13 minute read
A DIFFERENT RED, RED WINE
Take a Getaway to Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino
Enjoy Red Carpet Brunch, Barry Manilow, Cabaret Shows, Great Dining and Expansive Pool.
Westgate Las Vegas is the home for Legendary Vegas Fun; with the excitement exploding in April.
Westgate is home to great entertainment with Las Vegas Icon Frank Marino, Barry Manilow, Westgate Cabaret shows, including The Magic of Soul of Motown, The Bronx Wanderers, and Jen Kramer.
Las Vegas Icon Frank Marino rolls out Red Carpet Brunch, a star studded, immersive event exclusively at the world-famous Westgate. “I am so grateful that the Westgate Las Vegas has opened their doors and created a specially designed venue for my exciting, all-new show. I’m so lucky to work alongside my good friends, Alan and Kathi Glist as well as my partner Alex Schechter but the cherry on the cake is to share a stage once again with a cast of the World’s best celebrity female impersonators,” says Marino.
This upscale drag brunch dining experience invites guests to walk the red carpet, pose for the paparazzi, and then be amazed by the world’s best celebrity female impersonators all while consuming favorite delicious dining options and specialty cocktails. Show opens on April 24.
Barry Manilow returns to the Westgate with MANILOW: LAS VEGAS – The Hits Come Home! The GRAMMY®, TONY®, and EMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, and musician will perform at the Westgate International Theater April 7-9, and April 21-23.
Soul of Motown celebrates doo-wop and Motown as its music enveloped the entire world. Audiences will enjoy the music of The Temptations, The Platters, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Sam Cooke, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, The O’Jays, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Aretha Franklin. The Bronx Wanderers, the father-and-son duo with their top-notch band, pair powerful vocals and musical flair with enthusiasm and genuine love for the music they perform. The Bronx Wanderers recreate the magic of the era and build an energetic bond with their audience while transporting their audiences to the past of legendary music.
The Magic of Jen Kramer turns the impossible into the impossible-to-ignore, wowing audiences with her contagious smile and world-class sleight-ofhand. Guests are always amazed at Jen’s jaw-dropping illusions; her show is full of unforgettable magic and Fun with a capital F.
Westgate Las Vegas provides a range of culinary adventures.
Fresco Italiano tempts with the perfect blend of menu options that highlight its Italian culinary range and skill. Enjoy Italian-style cuisine defined by freshness and simplicity, like hand-crafted flatbreads baked in a stone-fired pizza oven, produced with imported Italian flour and family recipes. Create custom dishes matching favorite pasta with fresh sauces. Choose from entrées featuring Osso Buco, Frutti di Mare, or Lemon & Rosemary Roasted Chicken, slowly cooked in natural juices and enhanced with fresh herbs and garden vegetables.
Benihana is a unique culinary adventure. As guests walk into the restaurant, they are transported into another world with lush Japanese gardens, flowing ponds, exotic statuary, and an authentic Torri Arch. The exhibition-style Japanese cuisine features hibachi tables with master chefs preparing a full range of unique and traditional teppanyaki dishes. Tasty entrees tantalize with hibachi chicken, teriyaki steak, and filet mignon. Enjoying a colorful signature drink at the bar surrounded by the exotic décor makes the drink that much more special. Edge Steakhouse offers a dining experience close to perfection. Guests can savor an extensive menu that combines American steakhouse favorites with delicious specialty appetizers, creative entrées, and innovative side dishes. Top quality wet and dry-aged Prime cuts, domestic Wagyu beef, and fresh seafood are some of its specialties. Toast with selections from the double Wine Spectator Award-winning wine list with pairing options available.
What’s more relaxing than laying by the pool, taking a refreshing dip, or enjoying a favorite cocktail under a cabana by the tranquil waters? This is the perfect mix of rest and relaxation. Featuring luxurious pool cabanas and daybeds, the newly renovated pool deck at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino provides the perfect mix of rest, relaxation, sun, and fun. The pool also features a 15-seat hot tub, a bar, a retail store and a grill.
The SuperBook at the Westgate Las Vegas™ features over 30,000 square feet of heart-racing action with a massive 220-foot-by-18-foot 4,000 video wall with over 350 seats. With the exciting sporting events coming up, guests can experience high-action entertainment at the best and largest Race & Sports Book in a smoke-free environment in Las Vegas.
This iconic world-class destination and the home of Legendary Vegas Fun offers a unique blend of amenities and excitement with all favorite table games, hottest slots on the market, and more than 225,000 square feet of meeting space.
For more information or to book the Las Vegas hotel, call toll-free at (800) 732-7117 or log on to WestgateLasVegas.com.
28
DAVE PHINNEY & SCOTTIE PIPPEN
ANOTHER HIGH SHOT
NBA legend Scottie Pippen launches new bourbon DIGITS
By Debbie Hall Photos by Margaret Pattillo
NBA legend, Hall of Famer, 6-time NBA Champion, 2-time Olympic gold medalist, and entrepreneur Scottie Pippen takes another shot in the spirits industry. Along with famed wine and spirits maker Dave Phinney, Pippen reaches another high with the launch of DIGITS, a five-year-old bourbon whiskey that Chicagoans will be the first to taste and experience. Looking for a new venture, Pippen tapped the award-winning Savage & Cooke distillery to create and produce a smooth five-yearold bourbon. Scottie has a unique partnership with Phinney (2019 Winemaker of the Year), who creates spirits at his Savage & Cooke distillery on Mare Island. Phinney produces various whiskies aged in his own wine barrels with water and grains off his property.
“We got to know who was in the industry, and we were familiar with what Dave had accomplished in the wine world. The more I learned about Dave, what he’s done, who he is, and how he operates, the more I wanted to have that conversation with him. So, we just reached out. He thought it was a joke at first, and we assured him it was not. We got together for an extremely memorable dinner and never looked back,” says Pippen.
He selected bourbon and the city of Chicago for several reasons. “I ate a lot of steak during my playing days in Chicago, and bourbon is as perfect of a compliment as you can find. The city has so many incredible restaurants, and when you go out, it’s more than a
meal. It’s an experience, and for many people, a glass of wine or a cocktail is part of the experience. It can really help you elevate your evening.”
DIGITS bourbon is sourced from Indiana and Tennessee, aged at the distillery, and 46% Alc. Vol. (92-proof) bourbon whiskey, aged five years and blended by Savage & Cooke master distiller, Jordan Via.
This venture for Pippen is more than a celebrity endorsement. “I tried to be involved with every step, from picking the barrels to blending with the master distiller to creating the label. It was very hands-on, and there was no better way for me to learn. As for the bourbon itself, it’s extremely smooth. I’m very proud of it.”
Phinney created the acclaimed flagship blend “The Prisoner,” which later sold for $285M. Phinney also consults for Orin Swift and produces wines from his vineyards in Italy, France, Spain, and Greece. He began distilling spirits in 2014, which led to the creation of Savage & Cooke distillery venture outside of Vallejo, California.
Mare Island offers a rich history, established as the first naval yard on the Pacific Coast in 1854 becoming one of the busiest shipyards in the country. The prime waterfront property is now the center of craft beverages, manufacturing, technology, art, and film production.
Pippen is redefining and relaunching the Pippen Foundation and exploring options, including a summer golf tournament. A close friend of his founded Chicago Prep Elite Sports and Entrepreneurship Academy, and Pippen wants to become involved with
those organizations as well. During the pandemic, Phinney produced over 100,000 gallons of hand sanitizer during the shortage to help people all over the US avoid infection.
DIGITS was launched in Chicago to great success, and the next state for distribution will be Wisconsin, with plans to expand into California and Texas later in the year.
Scottie Pippen wants DIGITS to be more than a bourbon; he wants people to celebrate with his bourbon, something that is very special for him.
For more info, visit savageandcooke.com/spirits/ digits. Follow in Facebook @ savageandcooke, and Instagram @ savageandcooke. Digits A collaboration between Scottie Pippen and Dave Phinney that focuses on distinguished and mature Bourbon Whiskey.
Barrels Each barrel is hand-selected for its unique attributes by Dave & Scottie. The youngest Bourbon in the blend is five years old. The barrels were sourced from Indiana and Tennessee and aged at Savage & Cooke on historic Mare Island.
Mash Bill 75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley
Profile In a true reflection of Scottie, the mature Bourbon is lush, velvety and a pleasure to drink with no hard edges. DIGITS is packed with flavors of vanilla bean, caramel, buttered toast and maple. Enjoy neat or on the rocks.
THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE CRATER LAKE SPIRITS
ROCK AND RYE
Friends don’t let friends drink bad spirits. That’s why we created this classic rye whiskey cocktail: the ideal camping and adventure companion. Whether you’re shredding the mountain, sitting around the campfire, or simply watching the clouds roll by overhead, Crater Lake Rock & Rye will serve you well. Notes of dark cherry, blood orange, and bitters make for a carefree crowd pleaser.
Our Rock and Rye won Double Gold in PR%F 2021 spirits award competition! Check out our website craterlakespirits.com for buying options near you.
For over a quarter of a century Crater Lake Spirits has been at the forefront of the craft spirits movement, all built on a simple mission: Distilling real spirits made from real ingredients. This Bend, Oregon based distillery was founded with the goal of reviving the tradition of American handcrafted gin and vodka. One of the Pacific Northwest’s oldest and largest distilleries, it continues to produce a growing array of distilled spirits, all still created in small batches. The offerings have expanded beyond the original vodka, gin, and whiskey to include infused vodkas, reserve products, ground-to-bottle estate spirits, Black Butte Whiskey (a collaboration with brewing pioneer Deschutes Brewery), and other special and seasonal projects. These special projects have included a double malted barley whiskey, an agave spirit, and an aged rum, all exclusives in the two Crater Lake Spirits Oregon-based tasting rooms.
From ground to bottle, the distillery produces a portfolio of spirits that remains true to its roots. Inspired by the pure water of the Cascade Mountains, the flagship product, Crater Lake Vodka, is filtered a minimum of ten times through charcoal and crushed lava rock, a practice unique to them that mimics the natural filtration of water in their region. A quirk of nature that produces water so ideally suited to alcohol production that Bend is home to over 30 breweries, many of which are nationally recognized.
Created from 100% rye grain, Crater Lake Straight American Rye Whiskey is aged in number 4 char new American white oak barrels for two years. While two years may be young for some whiskies, the high desert climate of Central Oregon, with its low humidity and incredible temperature variations, provides an aging environment that matures whiskies quicker than the more temperate climates of Scotland or the American southeast. In fact, Crater Lake Rye was one of the American whiskies that inspired the concept of terroir in aging whiskey.
This history has led Crater Lake Spirits to earn prestigious honors in this year’s PR%F Awards. Crater Lake Reserve Gin won the Silver Medal, with focused botanicals of juniper berries, coriander, bitter Seville orange peel, sweet glazed orange peel and grapefruit peel. With a minimum filtration of 50 cycles, this gin’s smooth taste and impeccable citrus and herbaceous notes make it worth the space in any gin connoisseur’s liquor cabinet. Rock and Rye Whiskey won the Double Gold Medal, a ready-to-drink classic rye whiskey cocktail with notes of dark cherry, blood orange and bitters.
In early 2022, the company launched its 60 proof Rock and Rye Whiskey in 100ml cans. Available in packs of two, the cans are available immediately in Oregon with future expansion planned. Currently, 750ml bottles are available for purchase at craterlakespirits.com, or available by request wherever liquor is sold near you.
What’s next?
Crater Lake Spirits remains focused on celebrating and supporting local. A passionate supporter of social responsibility and sustainability, the distillery believes in providing spirits crafted from real ingredients that are authentic, fresh, and sourced locally whenever possible. The distillery has made a switch to using recycled and post-consumer packaging products, growing many of its own herbs and spices, composting on-site and they are working on the development of a solar-powered facility.
AWARD WINNING ZERO SUGAR ROSÉ SPARKLING WINE
ALWAYS VEGAN. ALWAYS MADE WITH ORGANIC GRAPES.
PREMIUM ROSÉ WITH A PREMIUM TASTE, MADE FOR CELEBRATING LIFE’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS, BIG AND SMALL. THIS IS BELLISSIMA. bellissimaprosecco.com
Spirited Inspiration
By Renée Korbel Quinn Photos courtesy of: Macchialina
Shaking Up an Aperitivo Forward Cocktail List
Meet Eric Vincent, Lead Bartender
Nestled off South Beach’s buzzy Alton Road, Macchialina reigns as one of Miami’s most approachable, chef-driven eateries serving ambitious Italian fare. Garnering repeat visits from A-List celebrities to Miami Beach hospitality gurus, the restaurant’s buzz lies in its ability to offer guests undeniable consistency of food and libations and the continual discovery of new ones. Now, the popular neighborhood gem is shaking and stirring things up with the appointment of a new lead bartender, Eric Vincent, and the launch of his revamped cocktail menu.
Formerly of Apothecary 330 and Sparrow at the Dalmar Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, a high-end cocktail bar conceptualized by the minds behind the New York City institution, Death & Co., Eric brings a wealth of expertise and creativity to Macchialina’s new cocktail program. Designed to complement James Beard Award Nominee Executive Chef/Owner Michael Pirolo’s rustic cuisine, the new selections utilize the transportive flavors of Italian household staples such as Italicus, Cocchi Americano, and
