Best Cocktail Lounge — The Chandelier
The Chandelier is three stories and millions of crystals’ worth of glitter: The contents of one’s glass are equally dazzling. Andrew Pollard’s multitiered cocktail menu blends the flashy and the elegant in one shimmering shaker. The menu features sophisticated twists on classics, such as the old fashioned and the gin and tonic, as well as exotic flavors such as bergamot. Drinks also come with Vegas-style flourishes — puffs of smoke, clouds of foam, or chocolate cigars. cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/lounges-bars/the-chandelier
Best Beer — The Silver Stamp
This downtown watering hole has only been open for two years, but already feels like an institution. The wood panel walls lined with vintage beer cans, array of Budweiser Clydesdale figurines, and Miller Lite mirrors create a throwback rec room vibe, but the beer selection features the newest brews. From Belgian Tripel to smoked beer, farmhouse saison to imperial stout, it’s all in Rose Signor and Andrew Smith’s carefully curated bottles and taps. Friendly bartenders and suburban-excess Halloween/Christmas decor are the icing on the cake — or, more appropriately, the froth on the pint.
silverstamplv.com
Best Wine Bar — Garagiste Wine Room
With its relaxed vibe and industrial decor, Garagiste may not seem like a James Beard nominee — until you open the wine list. It includes around three dozen selections by the glass and two or three hundred more by the bottle, at a wide range of varieties and price points. Choose from Pinot Noirs, Rieslings, and Champagnes and, while you can splash out more than $400 on a 2015 Remoissenet Père & Fils Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru Chardonnay, most bottles are in the double digits. Garagiste also offers a thoughtful selection of craft beers, as well as cheese and charcuterie plates. garagistelv.com
Best Sports Bar — Sporting Life Bar
With one NHL trophy and two WNBA championships, Las Vegas sports fans have plenty to raise a toast to and plenty of places to do it. Sporting Life Bar is as comfortable during a packed playoff watch party as it is during the preseason chill, when sparser crowds nurse their beverages in relative calm. The game is visible from anywhere because of the bar’s 24 60-inch screens, and a bar top made from the hardwood of an old basketball court adds authentic flair. The menu of burgers, nachos, and wings is expected but unexpectedly well done. sportinglifebar.com
Best Theme Bar — The Golden Tiki
Excessive themes used to be a big part of Las Vegas casinos, from the Dunes’ Arabian Nights to Vegas World’s space fantasy. Today, bars fill that adult-Disneyland niche, and no one does it better than The Golden Tiki, which serves throwback Polynesian paradise alongside your Banana Batida or Piranha Punch. Enter through a pirate’s cave, order a rum drink at the thatched-roof bar topped with celebrity shrunken heads and a foulmouthed animatronic parrot, then lounge in a booth while enjoying entertainment ranging from exotica DJs to Dean Martin impersonators. thegoldentiki.com
Best New Bar — Triple Down
There may be nothing less punk rock than a museum bar pushing themed drinks for tourists, but the Triple Down manages to combine accessibility and credibility with a sticker-studded, dimly lit atmosphere and drinks served in Pringles cans. An annex of the Punk Rock Museum and an offshoot of Vegas’ legendary dive, the Double Down Saloon, the Triple Down isn’t just a place to stop after viewing the exhibits, but also has its own entrance and its own happy hours, trivia nights, guest DJs and even birthday parties for punk legends, complete with cake and candles. thepunkrockmuseum.com/the-triple-down-bar