The Place, The Time, The Drink...

[Gillman]

Place: Petrossian Paris bar at Bellagio, Las Vegas

The Time: 1:00 p.m. during a very busy holiday week in this town

The Drink: Hirsch 16 blue wax

The Inspiration: Randy Blank

The Price: $11.00 for what in Canada would be a double (to put this in further context, the bar was selling Booker's for $13.00)

The Upshot: A great value to put it mildly.

Gary

[Virus_Of_Life]

And they also sell Pappy 20 I think for $15!

If only you'd have stuck $10 in the video poker the drink would have been free!

But still $11 for an impossible to acquire bourbon... A bargain indeed!

How long you there for Gary?

[Gillman]

Free if you play, yes, but I'm not a player.

I leave Friday. Quite an extraordinary town, the energy and vibe are quite unique. The only thing I don't like is the traffic.

Thinking about it again, the offer of the irreplaceable Hirsch 16 (Michter's 1974) for a song defines a certain kind of American insouciance.

Gary

[tango-papa]

Free if you play, yes, but I'm not a player.

I leave Friday. Quite an extraordinary town, the energy and vibe are quite unique. The only thing I don't like is the traffic.

Thinking about it again, the offer of the irreplaceable, prime Hirsch 16 (Michter's 1974) for a song defines a certain kind of American insouciance.

Gary

Please excuse me while I go look up that ins... sumthin word.

My wife's been hinting at a Vegas trip for years... hmmm, perhaps now I have a reason to actually "want" to go...

[ratcheer]

My wife's been hinting at a Vegas trip for years... hmmm, perhaps now I have a reason to actually "want" to go...

I never wanted to go there, either. But about seven years ago, my wife's company had a business conference trip to LV and spouses were invited. All expenses were paid (and more), so I went. We had a blast.

There are plenty of things to do besides gambling, which we only did a very small bit of. There is the Boulder Dam, Lake Mead, and the Grand Canyon. Golf courses are everywhere. There are more great restaurants than you can imagine. And it is fun just walking up and down the strip looking at and in all the beautiful hotels.

I may not ever go again, but I am glad I went at least once.

Tim

[doubleblank]

Gary....Glad you're enjoying the Hirsch. Please leave a little for me and Rob (RedVette) as we're coming out in a few weeks for the CES show. Rob's company has businnes during that week.....me, I'm just a leach. My bud Jeff is also coming to Vegas.

Randy

[Gillman]

No problem Randy, I've only had one dram.

Thanks again for the recommendation.

I'll try to get one more in later tonight.

Gary

[kbuzbee]

Glad you enjoyed LV, Gary. I've been several times. First few were a tech conf. Last two times we just went for the trip. Never tried to drive "the strip" but we did rent a car to hit the dam, the canyon and red rock. Great trips.

We do gamble, a bit, just the slots, nothing too intense. It's fun for a bit. I'll drop $20 in about ten minutes and I'm done. Arlene can make $20 last for hours. I have no idea how she does it.... But there IS a lot to do there. I think we've seen three Cirque shows and Blue Man Group. Great town.... for a few days anyway.

My first time there (many years ago) I had my first Blanton's. At the time it wasn't available in Ohio. I thought "Man, this is good!" You can find almost anything in Vegas.... somewhere.

Congrats on the Hirsch. Very nice!

Ken

[Gillman]

Ken, I liked also the old town, which is the area around Fremont Street.

Although casinos dominate there too and the "malling" of Fremont Street obscures some of its origins, you still get a sense of what the original Las Vegas was like.

It was a Western town, like Reno still is and the core of Denver still is or the Canadian analogues are (Calgary, Saskatoon, etc.). There's rail and marshalling yards, old hotels, the court house, the line of stores selling all and sundry. Lady clerk in one of them liquor stores (where I'm spying my minis) says to a guy, "well, if yer talkin' tequila, I'd go for that one there with the yellow top because when I drink that one I have a headache for a week and I KNOW I drank tequila".

I ain't making that that up either, I heard it on Fremont Street 3 weeks ago. You wouldn't hear that in Petrossian's Bar 5 miles up the Strip.

The casinos downtown have an older, settled look with their brass chandeliers, dark bars, $5.00 tables and caged cashier's desks. You can sometimes think it is 1935 or 1915 in places like that. I liked them better than the hushed plush hangars in the fancy hotels, they seemed more real.

One of the old buildings off Fremont Street, now a handsome restored hotel, had a brewpub, Triple 7, which is one of the best I've ever been to.

I have some friends who live in the swank Red Rock area (Summerlin) and I liked being there of course and coursing the nice hotels but I could be just as happy downtown.

Gary

[kbuzbee]

I hear you. I was never able to get Arlene away from the South Strip.... Oh well, lots to do there too. Just "over produced".

Ken