We’re pretty much going to drink anything that dares us with “unusual.”

It would be easy to get distracted by the Mandarin Bar’s posh decor and, frankly, ridiculous, movie set-like view of the city that anything that gets put in front of you is going to be a sophisticated, carefully approached slice of mouth-nirvana.

But you could pick up the Unusual Negroni on a dirty median on Trop and Dean Martin and still feel like history’s undocumented Vanderbilt cousin.

The drink, one of 14 signature cocktails on the 23rd-floor bar, takes the traditional elements of the Negroni and tweaks the recipe just enough to stand out. The problem with the classic Negroni is that, as fantastic as they are, to newcomer Campari drinkers, there’s a little period of adjustment. This period is also known as the “What the hell are you drinking and why would you try to make me choke that down too, you jerk” time gap. At least, that’s the pat response we’ve gotten from most of our friends. They’re wrong, of course, and they have to learn. Usually by you forcing more Negronis down their throat. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Funny enough, our fantasy involves booze, too.

They’ve been busy at the M Resort in the year since the joint has been open. It was on March 1 of last year that the casino opened to fire, water, fireworks, and the lightship circling the property.

Since then, the cocktail menu on the property has swelled to more than 107 different recipes — including recently debuted beer cocktails at 32 Degrees that include, among others, a kick-to-the-mouth beer and chipotle-infused tequila offering.

Reigning as the king of M right now, though, is the M Fantasy. What started as a way to dispose of some excess sake for head mixologist Charlie Moavero has turned into the jewel of the casino’s cocktail menu offered at the Lobby Bar, as well as several of the restaurants. It even has its own party — M Fantasy Nights at Hostile Grape are buy-one-get-one from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

If you’re in a hurry, you could just drench your lunchtime fruit salad in sake. Mmmm. Lunch boozefruit.

Here we are almost to spring, when a young man’s thoughts turn to … drinking outdoors.

Ready to take advantage of the outdoor patio at Town Square’s Kabuki is their Sake Sangria, an Asian twist on the Iberian Penninsula’s second-most kick-ass export. (After bullfighting.)

The Sangria uses a California-made junmai sake with shochu as its base, plus cranberry and grapefruit juices. It’s allowed to steep for three or four days, and several carafes are prepared at once. When it comes time to serve, it’s topped with fresh fruit including blueberries, kiwi, pineapple and strawberries. It’s served on the rocks in a red wine glass, bright and pink and peppy. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Just don’t chase this cocktail with Coke. (Photo by Kelly Cullen)

It’s National Cherry Month, which is to be confused neither with National Neil Diamond Month nor National Warrant Month. (We can’t wait for National Warrant Month, actually. We think it’s in June. Either way, we’re wearing our Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich T-shirt for 30 straight days.)

To celebrate, Chef Sammy DeMarco at First Food & Bar inside Palazzo created the Pop My Cherry, a mix of muddled brandy cherries, an ounce and a half of Southern Comfort, an ounce of amaretto, an ounce and a half of cranberry juice and a splash of grenadine, rimmed with cherry Pop Rocks.

“Interesting enough, February is the month of cherries, but ironically, it’s impossible to get fresh cherries. I kind of jumped the gun and we started throwing around ideas,” DeMarco said. “When you hit it with the Pop Rocks it smooths out. You can say Rocks or no Rocks. It’s actually a pretty elegant drink without them. They muddle in those nice brandy cherries.” Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Wine with strippers on the front? We love it when our favorite things come together.

Is there anything more satisfying than washing down steak with a big healthy gulp of wine? Other than doing all that while simultaneously playing video games and getting a lap dance, we guess, but that starts to make things really complicated.

Strip House got together with winemaker Sashi Moorman of Evening Land Vineyards to come up with their Strip House Napa Valley Reserve, a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon to go with their steaks

“It’s a full-bodied Cab that they chose it to pair perfectly with the char on our steaks, which is kind of our signature,” Strip House GM Dave Gonzales said.

It’s a nice, bold red that lets the light through. It’s not as heavy as some Cabs — Gonzalez called it “juicy” — and it carries a nice bright touch. It has a little bit of spiciness to it that does a perfect job of drawing out the pepper in the Strip House beef jerky.

“There’s definitely a lot of flavor with the jerky, and you need a big wine to stand up with that,” he said.

By Jason Scavone

A little something for the ladies.

What better way to celebrate the 81st anniversary of Al Capone’s most notorious Prohibition-fueled hit than with a little Valentine’s Day booze? (That’s why we do Valentine’s Day, right? Or have we been doing it wrong? Is this why girls always stop calling us back by March?)

Morton’s Steakhouse gives the flowers-and-candy set something to drink with the Valentine’s Crush. It’s a half ounce of raspberry puree, a quarter ounce of citrus vodka, a quarter ounce simple syrup and a quarter ounce Grand Marnier served in a Champagne flute and topped with Segura Viudas Cava — and served with a split of the sparkling wine so you can pour to taste.

“It’s nice, fruity and light,” bartender Kanji Kramer said. “And it looks pretty.” Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Seriously, we can’t resist a drink whose ingredients include something muddled that we’ve never muddled before.

Martin Heierling, we were told, designed his cocktail menu with freshness as the key concept. (In the ingredient sense, not in the Prince of Bel-Air sense.) Of course, once you find out Silk Road at Vdara juices its own sugarcane, being told that they keep a close eye on their herbs and citrus is a little after the fact, no?

The Desert Mist plays off the house Silk Road Soda — an infusion of tea, cinnamon bark and sugar cane juice prepared and charged fresh daily. It’s half an ounce of green Chartreuse, an ounce and a half of 10 Cane rum, fresh sweet and sour and the soda mixed with muddled lemon verbena leaves served on the rocks in a highball glass.

“The Chartreuse, for me I feel it’s a really acquired taste. People who know about Chartreuse and love Chartruese, they’re going to hopefully love this drink,” Brandie David said. “On the other hand, people who are new to drinking, Chartreuse may be a different style for them. Mixed with the 10 Cane rum and the sweet and sour and soda, it completely balances out.” Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

We are always in favor of cocktails that are bigger than your head.

It’s giant, it’s red, it’s smoking, it’s bubbling and oh God, what else do you need after that?

Smokin’ Hot Aces at The Venetian brings out the heavy-duty party drink with their appropriately named Smokin’ Hot Ace. You’re going to need a friend or a drinking problem to knock it down, though.

Start with a sizable hunk of dry ice in an oversized, 48-ounce cocktail glass. Throw some ice in there and then line the rim of the glass with slices of blood orange. Pour in four ounces of Finlandia grapefruit vodka, two ounces of Alize Red Passion, two ounces of Monin blood orange syrup and top it all with lemon-lime soda. Throw in a couple of straws and bring in a couple of people to help you polish it off. The driving force behind it was simple. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Our heart, like the heart of Aria, is full of whiskey.

Aria’s Bar Moderno, with its giant, floor-to-ceiling golden tree trunks is less rustic than it is fairy-tale forest. Fitting, then, that they’re showcasing that most magical of beverages — whiskey — in Il Cuore di Aria.

Beverage cognoscenti at Aria hand selected a barrel of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel from a selection of six finalists — chosen for its balance and finish — and bartender Adam Lowry, in an in-house, pre-opening competition, combined it with limoncello, orgeat syrup and fresh lemon for a twist on a Whiskey Sour that ups the ante on that barroom classic.

“We sent an e-mail out to all the bartenders who were being hired that said we were looking for drink submissions. I think we probably got maybe 30 to 40 drinks back. We picked about eight or 10 and just lined them up. Myself along with a few of my group tasted them,” Aria’s Director of Beverage Heidi Hinkle said. “We tweaked it a little bit to kind of make it more significant to Aria. I think that he had originally used rye whiskey. I changed to the single barrel.” Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Adding Champagne to anything does make it kind of miraculous.

It’s like putting a top hat and monocle on your Margarita.

Not sitting still on sour mix, Palazzo’s Double Helix gets all classy on it with the Miracle Margarita, a mix of Ambhar reposado and Grand Marnier with Veuve Clicquot Champagne for a heady, shimmering, golden cocktail served up in a Riedel glass. Champagne and tequila. Look, you’re going to be drinking both of them for New Year’s Eve anyway. May as well cut to the chase.

“We are a wine bar, so we thought we’d put the two together. We have these cocktails that our bartenders have come up with infused with wine,” Double Helix General Manager Raymond Nisi said. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone