Cocktails in Vegas

This summer, the newly 'appointed' Mrs Tipple & I took a trip to the USA.
As this was our honeymoon we wanted to go all out, starting with 5 days in Las Vegas before heading over to the east coast for 5 days in New York.

They say everything is bigger in the US...they are not wrong!

On the run up to the Honeymoon a lot of time was spent researching the cities, sites to see, where to shop, where to eat...where to drink? The beauty of Las Vegas is that everything is so over the top, after 2 days it felt like the norm spending the morning in an Egyptian Pyramid at the Luxor before having Gelato on the streets of Venice in the Venetian.
On our first evening we ate at Diablo's, a Mexican diner situated between the New York New York & Monte Carlo Casino's. We visited on recommendation from friends...although the two for one beer voucher I had may have swayed our decision. Upon sitting down Liz ordered a Margarita (large!) whilst I browsed the beer menu. UK supermarkets and beer shops are full of US imported beer now, so I was familiar with most of the offereing's on the menu. I opted for a pint of what on the menu was worded as 'New Castle'...this turned out to be a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale...my quest to try new beer failed at the first hurdle! The fish tacos here was pretty good - however the nachos were amazing, the portion itself was enough to feed a family of four!

In Las Vegas you can walk down the strip with a beer quite happily, considering it was 24hour drinking we felt comfortable and safe at all times - with no idiot drunks ruining everyone's holiday.
Upon exploring the strip we discovered 'Fat Tuesdays'. Essentially, this is a fast food joint for cocktails. We walked in for a cold drink without realising where we were...the back wall was full of giant slush machines, with an option of various cup sizes...from a $10 16oz to giant $35 novelty yard sticks. We started our Fat Tuesday addiction with a Margarita. We chose to purchase these drinks for a bit of relief from the 30+ degree heat on the strip, for the money we expected a iced drink with a hint of alcohol...we were wrong, they were stronger than they looked!

Later in the week we discovered that our hotel (MGM Grand) had a Fat Tuesday outlet, and being cheaper than the main bar we visited frequently to keep us 'hydrated' whilst we fluttered in the Casino. For an extra dollar we were offered an extra 'shot'...this seemed to be at least 50ml of extra tequila...well worth the money!!!
Throughout the week we tried 'Hurricane (rum & fruit juice), Pina Colada, Amaretto & Whisky (strong!!!) as well as about 5 Margaritas.
As I mentioned earlier, Vegas was so safe and was a world away from Leeds City Center on a Saturday night, which was surprising given the reputation of Sin City. As a business model, Fat Tuesday was perfect for the Strip in the blazing heat of the desert, I couldn't see it working in the UK as people would just abuse it and make a mess in the streets...but if you are ever in Vegas, you need to try it!

Las Vegas is America's playground. It is full of shows and attractions that would keep you occupied for weeks, all before you even spend time in the Casino. We are definately not gamblers, Vegas was booked so we could experience the 'spectacle' of it all, the Eiffle Tower, the Stratosphere, the fountains at the Bellagio. When you are in the casino though you can not help but have a little flutter. The night before we left Las Vegas we decided to go out for a nice meal, spend time on the casino floor and just enjoy our final night. After a week of fast food it was nice to sit down at Grimaldi's Italian at the Palazzo and just enjoy a quiet pint of Sam Adams and a glass of prosecco (similar to in NYC, the measure of prosecco was enormous considering what we have in the UK). The pizza here is to die for, best order one to share between two though due to the size!


When we arrived back at the MGM Grand we spent an hour losing money on the slot machines before retiring to one of the casino's many bars. Whisky Down is a bar that I had researched several months before our visit to Las Vegas, open 24 hours it offers a bit of class in an brightly lit casino floor. Walking past it I imagine it to be similar to how old fashioned US speakeasy's were during the prohibition, or somewhere that a wealthy gambler could wind down with a cigar and a glass of Bourbon.  However tempted I was to order a large Bourbon and watch the world go by I found myself tempted by the cocktail menu. We ordered their signature 'Whisky In A Jar' which contained Old Forrester Bourbon, mint, watermelon & ginger beer $15. We also tried a 'Black Basil Smash' with Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum, honey syrup, lemon juice and blackberries for $14. Both drinks were really nice, but the stand out was the Whisky In A Jar...considering the quality of the drink we found the prices to be quite reasonable, especially due to its central Casino location. Next time we visit though I will try to work my way through their Bourbon shelf, neat with one cube of ice!

The above is just a small selection of the amazing bars and restaurants located in Las Vegas itself. This city is not just for the gamblers and party animals...but it is definitely a place for Foodies and surprisingly enough, a great place to relax.
We have already booked to go back - the trip can not come soon enough!

New York, New York - Beer in Manhatten

This blog post is very delayed - in a months time it will be 12 months since we spent our Honeymoon in the US.
When we were planning our trip New York was always top of the list, we went from New York to New York & Cuba, to New York and Mexico before we finally decided on New York and Las Vegas.

Both of us have been desperate to visit the Big Apple for many years - partly to take in the landmarks, but predominately to experience US food culture...which we have now ticked off our list.
Instead of looking for fancy honeymoon style restaurants we had street food in Central Park, pancakes in a 50's style diner and the largest slices of pizza we have ever seen from 'Dollar Pizza'.

As this blog revolves around the drinks that we try I will move swiftly away from the food, past all the touristy information and onto the beer!

It was the middle of summer when we visited the Big Apple, so we were constantly in need of a drink. The heat itself was not too bad but it was so 'muggy' that we were forever uncomfortable walking the sites without a drink in hand. As we had a huge list of sites and attractions to visit we spent most of the week running in and out of Starbucks for a cold brew coffee...I had mine with a vanilla cream which opened up a whole new world of coffee to me, luckily for us Brits this has now found it's way to the UK, it is amazing - a must try for any coffee fan.

Throughout our visit we visited many different establishments, many of them chain restaurants for a quick Bud Light or a margarita...so I wanted to just focus on our two favourite New York drinking spots. I really hope that the next time you head to New York you take our recommendation, it will be worth it.

Quite impressed with my photography here!
Look at the size of that Prosecco.

Lets begin with The Tavern On The Green. We discovered this bar after a morning at the Central Park Zoo, we walked what we thought was the length of the park up to the lake when in fact we had only managed to walk as far as the pond where Doctor Who was filmed, at this point we were gasping for a pint. When I say 'discovered' this bar, it really is not hard to find as it is the only bar within Central Park itself. Situated on the West Side of the park, about half way up. We did not get as far as inside the bar itself as it is more of a restaurant. But on arrival we found ourselves sat outside in the sun under a canopy of small chandelier like lights, I imagine it to be amazing at night. This bar seemed quite familiar to us, as it reminded us of the bars at home...just with sun! We loved the place so much that we made the long walk back on our last day for a final drink before our flights home.
Throughout the Honeymoon I was determined to stay away from anything I had tried before, so I opted for a pint of UFO from Harpoon Brewery (Massachusetts). This ticked all the boxes for me, it was a Belgian style wheat beer that had a fruity (orange) taste with a little spiciness...it matched the weather and the location perfectly.
As it was our Honeymoon I decided to treat my new wife to a glass of Prosecco, which at the time seemed like an expensive 'treat' however when it arrived we were amazed at the size of the glass. Americans really have the right idea when it comes to measures, we imagined it to be nearly twice what could be served in one of our own champagne flutes back home.
These drinks paired perfectly with a cheese and charcuterie board that we dined on, as it was too hot outside for a burger!

The second bar that I wanted to share with you was one that I had researched before I left the UK, it was also conveniently situated about 15 doors down from our hotel.

Delirium Red - a common sighting
on 'Tonights Tipple'

Beer Authority can be found on West 40th Street, it is not a dive bar, but not a high end bar either...think how BrewDog bars are styled in the UK and you will be on the right track. Home to nearly 200 beers this was our first stop when we dropped off our bags at the hotel, we missed happy hour but did not complain at the prices...it was very reasonable considering it's location. As the week went on this bar became almost our 'local', as it was so close to our hotel we would pop in for a beer on the way to Broadway, or on our return from dinner. Alternately if you are stuck for something to eat, head onto their roof terrace for a bite to eat...we recommend the Sliders!
The atmosphere in this bar really made us comfortable, it was not too crowded but had a sense of being almost a 'local' pub in the heart of such a touristy area.
We did not check out the spirits or wine menu as this place was built for the beer lover.
After spending what seemed like an eternity browsing through the menu I would say that the Bronx Brewery No Resolution IPA was my favourite find in this bar. Now I do enjoy an IPA, but this was really special...fruity but not too sweet and fairly hoppy. At 7.6% it was not quite as strong as Liz's choice...which I will now move onto.
Remember how earlier I mentioned how I wanted all the beer from our holiday to be new to us? Well this went right out of the window when Liz noticed that her much loved Delirium Red was on the menu, this strong (8%) Belgian Fruit beer can be seen on many of our Tweets and Instagram posts as we consume quite a lot of it. At $8 for half a pint it costs what it does in the UK, so we were happy.

I already have a list of bars to visit if we were to ever go back to NYC, but out of all the ones we tried last year Beer Authority and Tavern On The Green were the most memorable, and I would stop into both on our next trip - make sure you try them for yourself!

Back to Blogging

Sat in the managers office at work, we were discussing targets, incentives and customer satisfaction...all very mundane. In passing someone made a comment about social media, which lead to the mocking of silly hashtags that we are all guilty of using in our posts online. The comment aimed at me was #lookwhatfancybeerimhaving ... at this point I began to tell my colleagues about the Tonights Tipple blog and how I enjoyed rambling on about my favourite beers & spirits. It is safe to say that I was surprised that when I began to 'show off' my site I found that I had not published a blog in over 12 months ! 

Looking back to last May, I had a plan in place for future blogs that I could write and the different beers that I wanted to try. Whilst looking at my stat's on Blogger I asked myself the question 'does anyone actually read my blog, and does anyone even care what I have to say?' ... this was the stage where I decided to just focus on posting on Instagram and commenting on pictures from the craft beer community on Twitter. When you look at my statistics though, it does show a fair old amount of traffic to my page...how much of that is genuine, I don't know.

Following our meeting when I presented my 'musings' to my colleagues I began to think, 'does it really matter if anyone takes on any of my recommendations or not?' - we all work really hard and focus so much on our careers that sometimes we forget the importance of having a hobby, when I was at the height of my 'blogging' I had a great time sampling new tipples and telling the world whether it was to my taste or not. With the stress of a house move back with the inlaws whilst we save for a mortgage and increase of work load in the office I have decided to get back to treating myself to new craft beers weekly!

So from this moment I am back on my social media feeds and back with the blogs...watch this space, many more boozy musings are to come!