We Tried A Boozy Version Of Dippin' Dots
It's 104 degrees, but it feels like 1,000. There's a DJ bumping out beats at a clip that matches the heart rate of your local meth head. While Pharrell is imploring everyone to get lucky, I'm making my way through tiny bikinis and too many fedoras at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas. That's because the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is made out of sugar and liquor, and my sweet tooth wants to get drunk.
The pool scene in Vegas is made up of a hundred ways to feel bad about yourself, but all of that disappears when you find the Neapolitan of Las Vegas, tucked away in a back corner of the Boulevard Pool. The air-conditioned room behind the DJ station is like an MIT Ph.D's wet dream: hot girls in bikinis and lab coats mix up boozy ice cream creations with liquid nitrogen. This is where science meets sexy and on a hot summer day in Vegas; it's a miracle to be able to cool down and get tipsy all at the same time.
They've got a full range of boozy popsicles and alcohol-infused sundaes (almost entirely made in-house), but the most interesting thing on offer here is the "Dot Dips," a high-proof play on Dippin' Dots that takes syringes full of pre-mixed cocktails and turns them into tiny little pebbles of anti-temperance. You've got two choices for your dippin' delight: the Peter Griffin takes your average peanut butter and jelly from after school snack to poolside chiller by taking 3 Olives Grape Vodka and mixing it with Castries Peanut Liqueur. The signature Neapolitan combines Stoli Vanilla with Bacardi Dragonberry and Roka Chocolate for a triple threat treat that melts in your mouth (and might possibly give you liquid nitrogen freezer burn).
The process is fairly simple. The mixologist/creamologist sucks up some of the batch-made cocktails into syringes, pours liquid nitrogen into a big metal bowl, and drops in dots of the concoction as she stirs. After a few seconds, the orbs freeze and get poured into a large bowl before heading out the door into the hot Las Vegas sun. Ice cream, booze and hot girls all in one transaction? We have a winner.
(inside the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas)
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 698-7000
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