Bourbon in Las Vegas

[hare]

I'll be finding myself in Las Vegas this week and want to know what bars have the best selection of bourbons. I'm also curious if anyone knows of any shops that have the rare and harder to find bourbons and whiskies?Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hare

[bluesbassdad]

A search on "+las +vegas", absent the quotes, revealed this post from a Vegas resident. (Where's Blackkeno been lately? Anyone?)

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Chaz7]

I just returned. I looked everywhere, and I did not find much (although in another post I shared how I found a bar that served Crown Royal, Canadian Club and Jack as their "bourbons")But at the MGM, Nobhill I had Old Potrero (rightfully listed as American Whiskey)And they had a decent list. I was told Craftsteak, also in the MGM had a great selection, unfortunately it was after I returned.

[doubleblank]

The bar at Craftsteak (MGM) has a good selection as does the bar at Delmonico's in the back of the Venetian. Both have ORVW 15/107 from Lawrenceburg. Delmonico's has Hirsch 16, Pappy 20 and 23. The "upscale" bar in the middle of the Mirage's gaming area serves a nice pour of Rock Hill Farms.

Randy

[Chaz7]

The bar at Craftsteak (MGM) has a good selection as does the bar at Delmonico's in the back of the Venetian. Both have ORVW 15/107 from Lawrenceburg. Delmonico's has Hirsch 16, Pappy 20 and 23. The "upscale" bar in the middle of the Mirage's gaming area serves a nice pour of Rock Hill Farms.

Randy

I really wish I would have checked SB.com before I went, the best I had was Old Potrero and Baker's. Chaz

[robbyvirus]

Try the Fontana Bar at the Bellagio. Last time I was there they had Van Winkle bourbon and rye, and a good selection of other bourbons.

[RedVette]

As I have reported earlier, Olives at Bellagio has Blue Wax Hirsch 16 and VWFRR 13. Ruth Chris has EC 12 and 18 and quite a few others, and Valentinos in the Venetian, has a bunch of Bourbons including Bulleit.

[Blackkeno]

Sorry I did not see your post sooner! Not many great bourbon oasis in this desert other than what has already been posted.

All the more reason that I enjoy welcoming visitiors personally. Any regular list members coming to Vegas are welcome to contact me so we can arrange a get together. I presume Dougdog will vouch that I am a decent host.

Thanks,

John

[dougdog]

I was recently visiting Las Vegas for the annual A7 meeting of “PLOWED†Society. (I posted some information about that event under the Foreign Whiskey section of this forum, at “Dougdogs’ SMSW)

Through a mutual friend, Marty, I was privileged to meet John in his home a day prior to the A7 event. Any Bourbon enthusiast would be very well taken care of to have a sip of our “American Drink†from his collection of premium Bourbons and Ryes’. Same could easily be said from his collection of SMSW…Frankly, I had a taste of the best SMSW in my life when he opened a bottle of “Greenbankâ€â€¦an independent bottling of Scotch from the Springbank Distillery…..I digress, But Thanks! John…that was quite an experience…

The rest of the story unfolds into an armchair excursion through Ireland. Already on sensory overload from the Springbank and a great Longrow, John unloaded a significant number if old and rare Irish Whiskies from his beautifully displayed open bottles. Now, having developed an appreciation of Irish whiskey from the bottles in my collection and a few other experiences, I though I had a pretty good grip on the range of flavors and quality available from the “Emerald Isleâ€â€¦.Oh, how wrong could I be….I’m frantically looking for some training wheels to bolt on, at this point in time. John being a gracious and perceptive host proceeded to “show†me through Ireland on a bottle by bottle example…It would be and understatement to say that there is some pretty good whiskey made there.

So, having said all that, I’ll vouch for Johns’ hospitality…I would also mention the experience at Johns’ home, when he spoke with certain words, they affirmed a feeling that I have long held, that is, having good whiskey to drink is one thing…drinking good whisky with other enthusiasts is even better.

One doesn’t need to feel awkward taking John up on his offer, I think I can safely say he rather enjoys the company of other enthusiasts.

Thanks again John…I look forward to any future trip to your home town…

Best regards, dougdog

[Blackkeno]

Listening to Doug, one might think he arrived empty handed. He provided me with a few eye-opening whiskey experiences of my own. He had more 4/5 quart bottlings than I had ever seen in one place before!

Glad you could make it Doug. Hope we can get together again soon.

Thanks,

John

[jburlowski]

Just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas. As other have reported, most of the hotels / restaurants have a disappointing selection of bourbons. Most don't go beyond Jim Beam white / Makers Mark and (maybe) Wild Turkey. Some of the higher-end steakhouses will add the Beam small batch collection (Booker, Bakers, Knob Creek, Basil Hayden ) to these. I did find Balanton's in several places as well as Bulleit.

On Saturday my buddy and I made a great find. A number of the bars in the Bellagio have PVW 15 and 20 and, drum roll please, Hirsch 16 blue wax! We spent several delightful hours alternating between the Hirsch and the PVW 20..... and the best thing is we were comped these since we were playing quarter video poker at the bar! It doesn't get much better than that.

[Virus_Of_Life]

Just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas. As other have reported, most of the hotels / restaurants have a disappointing selection of bourbons. Most don't go beyond Jim Beam white / Makers Mark and (maybe) Wild Turkey. Some of the higher-end steakhouses will add the Beam small batch collection (Booker, Bakers, Knob Creek, Basil Hayden ) to these. I did find Balanton's in several places as well as Bulleit.

On Saturday my buddy and I made a great find. A number of the bars in the Bellagio have PVW 15 and 20 and, drum roll please, Hirsch 16 blue wax! We spent several delightful hours alternating between the Hirsch and the PVW 20..... and the best thing is we were comped these since we were playing quarter video poker at the bar! It doesn't get much better than that.

Are you serious?!?! I am heading to Vegas for a weekend at the end of March/beginning of April and was trying to decide where to spend a little money trying something some bourbons that I hadn't had before - like AH blue... What is the name of that bar? You were comp'd these premiums? Unreal!

[ThomasH]

I have a solution for the bad selection of bourbon in Vegas, take your own and drink it by the pool. The only place so far that the people were like Nazi's was at MGM where the pool attendant wouldn't let my wife take 3 absolut minis into the pool area. my brother in law solved that problen though, he rolled up the 750 of JD he had into his towel, they checked his bag but not the towel. I just get a bunch of plastic Crown Royal minis and take them in. They never say a word about plastic. Even the beer they sell at the pool bar is in plastic bottles, not to mention the jacked up price. I have never really found any liquor stores near the strip that had a very diverse selection, but they did have inflated prices. In the casinos, I usually get Wild Turkey and ginger for the free drinks. These make a super strong drink that lasts a while. we also stayed at the Luxor 2 years ago and had no problem at the pool area.

Thomas

[SBOmarc]

Last visit many of the Hotel gift shops had a healthy supply of mini Blanton's bottles for $5.99. I knew about the Bellagio selection as well as Craft Steak at MGM, a must try. Also stop at Smith & Wollensky's on the Strip.

[Virus_Of_Life]

Glad to report that as John B stated I too managed to have two pours of A H Hirsch free of charge, other than that which I lost in the dollar video poker machine.

Unfortunately I had been imbibing so much I can't say I truly appreciated all of it's greatness. A lot of brown sugar on the nose I do recall that.

Also I'd like to say that one of the greatest dining experiences I've ever had come at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, that food was outstanding - everyone else at the table seemed to agree. If you are ever in Vegas and want a good meal I highly recommend it! Of course it is not cheap...

[jburlowski]

Glad to here that you were able to get some Hirsch.... while I agree that LV is not the best place for "serious" tasting, I feel that somehow the bourbon tastes "sweeter" when you're getting it for "free" (or at least having fun while drinking it.)

[Virus_Of_Life]

Glad to here that you were able to get some Hirsch.... while I agree that LV is not the best place for "serious" tasting, I feel that somehow the bourbon tastes "sweeter" when you're getting it for "free" (or at least having fun while drinking it.)

I'll agree with that John, I had so many WT and Bud lights while I was playing the slots in Harrah's it was unreal. Couldnt believe they'd actually being me bourbon and beer, but they did for a few hours until I staggered out...

As far as the Hirsch I am still amazed that they had it and apparently so much of it, you don't think they're trying to just get "rid of it" do you?

From what I recall this one tasted noticeably different from the foil version I had a couple years ago. But then again that was ~2 years ago and this time I was already quite lubricated...

What I do know for sure is 3 nights in Vegas is just too much, I was persuaded to stay an additional night by my friend and had a lot of fun at a cost!

[Chaz7]

We live and learn. My second trip to Las Vegas was a total change. I noticed Smith & Wollinsky had a good selection, including ORVW. But the biggest treat (on a vendors tab!) was the Pappy Van Winkle 20 year at Prime, in the Bel'agio. OUTSTANDING! It was also the best steak I had there (we went to S & W and Ruth's Chris). I think, from other posts and just my gut feeling, is most of the good steak houses would have a good selection (in addition to singlemalts). Bourbon and steak could only be more American if you had a slice of apple pie fore dessert!

[Virus_Of_Life]

Bourbon and steak could only be more American if you had a slice of apple pie fore dessert!

With a dollop of Bourbon Ice Cream on it! Which I saw, but did not have, I believe at (or near) Toby Keith's I love this bar and grill. When I go back I am trying that!

I love Vegas, I just can't financially afford to be there often, and, of course I need to cut back a little on the free beers and turkeys when I am gambling...

[wadewood]

Just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas. As other have reported, most of the hotels / restaurants have a disappointing selection of bourbons. Most don't go beyond Jim Beam white / Makers Mark and (maybe) Wild Turkey. Some of the higher-end steakhouses will add the Beam small batch collection (Booker, Bakers, Knob Creek, Basil Hayden ) to these. I did find Balanton's in several places as well as Bulleit.

On Saturday my buddy and I made a great find. A number of the bars in the Bellagio have PVW 15 and 20 and, drum roll please, Hirsch 16 blue wax! We spent several delightful hours alternating between the Hirsch and the PVW 20..... and the best thing is we were comped these since we were playing quarter video poker at the bar! It doesn't get much better than that.

We just spent a few days in Vegas and had Sunday Champagne brunch at the Bellagio. After this, we stopped by a casino bar and played a little video poker and I enjoyed some Blue wax Hirsch. At all casinos in Vegas, they will give you free drinks while gambling and this includes playing video poker at the bars. Several of the bars in the Bellagio had the blue wax Hirsch. However, they only had $1 video poker, not $0.25.

Off topic, pretty much all I play in Vegas is video poker. Why? Because I have an edge over the casino, even more than playing blackjack and counting cards. If you want to learn more about how, video poker strategies and statistics, I will suggest starting at this site: http://wizardofodds.com/videopoker

FYI - The video poker game offered at the Bellagio bar is set in their favor and can not be beat in the long run.