Xania Woodman
Senior Editor, Dining, Beverage & Nightlife
Contact: 868-4508 • Email
Originally from New York, Woodman is an impassioned nightlife and beverage writer, editor, and blogger; a proud USBG Nevada member and Cornell Hotelie; and an all-around career carouser, causing a stir in Sin City since 2001. She has written for myriad publications including 944 and the LA Times and appears annually in The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas (Menasha Ridge Press). Woodman has presided over countless mixology competitions as a judge, including Throwdown With Bobby Flay and she approaches each with an open mind, a fresh palate and a ready pen.
Recent Articles
Freakin’ Frog Owner Launches Freakin’ Lightning
May 22nd, 2013
It was inevitable that UNLV beverage professor, bar owner and the creator of the patent-pending C-STEM spirits tasting enhancement method, Adam Carmer, would enter the market with his own brand of booze. Not surprisingly, it’s a whiskey; Carmer also owns the reservations-only Whisky Attic above his college staple, the Freakin’ Frog. What is surprising is that it’s a spirit whiskey—colorless, nearly odorless and with minimal flavor—not exactly the blockbuster small-batch bourbon or single-malt whiskey aged in a sunken pirate ship that Carmer’s devotees might have expected. (Don’t worry, Carmer assures, the geeky stuff will come.) But for now, it’s about getting the whiskey averse on the same page as the rest of us.
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How to Make Daylight's Clooney Cocktail
May 22nd, 2013
How do you capture sunlight in a glass? Tequila’s a great place to start. The spiky leaves of the blue agave have been soaking up Mexican rays for more than a decade, feeding the piña that, when roasted, mashed, fermented and distilled (to condense a centuries-old process down to a sentence), is tequila, ready for aging or not. In Las Vegas, the Light Group favors Casamigos as the company’s official tequila brand.
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Review: Velveteen Rabbit
Sisters are doin’ it for themselves at new Downtown watering hole
May 14th, 2013
There’s a new breed of bar in Las Vegas, and I’m hoping it multiplies. Velveteen Rabbit tried to open quietly on May 1, but a few devotees were just too excited to let the moment pass, myself included. So we flocked. I’ve been here three times since, and with each visit I notice a new detail, something that confirms my suspicion that this place is poised for success: the daily punch that keeps me guessing, the latest art added to the walls, the reasonable prices.
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How to Make Tao's Phuket Cocktail
May 14th, 2013
Part Asian inspiration, part tongue-in-cheek giggle over a name that, if pronounced incorrectly, could earn you at the very least an eyebrow raise from your bartender.
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A New Era for Restaurant Guy Savoy
Introducing, the Krug Chef’s Table
May 10th, 2013
Deep within Caesars Palace, one of the city’s tiniest dining rooms is receiving a huge overhaul.
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Vegas to Get More of Morimoto
Say sayonara to Japonais, hello to Morimoto Las Vegas, set to open in The Mirage next year
May 9th, 2013
Say sayonara to Japonais, hello to Morimoto Las Vegas, set to open in The Mirage next year.
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Go Beer Hunting
Because there’s breweries in them thar hills!
May 8th, 2013
If you thirst for adventure as well as homegrown beer, you can drink your way to a more intimate knowledge of your state by visiting its breweries. NevadaCraftBrewers.com is a great place to start planning. Here’s our handpicked list to whet the appetite:
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Climb a Volcano
A different kind of high for hikers
May 8th, 2013
“That’s Fortification Hill,” the Maverick helicopter pilot announced as we soared over an imposing black mesa parked at the edge of Lake Mead like a gloomy iceberg. “It’s an extinct volcano.”
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The Long Road to Market and WSWA’s Top Sips
May 7th, 2013
I’m still reeling from all the exciting new products and brands I encountered at the recent Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America convention (WSWA) in Orlando. Over three days, some 2,300 industry members gathered to pour over new products and services from the more than 300 exhibitors and sponsors. WSWA is the place for new brands to launch and to connect with distributors so that they can make their way around the country, into our local liquor stores and eventually into my glass.
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How to Make Press' Las Vegas Sunset Cocktail
May 7th, 2013
Climate-controlled farmers markets have made eating local (or relatively so) easier than ever—even in the desert. And Four Seasons’ worldwide 100-Mile Cocktail program makes it easy to drink local, too. Containing only ingredients sourced within 100 miles from its properties, the locavore-inspired Las Vegas Sunset cocktail ($15) debuted May 3 along with the resort’s new lobby bar, Press. Bar manager Sanjiv Gupta’s farm-to-glass cocktail is built over crushed ice, and features Las Vegas Distillery’s Rumskey (a sort of rum-whiskey hybrid), farmers-market produce, local honey and a house-made strawberry-rhubarb shrub, a sweetened vinegar-based syrup. Taking a cue from tiki drinks—also available at Press—the cocktail’s layers mimic the wondrous display Las Vegans are accustomed to each night at sundown. It doesn’t get any more local than that.
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