Described as “an amusement park for adults,” the Lost Spirits Distillery in Las Vegas and its accompanying 16-course dinner bring the concept of eat-ertainment to new levels.
In fact, for diners willing to spend $295 for the optional dinner to go along with the immersive distillery tour, the experience takes them 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, to be precise.
“We're a really cool boutique distillery, and we also happen to have one of the best-selling shows in Las Vegas, and we have a super over-the-top restaurant inside,” says Bryan Davis, co-founder and CEO of Lost Spirits.
Davis invented a method for aging spirits in a laboratory several years ago while operating Lost Spirits in Los Angeles with his partner, Joanne Haruta. He also created a dinner show at that distillery, themed around The Island of Doctor Moreau, but was forced to shut it down at the start of the pandemic.
He then took his creative talents to Las Vegas’s Area 15, which is a venue for immersive entertainment and events, where he created the unique Lost Spirits Distillery tour and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fine-dining experience together with Haruta and chef Taylor Persh, formerly of Bazaar by José Andres and a handful of Los Angeles restaurants.
Featuring acrobatic performers in a series of tasting rooms, the Lost Spirits Distillery tour is considered a show by itself.
“You're not really in a seat watching it,” says Davis. “As you wander around through the different sets, you encounter different stages with different performances on them, and various sort-of speakeasies tucked inside where you can taste different booze.”
For those who choose the added dinner option, the experience includes 16 courses themed loosely after events from the Jules Verne adventure science fiction novel, which is about a mad submarine captain who takes his American captives on an undersea tour of the world. While several extravagant meals are described in the book, the restaurant doesn’t seek to duplicate any of them directly, Davis says.
“For all of his brilliance, Jules Verne wasn't really a cook,” says Davis. “He has a lot of impossible dishes in the book—you can't really make booze out of seaweed.”
Among the dishes inspired by the book’s adventures are a roasted pig’s head and braised squab breasts, both inspired by a stop at an island that the book describes.
While the Los Spirits Distillery tour sells thousands of tickets per month, the 20,000 Leagues dinner is limited to two seatings of 14 guests each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, and is sold out weeks in advance.
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