaging and labels but never improving the beer,” she said.
There was no going back to other beers. Dave and Wyndee’s palates were changed.
They started tinkering with home brews about four years ago.
“We came back and couldn’t really find the beers we loved when we were in Europe,” Dave said.
The first beer he made he called “Hair of the Dog” — named humorously after his 2-year-old son, who threw a toy covered in dog hair into the mixture. They scooped it out immediately and continued the brew.
“It tasted fine,” Dave said. “We thought we were going to have to throw it all out, but we were able to finish it.”
The Forrests continued to play with ingredients — more cautious of stray toys — re-creating some of the flavors they enjoyed while traveling.
“Our house has become a fermentarium,” Wyndee said.
Dave created the Herbacious-Rosemary Pale Ale and the Buzz Espresso Porter Dark, both of which are always on tap.
Wyndee said a brew can take eight hours to make and two to three weeks to ferment.
The apex of Dave’s brewing experimentation was going to the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp in 2010.
“It’s always open to industry professions but usually not the general public,” Wyndee said.
In 2010, however, the company had a nationwide contest for its 30th anniversary asking for people to enter.
Paying homage to his Canadian roots, Dave submitted a video where he did a parody of “The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew,” a Canadian comedy where two guys get a job at a brewery.
He and 10 other people were selected to come to the camp and come up with their own brews.
Dave not only fell in love with the company, but he also was impressed with the steps it took to treat its employees well, cater to the community and be as sustainable as possible.
It was the final push he needed to look into opening his own brewery.
“(Nevada is) one of the highest consumers of alcohol but one of the least producers per capita,” Wyndee said.
Because of the help the couple have received from the city of Henderson’s business license department, they want to make sure the brewery is located in Henderson.
“We are still in lease negotiations,” Wyndee added.
If they raise the $20,000 through Kickstarter, the company plans to use the money to purchase a brewing system, the business license and money for rewards for campaign contributors.
If they exceed the goal, the company plans to purchase barrels to age its beer.
“You can buy used barrels like red wine or scotch barrels to age it in,” Wyndee said.
For more information on the brewery, visit crafthausbrewery.com.
Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 702-387-5201.