Having already toured and reviewed Lost Spirits other property in Anaheim, California, we were curious to see how similar or different this new property would be … either way, it was likely to be an interesting outing!
Like the Anaheim Lost Distillery Experience, the jump off point was located in one of Las Vegas’ more industrial-looking areas. If anything, it was harder to find than the CA location, as it was in a large but otherwise unremarkable gray building called “Area 15”. Nowhere was a Lost Distillery logo visible, but the address seemed correct, so we went to check it out, and soon found a helpful individual who sent us to the right door.
The inside of Area 15 was anything but unremarkable, however – a glowing, two-story skull was just inside, center stage, and the whole area was a vast palette of eye candy. However, we found the ticket counter for Lost Spirits off to the right of the giant skull soon enough, and the tour got underway.
We were guided down a hallway to a red, chandelier-lit area referred to as the Awards Room; here we were greeted and served our first tasting, Lost Distillery’s “Cuban-Inspired Anejo Blanco. This was a white rum – and though it was at first a bit hot on the palate, the flavors developed nicely as we sipped, inspiring observations like “tastes like chocolate chip cookies”, or, for more members of our tasting group, including myself, “has an aftertaste of bananas”.
From the Awards Room we wandered through a dim jungle of plywood trees to emerge in a room where we could enjoy the rest of our first drink – a small theater space with chairs scattered about and a sort of holographic Latin song and dance performance happening up on the stage.
Once our drinks were finished, we were led to a line of motorized rickshaw carts; hopping aboard, they buzzed across the Area 15 property, eventually pulling up to another building with planters of bamboo out front.
Stepping inside, we found ourselves in another tasting area, this one dressed up as a fortune-teller’s den. Here we were served Lost Distillery’s Navy-Style Rum – dark, overproof — as Navy rums usually are — and with a very deep, complex body.
Wandering on, we eventually found ourselves in what was dubbed the Admiral Nelson Lounge, where guests have the option of getting their pour of the Navy-Style Rum topped up. This some of us cheerfully did, and we moved on.
Presently the maze we were in took on a strong Chinoise flavor – a section of the tour referred to as Fan Tan Alley, and atmospherically lit by many Chinese lanterns. Here we were introduced to a bubbling barrel of fermenting rum and a beautiful, room-sized still that resembled a twisting, serpentine dragon; it seemed as much a work of art as a functional piece of equipment. The tour guide at this location made an informative presentation on (surprise!) fermentation and distilling, while we breathed in the heady, autumnal aroma from the fermentation barrel.
Moving on through the winding alleys of the ersatz Fan Tan Alley, we eventually made the acquaintance of Lost Distillery’s “Barrel Room”.
Like the “Barrel Room” at the Anaheim Lost Distillery property, this room had no barrels to speak of – instead, a clear glass column of liquor with cut-up pieces of barrel floating in it as it was being bombarded on all sides with brilliant white lights. The host in this area delivered a passionate, deeply booze-geeky talk about the science and technique of the Lost Spirits aging process, designed to deliver the flavors one might expect in spirits aged in barrels for years in a matter of mere weeks. It was fascinating and fun, and he was great about answering questions into the bargain.
The next tasting room we encountered was the Dorian Gray Lounge, where a gently oth-attired hostess was distributing pours of Lost Spirit’s Carrousel Brandy. I enjoyed a brief chat with her on the merits of classic literature, and then Jeanie and I had a seat in one of the many nearby, cozy little booths to enjoy our drinks. The Carrousel Brandy was smooth and pleasant to drink straight, but of the four samples we had at Lost Spirits Distillery, it left the least impression – but then, I am not as well-versed in brandy as in rum, so that observation should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.
Our final liquor-sampling experience was in the distillery’s star tasting area, the Nautilus Room. As the name suggests, the spacious, deeply steampunky room was decked out to look like the lounge area aboard the famous submarine. While the room itself did not move, the illusion of movement was created by painted fish moving past the windows on a continuous track, and by the perpetually swaying chandeliers above.
The spirit offering in this relaxing, almost hypnotically attractive environment was my favorite of the tour, the “Crying of the Puma” – one of two whiskeys in Lost Spirit’s Abomination series (the literary reference here being to H.G. Well’s novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau). The whiskey had a deeply smoky flavor very reminiscent of a beef brisket barbecue – and while I’d be sorely tempted to use Crying of the Puma in the marinade for a slow-cooked barbecue feast, I don’t think I could bring myself to do anything else but drink it straight with maybe just a single chunk of ice; anything else seems too much like a waste.
There was a dining hall near the Nautilus Room; since Lost Spirits Distillery does also offer a limited availability, multi-course dinner experience, it seemed likely that this is where that event is held. There was also a gift shop not far away, but like our previous experience in Lost Spirit’s Anaheim location, we were unable (again!) to purchase any Lost Spirits liquor in their gift shop … this time it seemed like they were simply out of stock. Bummer! – I totally wanted to take a bottle of their whiskey home, and some of the Navy-Style Rum for good measure. At the shop they assured us that their spirits would be available for online ordering in a couple of weeks. (Note: This has not turned out to be the case. Lost Spirits is still working on their online ordering system; it is not operational at the time of this writing. They have distributors in northern and southern California and Boston, as well as overseas in Great Britain and Germany; but otherwise you are out of luck unless a) They actually have their liquors available for purchase in the gift ship, and b) You are road tripping and can bring your liquid souvenirs home in your car.)
In sum, the Lost Spirits Distillery tour in Las Vegas is, very generally, structured much like their tour in Anaheim. Both are largely walking tours through a series of fun experiences and environments; each has a motorized ride as part of the tour – a bus ride across town in the case of the Anaheim location, a couple of far shorter rides in their motorized rickshaws at the Las Vegas location. Both have a discussion involving an open fermentation vat, both describe the distilling process, and both include a discussion of their unusual aging process. Also, in both cases you get to keep your tasting glass as a souvenir.
The ersatz, creative environments presented in each tour, however, are mostly very different, as are the spirits available to sample – for instance, a different Abomination-series whiskey is served in each tour: Sayer of the Law at the Anaheim location, Crying of the Puma in Las Vegas. Without going into excruciating detail, suffice it to say that we found the details of the two tours different enough that having experienced one in no way detracted from our enjoyment of the other. Whichever one you go on – as long as you don’t mind most likely not getting to take any of their liquors home — you can’t go wrong!
Here is the Las Vegas Lost Spirits Website
And Facebook Page