Not a lot of people can say they’ve created a drink special for Taylor Swift and then named it after her. Tahomar Gil can!
As a bartender at Easy’s Cocktail Lounge at Aria, he served Swift, who asked for a Cosmopolitan. He replied with, “Do you mind if I make you a variation of the Cosmopolitan?” Three cocktails later, Gil had put a smile on Swift’s face, and a new cocktail was added to the Easy’s menu, the Tay-Tini.
That’s just one of the stories Gil has; he’s been in the bartending industry for more than two decades (and with Easy’s since it opened in 2023), so he’s loaded up on stories and cocktail knowledge to boot. “It’s the same idea as cooking; it’s an art form,” Gil says, who was originally in school to become a chef. “Creating craft cocktails is about putting your touch on it, playing around with ingredients, making the perfect balance of flavors—it’s so similar to cooking. It’s just a really fun job.”
When Gil is not on the job at the “swanky, intimate speakeasy with live performances,” he’s enjoying his other loves—his two daughters and wife, surfing, snowboarding and running his martial arts kids program, Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu (he’s a black belt!). “I’m always trying to grow, whether it’s bartending or my hobbies,” he says. There’s no slowing down, or calming down (as Swift would say) for this guy—he’s not shaking it off, he’s shaking it up!
Libation: Smoke Show
This is just one of the many showstopping cocktails at Easy’s. Enjoy the blend of Basil Hayden bourbon, banana liqueur, sweet vermouth, chocolate bitters, dehydrated orange and mint served in two glass pipes and presented inside a cigar box with candied cigarettes and a smoking ashtray.
Benefit: Hidden behind Easy’s Donuts lies Easy’s Cocktail Lounge. To gain entry, follow the velvet ropes.
Aria. aria.mgmresorts.com
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