Author: Kevin Crossman

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The Chandelier at Cosmopolitan Las Vegas

We somehow got a table right away at the very busy Chandelier bar at Cosmopolitan Las Vegas last Thursday night. Despite a few clubby elements they let a few of us folks outside the target demo have a round of fab cocktails.

As far as I can tell, the cocktail menu is completely different depending on what level you’re on. We were on level 1.5 (yes… that’s what they call it) and in addition to drinks I ordered a very nice shrimp cocktail.

My drink was the Cigar Lover’s Manhattan, which featured rum along with whiskey. And a very tasty chocolate cigar. Really great and worth a little premium.



Mrs Mai Tai had the We’re All Mad Here with Empress Gin, elderflower, lemon, and ginger. Very… transformative but also quite balanced.

We passed this bar on Friday and it wasn’t nearly as busy, which surprised us a little. Cocktails were really good here.

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1923 Prohibition Bar: Speakeasy Bar in Las Vegas

We ran across the 1923 Prohibition Bar in the shopping complex between Mandalay Bay and Luxor, and once we entered through the “secret” entrance decided to take a load off with a cocktail.

As Prohibition style bars inside Casinos go, 1923 bar is pretty reasonable. Totally cut off from the shopping area and tourists, and a relaxing vibe with vintage touches inside. There are TV screens here showing period or venue-specific content (not sports/news, thankfully), plus music that is relaxing but isn’t period, so this is not 100% committed to the theme. They do however do burlesque here some nights and during mid-day when we went it was totally chill.

There’s a Mango Mai Tai on the menu, featuring Bacardi Mango Rum alongside Appleton Signature Rum and the standard 1944 ingredients. They also have Appleton Reserve and Rhum Barbancourt on their spirits list. I thought I got lucky to find a good 1944 Mai Tai in Vegas, and ordered one just with Appleton Reserve. Sadly, they said they were out of all of their rums except Myers’s.

Rather than fight a losing cause I ordered the Barrel-Aged Old Fashioned that was quite serviceable and set the mood for the venue quite well.

Check out 1923 Prohibition Bar the next time you’re in the area.

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Golden Tiki in Vegas’ Chinatown

We made reservations at The Golden Tiki for 7 pm Friday and had a pretty good time at this Chinatown destination. About the same experience for us as last time: good (but not great) cocktails, some good food, interesting decor, and mostly lots of good smoke-free energy. We arrived a little early and got to span the transition from Happy Hour to regular service, so we took advantage of some of the Happy Hour specials.

We were seated back in the far lounge (right next to where we sat last time), which isolated us from the energy of the main room but also avoided some of the crowd. There was a band playing when we arrived but after they ended there wasn’t music playing in the back and that brought the energy down.

Pupus
Sweet Mai Tai

Food was pretty good, including the Fried Rice and I especially liked their Crab Rangoon. Service overall was on point and the waitress did do a good job explaining things about the cocktails. One of our party felt a “2 skull” cocktail didn’t have any taste of alcohol and the server said that cocktails were batched and so it would be impossible for booze to not be present.

Which of course lends the question about the quality of this and other cocktails, when batching is a factor. Just so you know.

My Mai Tai was fine, and would be great if you love a very orgeat-forward and sweet Mai Tai. I did enjoy the Lemba Lemba Akulapu cocktail with three rums, juices, and spices – and this four skull cocktail definitely had some booze! We’ll make more of an effort to try and sit in the main room at the bar, where maybe we can possibly work with the bartenders, but cocktails here overall are fine as is.

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Lost Spirits Distillery: Intimate Vegas Cirque Experience and Rum Tasting

We finally had the opportunity to check out the Lost Spirits Distillery experience in Las Vegas. This adults-only venue is an intimate cirque-style experience including burlesque, magic, and singers. Being able to see acrobatic performances so close was really a treat, and everyone really seemed to be of the highest class within their chosen genre.

The venue has a series of corridors and stages, plus some lounge spaces. So it very much is a choose-your-own-adventure and with performances happening simultaneously you literally can’t see everything. But the organic nature of the exploration is half the fun.

Rum is certainly a key aspect, with attendees given generous pours of several of Lost Spirts’ robust rums, plus tastes of their sweetened pineapple and cherry rums. All the rum tastings are included with the admission, but there are also bottled/batched cocktails available for purchase as well. These cocktails are by Alex Velez of Drink Masters fame, and the one cocktail we tried was fantastic. Bottles of various sizes are available for purchase.

Our friends Brenda and Glen know Lost Spirits co-founder Bryan Davis, and we met up with him and he showed us around the distillery portion and gave us some heads-up about some of the key performers – including one artist with an act that literally cannot be described with words – simply incredible. We appreciated the VIP treatment and thank Davis for the hospitality.

We entered at 7 pm, but they don’t kick you out once the 9 pm group comes in. So you can take your time with your rum tastings and find some time to enjoy the ambiance of the immersive space.

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Rhumbar at The Mirage

We wanted to see the volcano erupt at The Mirage before it closes and had a few minutes to spare so we grabbed a quick drink at Rhumbar. A very nice hotel bar with a cool retro vibe. There’s an outdoor portion we didn’t visit but the inside was cool and there’s also a slushy station outside.



The “Mai Tai or Die” has Rhum Clement bland, Avuá Cachaca, pineapple, orgeat, and a Myers’s float. As pineapple Mai Tais go this one was pretty good and the rest of the menu looked legit.



It’s a shame the volcano is going away but the Mai Tai helped dull the pain.

Note: Sounds like The Mirage will stay in current state until around mid 2024, then be completely “reimagined”. So there is still lots of time to check out the volcano and resort.

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Fantastic Mai Tai San Jose Airport

We’re flying to Vegas for the weekend and stopped by Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport for dinner. The Mai Tais tonight were totally on point, and the best so far in all my visits to this airport location of Trader Vic’s. Everything came together in perfect balance and an early leader for Mai Tai of the year.


The view tonight wasn’t bad either. Look at the sunset! We enjoy watching the air ships from within the tiki bar.

I had the Teriyaki Salmon bowl and it too was really great. Lots of things to love including edamame, carrots, rice and more. Service was super helpful and prompt too. It bums me out when we have to fly out of SFO or OAK instead of SJC.

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Step 2 and Step 3 Cocktail

Inspired by the video this week from @rumrevival where Arminder reviewed Worthy Park 109 and then paired it with a lager.

Step one is to pour the rum and then try it. And then step two is to drink some lager. And then step three is some more of the Worthy Park 109. And then step four is to repeat steps two and three.

Its fantastic. Worthy Park 109 is such s flavorful and approachable rum, even at 54.5 ABV. And if it is a little extra boozy, there doesn’t seem to be a downside.

The Kon-Tiki was rocking pretty great tonight thanks to Arminder himself, many of the Oakhana regulars, great food and drinks, and an outstanding surf playlist.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Arminder Randhawa (@rumrevival)