The Couple Who Changed the Law
Wyndee Forrest and Dave Forrest came back from a trip through Europe with a straightforward idea: open a taproom in Henderson. The problem was that Henderson’s municipal code didn’t allow it. The city’s licensing and zoning framework at the time had no provision for a brewery that served its own beer on-site — a model that had already become standard in craft beer cities from Portland to Asheville. Rather than relocate, the Forrests spent more than a year working with Henderson officials to rewrite the regulations. They succeeded, and in 2014 CraftHaus Brewery opened as the first legal taproom in the city, at 7350 Eastgate Road in the southeast industrial corridor.
Both Wyndee and Dave are graduates of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Wyndee went on to serve as President of the Nevada Craft Brewers Association from 2020 through 2024, a role that placed her at the center of statewide policy discussions around distribution, licensing, and small-brewery economics. Her advocacy work extended the same instinct that drove the Henderson zoning fight: if the regulatory framework doesn’t accommodate small producers, change the framework.
Two Locations, One Brewing Philosophy
CraftHaus Brewery operates two taprooms. The Henderson headquarters at 7350 Eastgate Road houses the full production facility, a tasting room, and a rotation of food trucks that park on-site. The second location, at 197 East California Avenue in the Las Vegas Arts District, opened as a neighborhood taproom focused on draft pours and community events. The Arts District space positions CraftHaus alongside a growing cluster of independent food, coffee, and retail operators who have collectively transformed the area south of downtown over the past decade.
The brewing program leans toward approachable styles — IPAs, lagers, fruit-forward sours — while maintaining a rotating experimental lineup that gives the brewers room to push boundaries. CraftHaus has earned recognition at the Great American Beer Festival and other national competitions, but the Forrests have kept the brand focused on the local market rather than chasing wide distribution. Most of the beer brewed in Henderson is consumed within a few miles of where it was made.
CraftHaus Brewery in the Las Vegas Valley
Henderson’s craft brewing scene effectively did not exist before CraftHaus opened in 2014. The licensing changes the Forrests fought for didn’t just benefit their own business — they cleared the path for every taproom that followed in the city. That legislative groundwork is the kind of contribution that doesn’t show up on a beer menu but shapes an entire local industry. Today, Southern Nevada supports more than two dozen independent breweries, and CraftHaus remains one of the most established, anchoring Henderson’s Eastgate corridor and holding a visible presence in the Arts District’s increasingly dense food-and-beverage cluster along California Avenue.
- Owners
- Wyndee Forrest, Dave Forrest
- Founded
- 2014
- Locations
- Henderson HQ (7350 Eastgate Rd), Arts District (197 E California Ave)
- Phone
- (702) 462-5934
- Website
- crafthausbrewery.com