ML - Vegas Magazine

photography by Square Shooting With his slick ponytail and his rock-star-skinny suits, Craig Schoettler may not look like a beverage innovator, but wait till you taste what he's pouring. There are several immediate giveaways that Craig Schoettler, recruited last year to run the cocktail program at Aria, is not your typical casino beverage guy, starting with his hardware demands: carbon- ators, recirculating chillers, aquarium pumps, and, most notably, a rotovap (rotary evaporator, if that helps). With it, Schoettler can make pulp-free pine- apple juice and heatless Fresno chili water (you get the f lavor without the mouth burn). But more impor- t a nt , h is unor t hodox ways have produced some mind-blowingly good libations, instantly elevating Las Vegas's casino cocktail game. A trained chef, Schoettler honed his craft at the Aviary, the Chicago mixology mecca co-owned by superst a r chef Gra nt Achat z, before A r ia execu- t ives lured him away to tur n booze into ba it for gamblers. "We provide experiences that you would really need to seek out [if you were] in your home- town," says Schoettler with some understatement, fig uring that he has the only rotovap west of the Mississippi. He slides over a cockt a il ca lled The Wild West. With its clever use of f lavored ice cubes— which change the taste of this bourbon-laced drink as they melt—it's a memorable bit of boozy legerde- ma in. But like a ny sk illed mag icia n, Schoet t ler makes it seem effortless: "It's like four or five dif- ferent cockt a ils in one. Nor ma l ice cubes dilute. Instead, why not add ice that complements?" Beyond exquisite fa ncy d r inks, Schoet t ler's k now-how a nd connect ions pa ir nicely w it h t he buy ing power of A r ia. I n addit ion to overseeing the resort's custom-brewed Cabaletta beer, he has been able to acquire ext remely ra re, ext raordi- na r ily expensive bott les of whiskey. He t icks off a Gordon & MacPhail bottling of 1940 Glenlivet Scotch, a 62 -yea r - old Maca lla n, a nd enough Hardy's Perfection to fill a Sky Villa bathtub. "We cha rge $5, 50 0 a pou r for t he Glenlivet —I could never have done that in Chicago," he says, acknowl- edging that Vegas is one of the few places where people will part with that kind of cash for spirits. "So far we've sold half the bottle, and it is fantastic. Clients have gotten smarter. They want rare; they want different. We provide those experiences." Schoettler is aware that his job is as much about entertainment as liquor. "People like to live it up when they come to Vegas," he says. "We want to make their experiences memorable and keep them com- ing back to see something new." arialasvegas.com V Mix Master CoCktail alChemist Craig SChoettler deCamps from ChiCago for Vegas. magiC happens. by michael kaplan INSIGHT: LocaL beer of choice: "Sin City and Big Dog's both do fantastic jobs. When I'm home, I drink something out of a can, since it functions as a mini-keg." Last great book: "Jim Meehan's PDT Cocktail Book is fantastic. And you can make the cocktails at home." 60  vegasmagazine.com PeoPle Desert Patrol

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