Molecular Madness At Cosmopolitan’s Chandelier Bar
The Chandelier Bar is shaking up a mad mix of spirits and science, taking the Vegas cocktail to an experimental and intoxicating level.
The GM at Chandelier and on-site mixologist Mariena Mercer is most comfortable pushing the chemical cocktail envelope. This liquid luminary was mad about science until the wine and spirits scene seduced her. She has since studied under top sommeliers, and spent time in Tequila, working at distinguished distilleries before heading back to the strip to cut her cocktail teeth.
Slip in to The Inside Bar at Chandelier, also known as 1.5 to kick start your chemical adventure with her famous Verbena, the most popular drink at the bar, second to the Cosmo.
The Verbena is made with tequila, Yuzu sour, ginger syrup, lemon verbena leaves and garnished with a Szechuan button, an edible flower that speeds up your salivary glands. It numbs your mouth and intensifies everything you consume for five minutes or more. Let the spirited experiments begin.
If you like a sweet and savory spirit or a little leather with your liquor, tip back the Cherry Smoked Coke with leather infused Makers Mark, a cherry wood smoked ice ball, maraschino cherry caviars, Aztec chocolate bitters and Mexican coke.
Mercer brings a culinary influence to her cocktails. Plate up with the Miami Vice’s Pina Colada spaghetti noodles served on a skillet and topped with Strawberry Daiquiri. She claims, "Cocktails for me are all about an experience. I fell in love with the whimsy of it all."
If you need to clean your palette whimsically, try their sorbet-styled Juliet made with Yuzu sour, Prosecco, lychee puree, rose nectar, cucumber chunks and strawberries charged with liquid nitrogen, whisked in to a sorbet and topped with frozen rose petals.
Mercer feels, "There is something for everyone here, but what really sets us apart is the sheer volume that we make progressive cocktails in Vegas." Verbena is an urban legend in Vegas and is one drink that has remained on the seasonal menu since the opening.
So, if you want to keep it simple, the Cosmopolitan that Carrie and her beauties from "Sex and the City" made famous is their number one seller. Last year they sold nearly 50,000 Cosmopolitans at Chandelier alone. The night I was there, the guy next to me had a Corona. When I asked if he wanted in on my liquid gold, he refused. He said he was there for the beer and the atmosphere.
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, NV 89109
