Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson once belted out their hit song The Best Things in Life Are Free, which is certainly the case regarding drinks! Las Vegas is one of the best party cities worldwide, with drinks flowing morning, noon, and night. You will find a vast selection of beers and some mouth-watering cocktails in “Sin City,” but they often cost a small fortune. However, it is possible to get drinks for free throughout Las Vegas; you are about to discover how.
Casinos in Nevada are a hub for Vegas betting. Still, many are also the home to some genuinely great bars and nightclubs where some of the world’s best mixologists conjure up fantastic creations and concoctions that tantalize your tastebuds and bamboozle your senses. Here are some of the amazing cocktails you should try to sample if you ever find yourself in fabulous Las Vegas.
The Nut Job at Vanderpump Cocktail Garden
Reality TV star and successful businesswoman Lisa Vanderpump is known for being stylish and extravagant, and that comes across at the Vegas cocktail lounge she owns. You can find the elegant Vanderpump Cocktail Garden inside Caesars Palace on the famous Las Vegas Strip, and it is always packed full of revelers. The venue does not offer reservations unless you are an A-list celebrity like her Real Housewives co-stars, but their cocktails are worth waiting for.
Our particular favorite, The Nut Job, costs $18-$20 on a typical night. It is an eye-catching flaked coconut mojito made with premium ingredients. The highly-trained barkeep presents you with a combination of rum, coconut rum, fresh min, lime, coconut, and soda, with a helping of flaked coconut on the rim. It is the perfect summer cocktail, one that quenches your thirst in the scorching Nevada heat.
Get into the Spirit of Cocktails With the Golden Tiki’s Kuuipo Drinks
The Golden Tiki is an off-strip cocktail bar located at 3939 Spring Mountain Road, and it is arguably the most exotic bar in Las Vegas. As its name suggests, it features a tiki-bar theme, which makes you feel you could be sitting on a beach thousands of miles away! The cocktails menu has some takes on old classics, such as Mai Tai and Blue Lagoon, and some fantastic original mixes from the experts behind the bar.
Although Golden Tiki’s cocktails are reasonably priced, three options may have you reaching for your credit card! You can request a Kuuipo, any drink double-served in a fresh hollowed-out pineapple for the authentic cocktail feel. Those feeling brave or in a group can opt for a fishbowl, which costs $75 but serves two-to-four people. A Barrel service costing $250 is available to groups of four to eight drinkers!
Bathtub Fizz at the Mob Museum’s Speakeasy
The Mob Museum is one of the best Las Vegas attractions, taking you back in time to the prohibition era when the mafia was heavily involved in the creation and running of Sin City. During the prohibition era, Americans were determined not to allow the US government to dictate whether or not they could drink, so they took to making alcohol in their homes and underground facilities. This is how and where bathtub gin was created.
Bathtub gin is called such because people used water from their bathtub’s faucets to make it. The Speakeasy at the Mob Museum charges $15 for its Bathtub Fizz cocktail, which comes to you served in a bathtub-shaped drinking vessel! It contains high-quality gin, sloe gin, Aperol, sugar, lemon, egg whites, and bitters, which is a tasty and historical drink.
How To Get Free Drinks in Las Vegas
Although it is unlikely that you will receive any of the drinks mentioned above for free, unless the bartender is feeling generous and believes the story that it is your birthday, it is possible to drink for free throughout most Las Vegas casinos.
Vegas casinos love to ply their customers with free booze for a variety of reasons, the most common being a patron that has alcohol in their system is a patron that is more likely to lose their inhibitions, gamble more, and therefore the casino stands an increased chance of winning. Some see this as an underhand tactic, but it is what it is, and you can take full advantage of it.
You will be offered free drinks if you are playing poker, slots, or casino table games. A waitress will walk around bellowing “cocktails,” and all you need to do is beckon her over and put in your order. Most casinos have a wide range of free drinks, from beers to spirits and mixers; you will not get bottles of bubbly on the house, however!
Once the server returns with your drink, you must tip them at least a dollar, so your drink is not 10% free but far cheaper than buying it at the bar. If you tip well, the server will likely return to you faster next time!
Games such as blackjack and Pai Gow are great for playing at and quaffing complimentary beverages because they have a low house edge, so you are less likely to lose!
You can also try the video poker trick that is well-known among Vegas veterans. Head to any casino’s bar, and you will notice that video poker machines are installed in the bar itself. Sit down at one of these terminals, put in $50 or so, but do not immediately start playing. The barkeep has a screen out of view that shows who is playing what and what stakes they are playing for. Putting $50 in makes it look like you are serious about staying and playing!
You may need to strike up a conversation with the person behind the bar, but most often, they will approach you and offer you a drink of your choice. If this doesn’t happen, play a few hands on the video poker machine, and watch them scurry over to you with a menu in hand! You can make that $50 in the machine last all night and drink to your heart’s content!
