DAVID J. CREWE
Las Vegas locals famously avoid The Strip’s mega-casino resort venues, but many make an exception for The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails in the Cosmopolitan. With its own separate space and live music nightly, it feels like a real bar, not an open-air pedestal in a sea of slot machines. Set immediately off the smaller of the resort’s Las Vegas Boulevard entrances on the corner by the Bellagio, it’s actually much easier to reach than most casino lounges—no matter where you stay on The Strip. For whisky lovers, music lovers, and bar lovers, it’s worth seeking out.
The entrance is an actual barbershop (10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and till midnight Friday and Saturday), where you can get a haircut ($70) or a straight-razor shave ($50). Those services all include complimentary well pours (Jack Daniel’s, Jameson, and Maker’s Mark). The Saloon, a speakeasy lounge, is hidden behind this, but even when it’s closed the full whisky list is available (1.5 ounces neat or 2 ounces on the rocks) for purchase in the barbershop.
The Saloon opens at night (6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, always “till closing”). The one very large and opulent Prohibition-themed room has a clubby Gatsby feel, with lots of dark leather nailhead couches, crystal chandeliers, towering fabric curtains, and a large saloon-style wooden bar with elaborate backlit shelves set into arched recesses. One end is dominated by a stage, and there's live music every night, including popular Karaoke Tuesdays where guests are backed by a live band rather than a machine. The comfy seating and dinner theater vibe makes it a place people come often and hang out longer. It’s also become popular for touring acts visiting town to drop by and join the bands onstage—folks like Machine Gun Kelly, Zac Brown, Macy Gray, and Bruno Mars.
The list offers 70 bourbons, ryes, and American whiskeys, more than 60 scotch single malts and blends, and more than a dozen labels each from Ireland and Japan, while Canada and Taiwan are lightly represented. There are many whiskies at $16 (Clyde Mays, Elijah Craig Small Batch, I.W. Harper, and Bowmore 12 year old), a surprising number of single malts $20 or less (Highland Park 15 year old, Macallan 12 year old Sherry Cask, Bowmore 15 year old Darkest) up to rarer finds like Yamazaki 18 year old ($100), Macallan Reflexion ($475), and Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old Limited Edition ($1,000). Rotating hard-to-find “off-menu” whiskies are showcased behind the bar. There are no set tasting flights, but guided one-on-one custom tastings are offered.
It’s Vegas, so there’s also overpriced bottle service, like Gentleman Jack ($500), Four Roses Single Barrel ($600), or Chivas Royal Salute ($700). It’s Vegas, so there are Jameson Picklebacks—served in pickle cups ($18). The Prohibition-era inspired cocktail list has interesting options like the whiskey-forward smoked Oil & Ore, a Manhattan-twist with Wild Turkey Longbranch, Averna, Grand Marnier, orange and Angostura bitters, smoked with cherry wood ($18). The signature shareable is the Bonnie + Clyde, made for two with Bulleit rye, Cointreau, Aperol, lemon juice, and simple syrup, served in a souvenir logo flask ($38).
There are not many bars where you can pop in for a shave, sip whiskey in the barber’s chair, then catch the band with craft cocktails. That’s the appeal of Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails—it has something for everyone.
thebarbershoplv.com
