Life is full of kismet for Paul Stelmack, bartender at The Underground at The Mob Museum. Ten years ago, while living in upstate New York, he got a job managing an old liquor store that was built in 1908, closed during Prohibition and then opened back up. “I was bored most of the time working there, so a friend lent me the first-edition printing of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embry,” he says. “I started reading about all these classic cocktails and I realized no one in the area I lived and worked in knew how to make them, and if I wanted them, I’d have to learn how to make them myself.”

And that’s exactly what he did for the next decade, learning bartending and the art of making classic cocktails, worked at various restaurants and even taught a course on cocktail making. Eventually, he set his sights on Las Vegas. “I love that old-timey Vegas vibe,” Stelmack says. “I knew I wanted to be near Fremont Street and be making classic cocktails.”

Now he is doing exactly that! The Underground is in the basement of the museum, celebrating the culture and cocktails of the Prohibition era, and Stelmack is the friendly barkeep—with the best mustache, obviously—behind the bar. “The arc of my career has had some ups and downs but I’m very happy with where I’m at,” he says. “I’m exactly where I should be. Bartending is an expanding universe and I’m always learning something new every day.”

Photo by: Christopher DeVargas

Libation: Bee’s Knees

The Bee’s Knees was named after one of the most popular dancers of the Prohibition era, Bee Jackson—who’s said to have had the loveliest knees in the industry. The cocktail is a mix of house-made strawberry-infused gin, house-made jalapeño-infused honey syrup and fresh lemon.

Benefit: Look for the Prohibition-era bottles hanging on the wall—one of them has a QR code to a secret cocktail menu.

The Mob Museum. themobmuseum.org

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