Everybody in the Las Vegas bar and club scene is familiar with Tony Abou-Ganim, “the Modern Mixologist” who (literally) wrote the book on classic-to-modern cocktails, won big on Iron Chef, and developed pioneering bar programs at iconic destinations like Bellagio, Caesars Palace and T-Mobile Arena.
Before the pandemic arrived, Abou-Ganim partnered with friends and fellow beverage industry leaders Julio Bermejo and David Grapshi to develop a new event that would celebrate and evaluate the world’s best spirit brands, while connecting to the public and all of us ordinary booze enthusiasts in a more meaningful way.
After two years of COVID delays, the TAG Global Spirits Awards have finally come to fruition, and of course, there’s no better place than Las Vegas to host. Events kicked off this week and continue through February 26 at Delano Las Vegas, the cool hotel attached to Mandalay Bay.
“We’re building something that we are looking to grow from year to year that will not only be great for our profession and industry but great for Las Vegas,” Abou-Ganim says. “As it hopefully expands, we should see more people come to visit from out of town and out of the country … and it means the world to me to be able to bring this to Las Vegas, the nightlife capital of the world.”
Vegas has been Abou-Ganim’s home since 1998, and he has noticed—like all of us ordinary nightclub and bar enthusiasts—that Vegas nightlife has continued to grow and diversify, even through the pandemic. The booming megaclubs will always be ready and waiting on the Strip, but more socially inclined, cocktail-focused offerings keep popping up in casino venues and off the Strip at refined restaurants and bars.
“The social aspect of what we do is the most crucial,” he says. “Our job is to make our guest’s day a little brighter than when they first walked in, and those smaller, more intimate settings really enhance that experience. I’m a bartender, but my job is not just to make you a drink. You have to bring worlds together with personality and all the tools you have.”
Another important tip: You can’t make a great cocktails without great spirits. At the heart of the TAG Awards are multiple rounds of judging by one of the most elite, international panel of experts every assembled. But things really take off when the gap between industry and consumer is bridged by tastings, parties and dinners at places like Libertine Social, Border Grill and Lupo by Wolfgang Puck.
The event’s culmination will be the Pink Tie Gala, February 26 at Skyfall Lounge, with music, food and drinks and the announcements of the final winners. Tickets ($125-$175) were still available at press time, with the gala benefiting the Helen David Relief Fund, supporting bar industry pros across the country who are dealing with cancer. Go to tagspiritsawards.com to get them.
“The word I keep coming back to, to describe the event, is ‘celebration,’” Abou-Ganim says. “We are celebrating these makers and their vision, and celebrating the way bartenders utilize those spirits.”
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