Vegas Day Drinkers Club

Vegas Day Drinkers - Episode 40 - Two Sticks W/ The Spirit of Amber Is The Yellow of Your Energy.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429000/fan_mail/new] Two videos hit YouTube this week. One said Vegas is about to break because the airport's too full. The other said Vegas is dying because the tourists aren't coming. Both went viral. Both can't be right — except they kind of are.  In Episode 40, we dig into the Spirit Airlines collapse and the Harry Reid International math problem nobody wants to talk about: 58.4 million passengers in 2024, a hard ceiling at 63–65 million projected to hit by 2030, and a relief valve at Ivanpah Valley that doesn't open until 2035 at the earliest. Meanwhile Sphere, F1, Super Bowl, WrestleMania, and the new MLB stadium keep stacking demand on top.  We also raise a glass to Brian Wolfe — a consummate bartender with deep craft knowledge from Paradise Cantina and Tenaya Creek — and use it as a jumping-off point to talk go-to shots through the generations: Red Headed Sluts, German Chocolate Cake, Pineapple Upside Down, Green Tea, and what's actually moving across the bar today.  Plus: - DBE talk at the County Commission  - Meeting Brett Barry at Armadillo Inn and Rustic Tap House  - A deep dive on Leroy and Lewis BBQ in Austin, TX  - Shout out to Tony and his wife from KC who sat with Darren and me recently  - The Lotto Store in Primm is closing  - VGK in Round 2 vs the Anaheim Ducks (good luck, but not too much, Mrs. Starkey)  - Bourdain Day, June 25th at Huntridge Tavern — sponsored by Jameson Black, proceeds to the CIA scholarship fund in Anthony Bourdain's memory  - Urban Slang of the Week: "liberty cabbage" Sip. Socialize. Shine. ——— Bourdain Day info, The Vegas Handshake newsletter, and more: https://thevegashandshake.com  Join the Vegas Day Drinkers Facebook community   Follow on TikTok: @vegasdaydrinkers Our Motto: Sip Socialize Shine!

Vegas Day Drinkers - Episode 39 - The Algorithm Walks Into The Bar

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429000/fan_mail/new] This week on Vegas Day Drinkers [https://www.facebook.com/groups/vegasdaydrinkersclub], Chris and Darren bounce from the NFL Draft to the barstool algorithm, and somehow it all still makes sense. The guys kick around Fernando Mendoza going number one on Thursday night, his Fanatics merch reportedly flying off the shelves, and what that says about sports fandom in the social media age. From there, it is Vegas sports talk: possible new teams, NBA and MLS rumors, VGK playoff energy, and the never-ending question of what this city becomes next. Chris recaps a visit to Kansas City, including the fries at Rosedale, the weather, gas prices, BBQ, and a moment remembering 45 BB. Then the conversation comes back home with thoughts on UFB in Vegas, early planning for Bourdain Day on June 25th, and first impressions of The Irish Spot. The boys also get into Phish at the Sphere, Fat Tire, Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat #9, veggie burritos, grilled sausage, early jam band culture, and why alternative beer once felt like a rebellion against the macro machine. Then it is full bar-culture chaos: Costco hot dog virality, Kirkland water, Coke returning after a decade, Stage Door moving away from Bud and Bud Light, Heineken, Dos Equis, Heineken 0.0, and the strange way brands live or die in real-world hospitality spaces. Finally, Chris and Darren unpack social media viability in hospitality, then close with a little urban slang education: the origin of "glizzy," what actually goes on a Chicago dog, and why terms like "dragged through the garden," “with the works," and "char dog" still matter in the language of food, bars, and neighborhood culture. Pour one up. The algorithm just ordered a round. Read More Stories at the Newsletter, The Vegas Handshake [https://thevegashandshake.com] Our Motto: Sip Socialize Shine!

Vegas Day Drinkers - Episode 38 - Origins: Two Bartenders, Three Decades, One Vegas Story

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429000/fan_mail/new] Every bartender has an origin story. This week, Chris and Darren finally tell theirs. Before the turnstiles. Before the 40 million travelers a year. Before the shift, meals at McMullan's. Two guys took two very different roads to end up on the same side of the same bar. Darren started in Seattle — cutting his teeth in a city that takes its drinks as seriously as its coffee — before heading south to Las Vegas in the early 2000s, where he found his home pouring Romulan Ales and Warp Cores at Quark's Bar inside the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. If you were there, you remember. If you weren't, Darren would take you back. Chris picked up the trade living in Europe, came to Vegas with a head full of continental bar culture and a year of hard knocks waiting for him. That year, the bartender who'd go on to help open the Hofbräuhaus, then cross the Strip to open Steiner's on South Las Vegas Boulevard — back when the Arts District was still a rumor, and South Vegas was where locals actually drank. Both paths led through McMullan's. Both paths led to Harry Reid International Airport, where they now work the busiest stretch of tile in the state — pouring for more than 40 million people a year who pass through on their way to somewhere else. This one's for the career bartenders, the Trekkies, the expats, the industry lifers, and anybody who's ever wondered how someone ends up doing this for twenty-plus years and still loves the work. Sip. Socialize. Shine. Our Motto: Sip Socialize Shine!

Vegas Day Drinkers - Episode 37 - Analog or Just a Stick in the Butt

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429000/fan_mail/new] Vegas is on a hot streak and the boys are feeling it. Chris and Darren open Episode 37 by closing out their on-location recap from Shenanigans at McMullan's Irish Pub — the perfect post-St. Patrick's Day, pre-St. Baldrick's Day hang. Then it's all Vegas, all the time. The NBA Board of Governors officially voted this week to explore expansion — and Las Vegas is one of two cities in the running, with the league targeting the 2028–29 season for a new franchise. Meanwhile, NFL owners are set to formally award Super Bowl 63 to Allegiant Stadium in 2029, a move insiders are already calling a done deal. And if that's not enough, Luke Combs just shattered the all-time attendance record at Allegiant — 70,921 fans on opening night, the largest indoor crowd in Nevada history. The guys round out the sports conversation with March Madness bracket talk, then shift into something a little more philosophical: the analog comeback. Vinyl is outselling digital downloads. Gen Alpha is reaching for real books and card games. Is this cultural unplugging a genuine movement — or just a stick in the butt? Pour one up and weigh in. Vegas Day Drinkers — celebrating bar culture as community, broadcasting from the Las Vegas Arts District. Sip. Socialize. Shine. 🥂 Our Motto: Sip Socialize Shine!

Vegas Day Drinkers - Episode 36 - Clover

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429000/fan_mail/new] In Episode 36 of Vegas Day Drinkers, hosts Chris and Darren settle in at Shenanigans for a conversation steeped in Las Vegas history, Irish pub culture, hospitality, sport, community, and heart. This week, the boys sit down with Brian McMullan, bar publican and the driving force behind McMullan’s Irish Pub, one of the most beloved Irish pubs in Las Vegas. Brian shares the story behind the formation of the pub in 2002, the vision behind its early design, and the journey that helped shape one of the valley’s true hospitality institutions. The conversation winds through Brian’s time with the Irish Pub Company, his experience with J.C. Woolighan’s in Summerlin, and his relationships with Nine Fine Irishmen at New York-New York, before eventually striking out on his own path. Chris and Darren also dig into the origin of one of McMullan’s most talked-about menu items, the legendary Irish Nachos, along with the pub’s unique interpretation of the Irish Coffee. But this episode goes beyond food and drink. Brian talks about his long-standing passion for bringing a more global sports culture to Las Vegas pub life, with consistent support for European soccer, rugby, Aussie rules football, and other nontraditional sporting events rarely given center stage in American bar culture. The guys also discuss McMullan’s role in supporting local Vegas teams through the years and how the pub has become a true gathering place for fans from every walk of life. The episode closes on what may be Brian’s most meaningful passion project: St. Baldrick’s. Chris, Darren, and Brian reflect on McMullan’s Irish Pub’s deep involvement in raising money and awareness for children’s cancer research, and how the pub has become a genuine cornerstone of the Las Vegas community through that mission. This is more than a pub story. It is a story about legacy, risk, culture, hospitality, and giving back. Pull up a pint and join us for one of the most informative and heartfelt episodes yet. Our Motto: Sip Socialize Shine!