Cocktails Mixed with a Splash of Fun

With the rise of the craft of mixology, cocktails have become serious business, bars and bartenders have gone the way of the Do Do bird, and in their place have risen craft cocktail dens, all looking like pre-prohibition saloons helmed by mustachio’d and tattoo’d mixologists sporting bowties and suspenders. Hey, I like a juniper elderberry oaksmoke patchouli gin and bitters with a chipotle rim, same as the next… hey, actually I don’t. Sometimes I just want a fun drink without having to break out the periodic table, you know?

If you’re looking for the same fun cocktail vibe, harkening back to Tom Cruise serving ‘em up with a toothy grin in Cocktail, then stop into the Park MGM Hotel and Casino next time you’re in Las Vegas. On the outside, the Park is just another unassuming casino. But step inside to the Juniper Cocktail Lounge (which has the largest selection of gin in Las Vegas, by the way), and take a gander at their menu. Then start to have some fun.

The Juniper does have some “serious” cocktails, but why bother with those when you can sample the Fortune Teller, where you use an actual paper fortune teller – just like the ones you used to make and use to determine your soul mate in grade school – to find the ingredients for your gin and tonic. Or try the Carnival, which is gin poured over a big bowl of cotton candy. Or the Cucumber Cooler, which looks like a snow globe.

If you want to get a bite and have a blast, mosey past the casino to Roy Choi’s Best Friend restaurant and bar, designed to look like an Asian corner market. They serve Korean wings and pork belly bowls, but they also focus on recreating awesome ‘80s cocktails like the Fuzzy Navel and Mai Tai. “Cocktails from the ‘80s get a bad reputation in the industry because they were conceptualized in the height of disco when drinks were more about flash than substance – especially when you compare them to the era of the Old Fashioneds and Martinis,” says Choi.

But Choi brings these cheesy drinks back from the brink with a respect for discerning modern palates. “Drinks from the ‘80s have their own vibe and flavors, and I thought if we brought the passion for the craft to drinks like a Midori Sour or a Fuzzy Navel, Best Friend could create familiar drinks that taste new because of the quality of the products within.” For example, Best Friend has elevated the Fuzzy Navel with topline Silver Dollar Vodka, distilled right in Downtown Vegas, and mixed with freshly pressed peach, passionfruit, and kumquat juices. “80s cocktails deserve better than the super sweet syrups and premixes they’ve been accustomed to, so I wanted to celebrate that unique generation of drinks with a fresh new look and quality fun,” Choi says.

With that kind of attitude, the Park MGM just might be the most fun time you’ll have in Vegas.

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