Nightlife

The Dorsey Sessions bring cocktails and expertise to the Venetian

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The Dorsey Sessions at the Venetian
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If you’re a cocktail connoisseur, you likely have San Diego’s Raised by Wolves and Mexico City’s Limantour on your radar. But what if you could experience these celebrated watering holes without leaving Las Vegas? With the Dorsey Sessions, you can get closer to the world’s most famous cocktail lounges, right inside the Venetian.

“We really wanted the Dorsey to be more than just a great cocktail bar for Venetian guests,” says Juyoung Kang, lead bartender at the Dorsey. The event started two years ago with the intent of bringing Las Vegans to the Venetian bar and providing a one-of-a-kind, educational experience. “We wanted the Dorsey to be a spot locals wanted to visit,” Kang says.

The concept comes from New York bar owner and Dorsey visionary Sam Ross, who also designed the bar menus for Venetian cocktail lounges Rosina and Electra. In August, the Dorsey held two separate sessions and hosted two visiting bartenders: Ivy Mix from Leyenda Coctelería in Brooklyn and Adam Rains, lead bartender and “grand exalted poobah” at Las Vegas’ Golden Tiki. The August 22 event featured four different midcentury tiki libations from Rains: the Front Porch, Black Bettie, Saturn and Watch Me Disappear.

“The Dorsey Sessions are a cultural exchange for the bar community as well as the guest … expanding their knowledge to new trends elsewhere in the world,” Kang says.

The Sessions are also a great way for locals to try cocktails from other popular bars for a low price—each specialty cocktail costs $8 during the event—and they’ve been a big hit within the local beverage industry. Kang says they provide an opportunity “to come together as a community and industry to have some fun. These events are a chance to learn in whichever way interests you. If you wanted to ask Jose [Luis León] and Benjamin [Padrón] from Limantour in Mexico City about their program, their city or their journey to get where they are now, the Dorsey Sessions are your chance to speak to these bartenders directly,” Kang says.

“The Dorsey Sessions are meant to be fun, laid-back and educational—with the strongest emphasis on fun,” she adds.

Dorsey Sessions Venetian, 702-414-1945. Next event November 17, featuring Trash Tiki's Kelsey Ramage and Iain Griffiths.

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