Rose Signor is out here teaching everybody about beer. The co-owner, with her partner Andrew Smith, of homey Arts District beer bar Silver Stamp, has an easy and genial way of steering you out of your habits and into tasty new discoveries, and it’s often just as easy as her sliding a taster across the bar.
Recently, she took a moment away from the wildly popular spot—“we’re looking for more staff right now,” she says—to offer the Weekly a seat at the bar.
How did you become such an expert in what makes a good beer? I went to college for a few years in upstate New York for broadcast journalism and decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do, so I moved out here, where I have some family. I got into beer when I was about 22ish. I ended up moving to Seattle for a year, [because] I was starting to get into craft beer, and I just didn’t feel like Vegas had much of a craft beer scene in 2010.
I moved up to Seattle and took it all in, then came back here with the intention of doing a beer program. I ended up working at the original Bunkhouse and managing that bar, and the owner at the time let me do my own little beer program. When the original Bunkhouse sold, I went over to Atomic [Liquors], and that’s where I synced up with [owner] Lance [Johns]. He let me do my own thing, which was great.
Is Lance involved with Silver Stamp? No, he’s just my landlord. We always joke about how he used to pay me a lot of money, and now I pay him a lot of money. There was talk of him investing, but Andrew and I really wanted to do it on our own.
You and Andrew didn’t just invest cash in this venture. You backpacked across the country together collecting the elements of Silver Stamp’s lived-in decor, down to that cool wall of vintage beer cans. Yeah, we literally became hoarders for a few years! It was really fun. I mean, we’re still kind of hoarders (laughs). I love thrifting. I love funky vintage things. It’s always been just in my blood to thrift. To this day, we still love to go and pick and hunt for things. The can wall was especially fun to collect; we collected probably double what you see in the bar. We picked and researched what we thought were the best cans to highlight.
You picked right. The Stamp doesn’t feel created; it feels discovered. It’s funny, because Andrew and I always feel like we built out more of a European-feeling bar, but it comes across as more Midwestern. The idea was to create a space that was nostalgic for people, no matter where you came from.
When we were building out the bar—we did much of it ourselves—we were scared that it was going to look like a DIY project, like a real Pinterest kind of thing. We were scared that we were just building something just for us. … We put wood paneling up halfway through construction, and we’d show the bar to friends and family, and they’d be like, “Oh, this is great. When are you going to tear the wood paneling down?” We put that up intentionally! It took us a long time to source that stuff, because nobody makes it anymore.
And now the Stamp is the heart of beer central. You’ve got a half-dozen breweries within walking distance. It’s wonderful. The city’s made some strides so that folks can open breweries a little bit easier now, which is wonderful. Gosh, when I moved here—you remember [now-defunct Valley brewery] Joseph James, right? I loved their beer. When I discovered it, I was like, “Where can I go drink their beer at the source?” At the time, it was not legal; you couldn’t have a taproom connected to a brewery. It’s just wild to see the strides the city has made since then. I think the beer scene is wonderful right now; it’s strong. And I think it’s only gonna get better. There’s a lot of talent in this town.
Do those brewers drink at your place? Definitely. We’re such a supportive beer community; it’s really wonderful. If you’re not supportive, you stick out like a sore thumb. But we’ve become a little bit of an industry hangout, and I think it’s because we provide a European selection.
All right, I’m gonna test you. Let’s say I’ve been a Rolling Rock man since college, but I want to try something new. What do you suggest? If you’re a Rolling Rock man, I’ll go light in style; I don’t want to shock your palate. We’ll start with a nice kolsch which is a super-light German Pilsner, Czech Pilsner. And I won’t even tell you what I’m tasting you on; I’ll just be like, “Hang tight, I’ll be right back. I’ll give you a taster, and then we’ll talk about it.” And if you don’t like something, I’ll ask you why: Is it too bitter, too sweet, too boring, too fruity? And then I’ll just go from there. I really get off on that. I love hearing people tell me, “You gave me my first sour at Atomic eight years ago, and I’ve never looked back.”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!
