Golden Nugget Serves Up Eight Bar Cocktail Crawl at an Irresistible Price

If you’ve ever needed an excuse to explore the bars at Golden Nugget, now you have an enticing one.

The downtown casino offers what it calls a “Sip & Stroll,” which includes eight cocktails at
different Golden Nugget bars and restaurants.

Golden Nugget bar crawl
Fear ye not, for while the libations are vast in number, thou art a master libator.

The price of the “Tour de Hooch” is $40, which works out to roughly $5 per cocktail (we are a
Las Vegas blog, not an abacus). Most of the drinks included in the stroll typically cost $10-15 a pop, so the cost savings are significant.

Now, while this blog was up for sacrificing its liver to complete the crawl in a single evening, lightweights will opt to spread out the crawl over two or more days, or do the crawl with a
friend and share the bounty of booze.

First, we hit Bar 46, a fairly new bar that straddles the casino and Fremont Street promenade. The drink was a Maker’s Mark Manhattan.

Maker's Mark Manhattan
This Manhattan is made with bourbon and sweet vermouth. Vermouth is either dry or sweet, presumably because somebody drunk on vermouth thought those were opposites.

Let’s say right up front that doing the “Sip & Stroll” without making friends with your various bartenders means you’re not getting the most out of your forty bucks.

This is Jesus. Yes, our first drink of the evening was made by Jesus.

Golden Nugget bartender
Bourbon is a kind of whiskey. It prefers to be called “bourbon” because in Vegas everyone uses a stage name.

Next up, it was a Peach Bellini at Grotto Italian restaurant.

Given there are several restaurant bars included in the “Sip & Stroll,” there’s some strategy to the order in which you imbibe. Do you want snacks along the way or a full-on meal? That was a rhetorical question, by the way. It’s strange how you answered it in your head. And now it’s even weirder that you’re noticing that voice in your head. It never stops. And if you think about it, a blog actually changes what the voice in your head is saying. See? Now, the voice is saying what we want it to say. Rest assured, however, we will only use this power for good. Probably. Why don’t you slip out of those undies while you gaze upon what turned out to be our favorite panty-dropper of the evening.

Peach Bellini
A Peach Bellini cocktail is made with sparkling wine and peach juice. And, if you schmooze the bartender, love.

The Peach Bellini at Grotto ended up being our favorite of the entire “Sip & Stroll,” but we’ve got a long way to do, so pace yourself.

Next, we hit the bar at Red Sushi for sake. Apparently, it is bad luck to drink sake alone. Thankfully, we refer to ourself in the first person plural, so it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Sake
“Fermented rice” just sounds so sexy, doesn’t it?

 

If you think about it, Golden Nugget’s “Sip & Stroll” is more than just a bar crawl. It’s a world crawl. The Manhattan was invented in (wait for it) Manhattan. The Bellini comes from Italy. Sake comes from Japan. The little coupons are like your passport, but instead of jet lag, you get a hangover!

Enough ruminating, let’s get back to the intoxicating.

Ice Bar is a stand-alone lobby bar near the hotel’s registration desk. Ice Bar provides a great view of the hotel’s shark tank and scantily clad dealers at the pool’s table games. Please stay focused.

Ice Bar’s cocktail was the easiest to make of all the featured drinks: A Sapphire Martini. The recipe? One part Bombay Sapphire gin, one part more Bombay Sapphire gin and one part glass. And possibly olives.

Sapphire gin martini
Bro. Everyone knows two olives are bad luck. It’s Vegas!

As we are not a gin drinker, the Sapphire Martini was our least favorite of the cocktails. However, having taken our own advice, we got to know the bartender and persuaded him to make up for his olive gaff by improving the drink immeasurably with sweet and sour and a little soda water. All was forgiven!

It was about time to have dinner, but not before another cocktail, a simple glass of Champagne at Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse. The restaurant’s prix fixe menu is highly recommended. It’s not on the menu, but you can find it online if you know where to click. Typically, at the end of that last sentence.

Vic & Anthony's Golden Nugget
See, Efrain? We weren’t kidding when we said you’d be Internet famous.

It was time to peregrinate (a fancy form of staggering) to Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar for a margarita and grub.

Cadillac Mexican margarita
Margaritas are most-often associated with tequila, salted rims and people making asses of themselves.

We took advantage of the stop at Cadillac by ordering some tasty quesadillas. If you prefer not to have your face melted off, order them without the pico de gallo, teeming with what we can only assume were jalapeno peppers or possibly lava. Luckily, the margarita served as an effective cooling agent.

Quesadilla
Future promotion: “Munch & Stroll.” Or when the furry convention is in town: “Leg Hump & Stroll.” This is why we are a marketing genius.

Six drinks down, two more to go. Hey, we’re better at math than we thought.

It was time for Chart House’s contribution to the festivities, a Mango Mojito.

Mojito
Mojitos are Cuban, further advancing our belief the “Sip & Stroll” is a great way for one’s liver to see the world.

While at Chart House, don’t miss the aquarium. Although, that’s pretty much impossible given it’s the size of the actual Cuba.

Chart House aquarium
Chart House’s aquarium holds 75,000 gallons, so at this point in the bar crawl, we had that in common.

And, finally, we headed to Rush Lounge for the grand finale, a chocolate martini.

Chocolate martini
It’s believed the chocolate martini was invented by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor in 1955. It’s on the Internet, so it has to be true.

So much liquor, so little memory of so much of that liquor.

Still, the Golden Nugget’s “Sip & Stroll” is a fun idea and we’d love to see it catch on at other Las Vegas resorts. We’ll take a 50-70% discount on nature’s perfect food (cocktails) anytime!

Find out more about the “Sip & Stroll” bar crawl at Golden Nugget. “Sip & Stroll” tickets can be purchased at the hotel’s box office, front desk or in VIP Services, whatever that might actually be.

Full disclosure: Golden Nugget is a member hotel of the Fremont Street Experience where we currently work in marketing. Our opinions are our own, unless our girlfriend says otherwise.