Christine Kim is Lead Bartender and Partner at Service Bar in Washington, D.C. and will be at this year’s Drink Las Vegas
Drink Las Vegas
A new food and drink festival is coming to the Las Vegas Strip next month from September 24 to 27, with plans that extend well beyond its inaugural four days.
Drink Las Vegas will debut across four MGM Resorts properties (ARIA, Bellagio, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Park MGM) with chef-driven dinners, rare wine tastings, cocktail experiences, educational programming, and plenty of star power. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Tom Colicchio and Daniela Soto-Innes are among the culinary heavyweights involved, while confirmed celebrity talent includes Shaquille O’Neal, Alix Earle, Jon Taffer, and Sammy Hagar.
But behind the big names is the larger goal of creating a new destination for the cocktail, wine, and spirits world at a moment when the beverage industry is facing significant headwinds.
“The industry desperately needs it,” says Brett Friedman, founder and CEO of a21, the agency behind some of the country’s biggest food and wine festivals and a partner bringing Drink Las Vegas to life. “Las Vegas doesn’t necessarily need it, right? But it’s the perfect event in the perfect market for an industry that’s going through an unfortunate moment.”
For Friedman, that timing is part of the point. “Considering the state of the liquor industry, I just couldn’t think of a better time than now, and that’s why we’re so bullish on this,” he says. “We’re leaning in when so much of the market is pulling away.”
Drink Las Vegas will bring together chefs, bartenders, winemakers, sommeliers, spirits producers, and hospitality personalities for four days of dinners, tastings, seminars, and brand experiences across the Strip. And while there is no shortage of culinary talent on the schedule, the goal is bigger than creating another food and wine festival.
“It is a new version of an event that is dedicated to that space,” Friedman says of the cocktail and wine industry during our phone interview.
Opening Night sets the tone with Jean-Georges Vongerichten and special guest Shaquille O’Neal, bringing together food, hospitality, and entertainment in a way that feels very Las Vegas.
There will be no shortage of food and drinks at this festival
Drink Las Vegas
Other programming is a bit more about what’s on the plate and, of course, in the glass. At Yellowtail, chefs Michelle Bernstein and Diego Oka will come together for MarUmi, a collaborative lunch exploring the intersection of Latin American ingredients and Japanese technique. Award-winning bartender Julia Momosé will pair each course with inventive cocktails inspired by both cultures, bringing the festival’s culinary and beverage worlds together at the table. Another lunch brings together Daniela Soto-Innes and husband-and-wife chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz for Elements of Agave, a multi-course menu inspired by the flavors and traditions of Latin America and paired with agave-forward pours.
Wine gets its own moments through The Vintner’s Table, a collection of intentionally intimate dinners. One pairs Carbone classics with Opus One wines, where the winemaker will join the table throughout the evening. Another brings Vongerichten together with Hundred Acre winemaker Jayson Woodbridge for an exceptionally limited dinner pairing Woodbridge’s sought-after Napa Cabernets with a Jean-Georges menu.
The festival also goes beyond traditional tasting events. Eleven Madison Park sommelier Nicholas Walters will lead Rated 100, guiding guests through wines that have earned perfect 100-point scores from Robert Parker across different vintages, regions, and grape varieties. Taffer will bring his podcast to the festival for a live conversation drawing on more than three decades in hospitality.
House of Pernod will turn a traditional brand showcase into an immersive hospitality experience featuring a portfolio that includes Absolut x TABASCO, Elyx Single Estate Vodka, Código 1530 Tequila, Jefferson’s Bourbon, Perrier-Jouët Champagne and Château Sainte Marguerite rosé.
Additionally, Hagar will be showcasing his spirits Santo Tequila and Beach Bar Rum, while Earle is slated to participate in the Timeless Taste Signature Tasting.
On The Record at Park MGM will house IN THE MIX: Music Meets Mixology hosted by Roy Choi
MGM Resorts
What Drink Las Vegas will look like in its first year isn’t necessarily what Friedman expects it to look like forever. While the inaugural edition pairs marquee culinary talent with immersive wine and spirits programming, the organizers see this edition of Drink Las Vegas as the beginning of a much longer journey.
Friedman says the festival is being built on a three-year timeline, with future years placing an even greater emphasis on the cocktail, wine, and spirits community as it grows into a destination for beverage professionals and enthusiasts alike.
“For any event, you have to look at it in terms of what the first three years will accomplish,” Friedman says. “We’re really looking to just get out of the gates and make a statement.”
Part of that longer-term vision is putting more of the people responsible for what ends up in the glass front and center. Friedman says future lineups will increasingly spotlight acclaimed bars and bring more of the international cocktail community to Las Vegas.
“The goal of this project is to be less about the food side and much more about the liquid side,” he says.
“Anything that’s new is challenging,” Friedman says. “New partners, the state of the industry, our collaboration with the industry, all the different alcohol partners, chef partners and, of course, our amazing partner in MGM. All of it is new.”
Then there are the expectations that come simply from putting Las Vegas in the name. “It’s got to be big. It’s got to be bold,” Friedman says. “It has to be unexpected and different.”
MGM Resorts is central to making that happen. Drink Las Vegas will begin across four of its properties, but Friedman says the long-term plan is significantly larger, hoping to eventually have programming represented across all 13 MGM properties on the Strip and potentially expanding the festival beyond its current four-day format.
That scale is part of what made Las Vegas—and MGM—an appealing home for a festival built around experiential drinking and dining.
“You really can’t think of a more ideal partnership than with MGM,” Friedman says. “They get the event business. They get what we do so well as an agency.”
The festival has also introduced several ways to experience the weekend. Standard passes are $1,530, while Select VIP passes are $2,185. Signature Tastings packages, which include three premium individual experiences, are $785 for GA and $975 for VIP. An industry-focused Inner Circle pass is available for $600, further underscoring Drink Las Vegas’ attempt to build something for the people working in beverage and hospitality as well as consumers who simply want to experience it.
“I think the industry needs it,” Friedman says. “I think there’s an appetite for it.”
The inaugural edition is the introduction. The bigger bet is that over the next several years Drink Las Vegas can become a gathering place for those in the drinks industry and eventually some of the biggest names on the festival marquee won’t only be the chefs and celebrities, but those of the people behind the bar.
