George Austin Sproule has moved from Downtown to the Strip and brought his taste for crafted cocktails with him.
Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 | 9:08 a.m.
If you frequent Downtown Cocktail Room as much as the Weekly does [cough, that’s Xania’s seat, buck-o], then you might have noticed a familiar face increasingly absent from behind the stick.
Since early November, bartender/mixologist George Austin Sproule, whose cocktail stylings many times have graced the pages of this publication, has been making the transition over to The Taverna at Palazzo’s Carnevino.
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Still “the new guy” at Batali and Bastianich’s steakhouse digs, Sproule says he is settling into the casino environment, learning his way around the Tavena’s comprehensive bar menu and working with executive pastry chef Doug Taylor — also of Molto Vegas farmer’s market — to begin prepping the bar for a new cocktail menu of neo-Italian classic cocktails using Molto’s market-fresh produce.
“They’ve got an insane selection of amaros,” says Sproule of Carnevino’s collection of Italian herbal liqueurs, “and probably the greatest selection of grappa in the city.”
Among the latter are crab apple, prickly pear and Concord grape infusions. Sproule himself will be accompanying Taylor into the field (literally) in February to gather stone fruits for bottling Molto Vegas’ delicious house-made infusions.
Downtown’s denizen may weep for the perceived loss of a beloved barman — Sproule has been with DCR since June of 2007 — but Sproule assures he will be making cameo appearances from time to time, much to the delight of DCR’s cocktail devotees.
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