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Every since the first miners flocked to the Tonopah area in search of silver, back in the 1880's, brewing beer has been a long-time tradition in Tonopah. Today, the Tonopah Brewing Company carries on the fine tradition of brewing fine beer at their micro-brewery, and, by the way, they serve OUTSTANDING barbecue!
Photo: Tonopah Brewing Company refers to themselves as "The Pick of Nevada," and they have a giant pick in front of their fine brewery to prove their point! When you visit Tonopah, you'll see picks, and symbols of picks everywhere, as Tonopah is proud of it's mining heritage.
Photo: Tonopah Brewing Company is very serious about great barbecue, as they have giant smoker, located outside the restaurant, as seen in the right-hand side of the photo.
Photo: The main dining room is clean, comfortable, and tastefully decorated. My only complaint was the lighting was a little on the low side, but that's an insignificant complaint considering this is such a superior restaurant/brew pub. There is else nothing like Tonopah Brewing Company for hundreds of miles, until you hit Las Vegas or Carson City.
Photo: It's early Wednesday evening, March 30, 2016, and I've just stepped inside to enjoy a couple of beers, and delicious barbecue. Lucky me, as my motel was only a 10-minute walk, so I could enjoy a couple of beers and not have to worry about driving.
Photo: The restaurant has a window where you can look at the co-located brewery, which is separated from the restaurant by a wall. All of the brewing equipment has been imported from Germany, and Tonopah Brewing Company brews all of the beer they serve in their own micro brewery.
Photo: My view from the end of the bar, where I strategically placed myself. The window to the micro brewery can be seen at the left of the photo. There are many television monitors which, on this early Wednesday evening, were broadcasting a basketball game, but since I'm not a fan of basketball, I have no idea who was playing.
Photo: As soon as I sat at the bar, my friendly server, Vikki, gave me a menu for food and brew, and placed four squeeze bottles of in-house made barbecue sauce for me to contemplate. Naturally the first thing I ordered was a beer, in my case, the in-house-brewed "Mucker Irish Red Ale." "Muckers" which is a Tonopah word for "miners," is the mascot of the local high school, so it seemed the right thing to do to order a brew with the same name. Good ale!
Photo: Meet Vikki, my friendly server, who poses as she places my dinner before me. More on the dinner in another photo. Vikki was very friendly, charming, and is the sort of server that you want to have on the "other" side of the table, or the bar.
Photo: Vikki snapped my photo, on my request. The window to the adjacent micro brewer can be seen to my left. Why the empty plate? The empty plate raises the convenience factor up a couple of notches, as it's a great place to put bones.
Photo: Everything on the menu looked delicious, but barbecue chicken, from the "Classic BBQ Plates" section of the menu caught my eye, so I ordered "Barbecue Chicken." Dinner includes one-half barbecue chicken, corn muffin - all dinners include a corn muffin - and two sides, in my case, I chose baked beans and coleslaw. Naturally, I enjoyed a second "Mucker Irish Red Ale" to accompany my fine barbecue dinner. The dinner was simply amazing! The skin of the chicken - which I normally never eat - was so delicious that I ate it all. The meat was tender, juicy and smoky, but not overpowering; it was simply delicious. The sides and the muffin were wonderful. I sampled all varieties of barbecue sauce, and my favorite was the "Saloon Kick," which had just the right amount of "kick" to it for my tastes. However, every variety of sauce was fantastic, including the "Nuclear Test Site," which was hot, but not as spicy as I expected. All in all, an OUTSTANDING meal, complete with OUTSTANDING ale! What goes better together than beer and barbecue? I doubt that the 19-th century miners were privileged to enjoy delicious barbecue in Tonopah, but for those of us in the 21st century, all we have to do is head over to Tonopah Brewing Company to enjoy some of the best barbecue served anywhere, and the best microbrew that Central Nevada has to offer. No wonder this fine restaurant is known as, "The Pick of Nevada." Tonopah Brewing Company Copyright(c) 2016 eRench Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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