Bourbon Room Las Vegas

[z327]

Spent last weekend in Las Vegas and discovered a new club in the Palazzo called the Bourbon Room

Bottle prices were insane, but shot prices were typical for a high end bar. The selection included all the usual suspects plus some harder to find like multiple Pappy's, 25 year old Michters Rye, Woodford Rye, etc.

Connected with one of the bartenders and he gave me 3 tastes (1/2 shots) for free including the 25 year old Rye. Met the manager on night 3 and showed him a picture of my new home bar. He spotted my flask collection on the wall and gave me a Bourbon Room flask.

http://www.palazzo.com/Las-Vegas-Nig...-Bourbon-Room/

[Kalessin]

Ahh, the value of making friends with the bar staff..

If I'm in Vegas, I might give it a visit, though the website making a point of having Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers on offer is a bit... weird.

[z327]

Ahh, the value of making friends with the bar staff..

If I'm in Vegas, I might give it a visit, though the website making a point of having Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers on offer is a bit... weird.

I think they are trying to figure out the Whiskey Crowd that they have targeted, while bringing in the 80's music lovers.

[SDpappy]

When I went first week of June, they were still setting up. I was trying to find some good bourbon at 12am and failed but I ended up at the palazzo champagne bar and drank some Krug. One of the bars at the Bellagio had Hirsch 16 and I was tempted until they told me it was $65 a pour. The Van Winkle Rye ran out but in November, it was $13 at the bar...is the Hirsch that good???

[z327]

When I went first week of June, they were still setting up. I was trying to find some good bourbon at 12am and failed but I ended up at the palazzo champagne bar and drank some Krug. One of the bars at the Bellagio had Hirsch 16 and I was tempted until they told me it was $65 a pour. The Van Winkle Rye ran out but in November, it was $13 at the bar...is the Hirsch that good???

Haven't found the Van Winkle Rye, so can't say.

[ISU_grad]

When I went first week of June, they were still setting up. I was trying to find some good bourbon at 12am and failed but I ended up at the palazzo champagne bar and drank some Krug. One of the bars at the Bellagio had Hirsch 16 and I was tempted until they told me it was $65 a pour. The Van Winkle Rye ran out but in November, it was $13 at the bar...is the Hirsch that good???

Having just opened my bottle of Hirsch, it is good, but I don't know if it is that good. You can certainly purchase a lot of quality bottles for $65.

[z327]

Having just opened my bottle of Hirsch, it is good, but I don't know if it is that good. You can certainly purchase a lot of quality bottles for $65.

At the Boutbon Room the 25 year old Michters was the best but not worth the $80 they wanted for a shot. I've tried a 21 year old Rittenhouse and would love to find a bottle ( at retail ) its the best I've had , but I'm pretty green at this so not sure others would agree with me. All this Rye talk makes me think I will open the new bottle of High West Double Rye tonight.

[tigerlam92]

When I went first week of June, they were still setting up. I was trying to find some good bourbon at 12am and failed but I ended up at the palazzo champagne bar and drank some Krug. One of the bars at the Bellagio had Hirsch 16 and I was tempted until they told me it was $65 a pour. The Van Winkle Rye ran out but in November, it was $13 at the bar...is the Hirsch that good???

Just walk around in Bellagio to a $5 video poker bar. Put $20 in and you can ask for the Hirsch 16. For me when I was there a number of years, I just gave the bartender $20 and he gave me a very generous pour. It was a gold foil and I would say it is definitely not worth $65, IMO.

Cheers
--Hugh

[petrel800]

I just returned from Vegas, out there with my wife on the honeymoon. We stopped by the bourbon room to see what it was all about and didn't even enter. Loud and obnoxious were the first things that came to mind. Their selection was that of the typical suspects and the pricing was very high. I only recall seeing the VW lot B and Rye on the menu, not much of a high end selection. The "Bourbon Room" is a themed room that is attached to the Venetian's promotion of their show "Rock of Ages." While I was not impressed with this lounge, bourbon selection was pretty impressive in some of the higher end bars/lounges and restaurants. Here is my run down . . .

Wynn and Encore seemed to have Van Winkle products at most of their casino lounges, mainly the ones near the high limit rooms. On a side note, they have a wine room now where you can try "the worlds greatest wines." Lafite, Screaming Eagle, Mouton Rothchild, . . . by the oz. I saw a few of these on wine lists in the $10K range, lord knows what an oz would set you back.

Venetian and Palazzo had the bourbon room, but a good number of the higher end restaurants had very interesting bourbon selections. My wife and I went to Table 10 (Emeril Lagasse's restaurant) for a mid lunch dessert, they had most of the BTAC, PVW 15 - 23 & Rye, they had a 7 yr old Willet selection. There were some others, prices were what I typically see for a pour of BTAC or PVW 15 $16-20 a pour (20 and 23 were higher). Wife tried the 7 yr old Willet, it was pretty outstanding, I want to say it was a $12 pour. We also ate at or had cocktail at Bouchon's every day we were there. They had a decent selection, EHT Rye and Single Barrel, Willet Rye jump out at me. Very fair prices, but I must say, while the selection wasn't the best of the weekend, the bartender's cocktails were fantastic. Had a Manhattan and a Sazerac with the Willet 4 yr old rye, they were absolutely outstanding. I was very impressed with Bouchon's.

Bellagio, didn't spend too much time eating or drinking in the Bellagio, but I did see some BTAC and VW stuff at the high end bars. Not sure of the pricing. Had a cocktail at Michael Mina's restaurant, they have a cucumber french 75 that my wife absolutely loves, but in looking at their selection, they did have the Hirsch 16 year. I can confirm it was $65 per pour and they measured out everything, so if you are going to shell out, you're going to get a standard 2oz pour. I passed, it was too early and I can get a bottle of Handy or something else at home for $65, but cool none the less that it is available to try. At the end of the day, it is history in a bottle.

Caesars, spent some time in the casino and restaurants here. I was really impressed with Spago, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in the forum. We had a mid afternoon bourbon here, I thought I saw the Parker's wheated a day earlier walking by, but got inside and it was the Golden Aniversary. That being said, great selection at the bar and typical bourbon prices. All the BTAC, Parkers Golden Aniversary, Parkers 2012, and Parkers 27 yr release. Had some Van Winkle. Had a bottle of Rittenhouse 25 year Rye. This is where I splurged, wanted to try it as it is not one I have ever seen. Pour cost $35, which I found to be very fair. Wife had a Saz 18, I think the pour was $17. Good selection at the bar. We also ate at Mesa Grille (Bobby Flay) for lunch. The entire Van Winkle line was on the bar, I was going to have an after lunch bourbon, but the food there is very rich, and I needed to walk around or I would have gone into a food coma. Overall, Caesars has a pretty nice bourbon selection, but it is mostly in the higher end restaurants, but the pricing was typical of what I see.

Cosmopolitan, the bartender at Bouchon's suggested we try Comme Ca or STK in the Cosmopolitan as we asked her our opinion of where we should eat on our last night. STK was full, so we went with Comme Ca. Cosmopolitan is the essence of "trendy" in my opinion, it's funny, but the whiskey bubble was in full effect at Comme Ca. The cocktails were very good, I had a variation of a whiskey sour with fresh lemon, an egg white and finished with some Pinot Nior. It was a very good cocktail. However, looking at their wine / spirits list, Pappy 23 was available for $150 a pour. GTS, don't remember the price, but it was down right laughable. Especially since you could walk down a block and get a pour of the GTS for $18 at Caesars. This was the essence of name dropping for the trendy crowd. Dinner was good and Comme Ca's selection was nice, but their prices for spirits were predatory. While their welcome to charge what ever they want for their stuff, it was clear to me they weren't looking for an informed consumer. Meal was good, but again, in my opinion, it was aimed at a lesser informed consumer, there are better options on the strip in my opinion.

Beyond all of that, most places had the standard fare for restaurants and bars, Knob Creek, Bookers, Blantons, Beam, Woodford, . . . the usual suspects.

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to give my Vegas experience . . .

[smokinjoe]

Thanks for the recon, Mark. I have an LV trip planned in a couple of months. I'll print this out and take with.