It all comes back to The King. We sat down with Yelena Anter, beverage development manager at Westgate Las Vegas, inside Velvet Bar at the resort and asked her how she ended up creating cocktail programs for the entire property.

“I am a huge Elvis fan,” she said. “The whole reason I am in Vegas, the United States, even Westgate, is because of Elvis.” Growing up in Russia in the ’80s, it was forbidden to have anything American, but her dad managed to get a bootleg record of Elvis’ music. “I listened to that record till you couldn’t play it anymore,” Anter said. “That’s how I first learned English. And in the ’90s as American movies became available, I watched Viva Las Vegas and I had a dream that I wanted to come to Las Vegas, no matter what.”

So, she did, at just 19 years old. When she turned 21, she landed her first bartending job and continued to nurture her newfound love for creating cocktails. Anter set her sights on working at Westgate Las Vegas (the unofficial home of Elvis) and has been with the property since 2023. “My job is to create a truly unique cocktail culture that’s unique to Westgate,” she said. “I make all the garnishes here in the kitchen. I make unique rims, syrups, cordials, too. It’s very rewarding and I love to challenge myself.

“If I saw a glimpse of where I am at now 25 years ago, I would probably not believe my eyes. It’d be like a movie. It’s fascinating to me that my path, here I am—the home of Elvis. It gives me goose bumps.”

Photo by: Christopher DeVargas

Libation: The King

Anter created an impressive cocktail program at Velvet Bar and that includes the visually cool The King. Created with Japanese whiskey, ginger syrup, cherry Heering and orange and cherry bitters, the cocktail is then smoked with

cherrywood inside a special box.

Benefit: Pick up Yelena Anter’s cocktail book, Christmas Cocktails and Shenanigans, available on Amazon.

Westgate Las Vegas. westgateresorts.com

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