This $120 cocktail on Strip features rare tequila, real antler glass

You’re in Wynn Las Vegas, at Overlook Lounge, noted for its opulent mood. You sip slowly. This cocktail is $120 (with tax).

Mariena Mercer Boarini, the Wynn’s celebrated mixologist, applies her alchemy to conjure this cocktail, dubbed The Matterhorn. She fashions the drink using Tequila Casa Dragones Joven, a silky mingling of silver and extra-aged tequilas flecked with vanilla and spice; its quality and small production contribute to the price.

Yzaguirre Reserva Dry Vermouth adds woodsy notes; Amaro Meletti brings florals and caramel. Mercer Boarini finishes The Matterhorn with spritzes of alpine cocktail perfume.

“There are millions of olfactory receptors but only thousands of tastebuds,” the mixologist says. “You do most of your tasting through your nose.”

The Matterhorn, Mercer Boarini adds, takes a manhattan, a classic American cocktail, and elevates it globally, with Mexican tequila, Spanish vermouth, Italian herbal liqueur. The Matterhorn arrives in a cocktail glass with a branched stem made of real antlers. The cocktail isn’t on the Overlook menu, so you’ll have to ask for it.

“It’s in the know,” Mercer Boarini says. “It’s insider cachet.”

National Tequila Day is July 24, offering another reason to order The Matterhorn. You sip slowly.

— — —

You drop by Tower Suite Bar in the Wynn. Coffered ceilings, glossy white molding and clusters of seating (and flowers) create the feel of a grand but still cozy drawing room. Tequila Casa Dragones makes an appearance here, too.

The Mystic ($24) is the first cocktail in Vegas to showcase Casa Dragones Reposado, which rests in casks of mizunara, a rare Japanese oak used to age Japanese whiskies. The reposado joins artisanal Dos Hombres Mezcal, Nightbloøm No. 3 Vodka infused with smoked dates, Nixta corn liqueur, Madagascar vanilla liqueur, spiced sangria tea syrup crafted by Mercer Boarini, and Angostura bitters.

The Mystic, she says, is “a whimsical remix of the classic of classics — the old-fashioned — but a more modern version and style.”

The cocktail starts with the fruit-forward character of the reposado, especially apricot, and layers in flavors from there: smoked date as a modifier, a whisper of mezcal, the sweetness and salinity of the corn liqueur (“It’s a little bit funky but in all the right ways”), and the lively warmth of spiced sangria tea syrup.

The Mystic, Mercer Boarini says, “is like the pairing of a fine nuanced old-fashioned and a cigar.” You puff slowly.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on Twitter.