Downtown Las Vegas Therapy offers own brand of signature whiskey, IPA

If you think Fremont Street’s only signature beverages are booze-infused Technicolor slushies, think again. Downtown bar crawlers have plenty of options for unique Las Vegas drinks that don’t come with a sugar rush or a three-foot plastic cup.

East Fremont’s popular restaurant and watering hole Therapy will soon add a couple of more options, with its own brands of locally made beer and whiskey.

“What I’m looking for is for local people to have a place to chat, to display (their work) and show their uniqueness,” Therapy manager Maria Horta explains. So she’s asked Henderson’s Able Baker Brewing and downtown’s Nevada H&C Distilling Co. to create signature products she can feature at her bar.

H&C partner Aaron Chepenik, who also co-owns Fremont Street’s Griffin, says the collaboration is a first for the distillery. “She came to the facility, and we created something specifically for her flavor profile,” he says.

“I tasted every single one of the barrels they had, and mixed and matched,” Horta says of the creative process. “A little bit more of the corn. A little bit more of this, of that. I wanted a bourbon that is 110 proof, not 75 proof — I want it strong.”

The result is Therapy’s private label version of Smoke Wagon’s uncut and unfiltered whiskey. It’s 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye and 4 percent malted barley, and will be available the second week of April for sipping or in cocktails. And guests who like it will be able to purchase a bottle.

For customers who prefer beer to spirits, Horta has also forged a partnership with Henderson’s Able Baker Brewing. The company’s products, including its signature Atomic Duck IPA, are available in locations throughout the valley, and it’s created something special for Therapy.

“I gave (Horta) our Atomic Duck IPA, and she really enjoyed it,” brewery owner and co-founder James Manos says.

“And she said ‘I like your IPA, but I don’t think it’s hoppy enough for me.’ And I said ‘That’s an easy fix.’ ” He whipped up a version a little heavier on the hops, designed a custom red version of the duck’s head tap handle, and the bar will begin pouring Therapy Duck IPA by the second week of April.

Therapy’s kitchen will roll out new menu items to pair with the partner spirits. In winter, Horta hopes to combine the products by infusing the IPA with whiskey. In the meantime, Therapy will launch its own wine label in mid-April, although that’s made in Horta’s home country of Argentina. All of it, she says, is in pursuit of one simple goal.

“I want to create unique flavors for Therapy, that we only sell here.”

Now doesn’t that sound better than a giant margarita?

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter.