It looks like a cool but tiny taproom to most people, but for those of us who live close enough to visit Downtown Summerlin a little too often, Beer Zombies is a revelation. This mall is amazing and so is this neighborhood, but there are some things it hasn’t had, like a fantastic beer bar with a chilled atmosphere and genuine food – and perhaps most importantly, a suburb for a late weekend drink.
The team that made this welcoming new venue possible is anchored by former cosmopolitan bartender Chris Jacobs, founder of the Beer Zombies brand and recently awarded the Craft Beer Marketing Awards Industry People of the Year. BZ started out as an Instagram page for a craft beer lifestyle brand and quickly grew into bottle shops and beer festivals. A local brewery is currently under construction.
Jacobs teamed up with SkinnyFats for the first bottle shop and taproom of Beer Zombies, and again for the Downtown Summerlin spot, which is a few doors down from the fast-casual restaurant. And while the constantly rotating brews on the 16 taps are the star of the show, the menu was created by chef Marc Marrone, whose Graffiti Hospitality recently teamed up with the SkinnyFats crew.
Everything you can eat is designed to complement an afternoon of beer tasting, and the more time you spend at the bar, the more free samples of various tasteful bottles and cans you can expect. Enjoy all of that foam with hearty pizza square slices ($ 7 for 6 “or $ 13 for 12” rectangles) topped with cup-and-char hot peppers, pickled peppers, fennel sausage, or other favorites. This is essentially the same cake that Marrone serves up by his pizza company Gemma Gemma from the southwest Graffiti Bao kitchen, with a three-day fermentation process that adds a rich flavor to each Sicilian-style bite. For $ 40, you get 27 inches of Pizza Luck with four different toppings paired with four different beers.
The toasted prime rib dip ($ 13) is certainly well worth your time and energy, or if you want to stick with the snacks, pretzel nibbles with hazy beer cheese to dip ($ 12), crispy baked chicken wings ($ 14 $ 12) or roasted cauliflower ($ 12) with hot Nashville spices and parsley pesto are quick favorites.
The food and drink offer at Downtown Summerlin is constantly evolving and Beer Zombies is a clear hit.
BEER ZOMBIES Downtown Summerlin, 2010 Festival Plaza Drive # 140, 780-0297. Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-11pm; Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
