Features

Our most memorable drinks ever

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Mmmm snake-infused rice wine.
Photo: Sarah Feldberg

Some drinks stick with you—for their unexpected brilliance, their sheer decadence or their downright strangeness. We asked a few staffers and local industry pros to share their most memorable and interesting drink experiences with us. From avocado goodness to carbonated tequila, here's what they had to offer:

Corey Nyman Founder, Labor Wines

Probably one of my favorites ever was when I had an Avocado Daiquiri in Portland, Oregon, at Mint Lounge. Lucy Brennan, the bar-woman/proprietor/woman extraordinaire created this drink that was damn funky, bright green in color and damn delicious. I mean, I’m a huge fan of avocados, but I had never had them before in cocktail form. I wish I remembered more specifics, but I can tell you it was tasty, flavorful, a great concept of a drink and definitely a conversation piece.

A sparkling, bottled tequila cocktail. Just what you always wanted?

Jorge Labrador Editorial Assistant, Las Vegas Magazine

Sparkling tequila stands out to me as a product that no one ever asked for outside of some badly selected focus group or the fever dreams of a mad mixologist. So, when TeQava started making the rounds at wine and beer festivals a few years ago and first showed up locally, it sounded too strange to pass up.

The first sip brings the fizziness of a sparkling wine (it takes its name from Spanish Cava) along with vanilla and fruit notes and agave's, well, agaveness. Like sipping a bubbly mid-shelf tequila. It just gets sweeter from there, which is nice for some but no bueno for those (like myself) who like their tequilas on the smoky side. It isn't a hangover-in-a-bottle like the sugar-bomb malt beverages and alcopops that it resembles, but it's fun and one-of-a-kind enough to pass along to friends who'd otherwise stick to margaritas or palomas.

Brock Radke Dining Editor, Las Vegas Weekly

​​It might have been called the Bugs Bunny, a beautiful carrot martini from the short-lived Restaurant Charlie at Palazzo. It was sweet, in a clean, vegetal way, pure freshness with no alcohol burn … but two would put you on your ass. It was a life-changer. I'm still obsessed with carrot juice.

Brian Howard Executive Chef, Comme Ca

The most interesting drink I've ever had was a cocktail conceived by mixologist Alex Valez—a combination of Bombay gin, yuzu juice, honey and smoked-salmon bitters with a garnish of compressed yellow watermelon and cured tuna belly. He crafted this for a dinner I hosted at a previous restaurant I was at. Everything worked really well, but it was definitely the most interesting.

Mike Prevatt Nightlife Editor, Las Vegas Weekly

Years ago, I was at Sidebar—which became Mob Bar before it moved to its current spot (it's now merely the bar section of Triple George)—and I asked the bartender to make me whatever new thing he was digging lately, and he made me a pomegranate mojito. I hesitated, as I'm not a mojito fan, but after gulping one or two of these down, I was asking every cocktail bar I visited after if they made, or could make, pom mojitos.

It was hardly the most interesting thing I ever drank, but it was definitely the most memorable. It still ranks as one of my favorite Vegas drinks.

Sarah Feldberg Editor, Las Vegas Weekly

It looked like a science experiment. I was somewhere in the middle of the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam, facing an unlabeled glass jug holding a mysterious liquid in which a variety of snakes were marinating. In the middle of the brew a black bird was posed among the serpents, a small snake stuck in its beak. Miles from the nearest hospital with stomach-pumping capabilities, my guide began ladling out shots, smiling as we tourists stared down the rice wine with a combination of fear and respect. And then, like so many other foolish Westerners before me, I threw it back. It tasted like rubbing alcohol with a hint of serpent. But I survived.

Don Chareunsy Senior Editor, Arts and Entertainment, Las Vegas Sun

The foie gras martini at Andre's in Monte Carlo. I love foie gras, but it was really decadent—and downright weird. I can still taste it in my mouth—years later. And it was served with a side of charcuterie.

Tags: Nightlife, Booze
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