The Velveteen Rabbit passed a major milestone September 12 with the debut of its second cocktail menu, a collaborative effort between owners Christina and Pamela Dylag, and bartenders Lyle Cervenka and Rustyn Vaughn Lee, who have two cocktails each ($8) on the Arts District bar’s strong follow-up menu.
• Ealanta, the newest private-edition release from Glenmorangie, rolled out in Las Vegas on February 13 at an invite-only tasting in the Laundry Room, the speakeasy at Commonwealth. Guests enjoyed Glenmorangie cocktails such as the Clean & “Stober,” but the guest of honor was the Ealanta, Scots Gaelic for ‘skilled and ingenious.’ This 19-year-old Highland single-malt—a toffee bomb with flavors of candied orange peel, vanilla and marzipan—was matured in new American oak from Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest.
A visit to Downtown’s Velveteen Rabbit confirmed for this concerned cocktailian that while owners Pamela and Christina Dylag missed the slated late-January opening, all is well in hand. The diminutive craft beer-and-cocktail bar at 1218 S. Main Street is on track for the end of March, and judging by the look of things, it will be worth the wait.