Take Fragrances at the Ritz-Carlton, Berlin. Guests who want to spend the evening knocking back a few Martinis on Potsdamer Platz should walk over to the lobby’s Curtain Club instead of coming here, because this aromatic haven is meant for guests who want to turn their night into an interactive sensory journey. Instead of being handed a classic menu, they will whiff their way through an artfully curated wall of fragrances, seeing the corresponding liquor bottles beckon to them from bell jars. Barkeeps here know exactly how to translate a perfume’s olfactory profile to cocktail form. Aventure – a nod to Berlin’s own Frau Tonis Parfum scent – is a delicate mix of rose lemonade, Yamagata Masamune sake, verjus, bergamot, orange blossom water grenadine and an earthy syrup of vanilla, vetiver, ylang-ylang, patchouli and sandalwood. The ‘Vaara’, which references the Penhaligon’s potion of the same name, combines pear purée with saffron-infused Zacapa 23 rum, Bulleit bourbon, rosewater and vanilla-honey-tonka-bean syrup.
If you like the idea of planning an outing to an alluring niche bar, consider these:
Black Angel’s Bar, Hotel U Prince, Prague, Czech Republic: Close to the medieval Prague Astronomical Clock, that tourist favourite on Old Town Square, is Black Angel’s Bar. Hidden underneath the Hotel U Prince, it’s essentially a classy cave with 1930s speakeasy leanings. Come drink a ‘From Dust Till Foam’ (gin, lemon, Aperol, fresh grapefruit juice, elderflower foam) or the pleasant, pretty ‘Concord’ (gin, dry vermouth, strawberry syrup) – both cocktails that honour the early 20th-century Czech bartender Alois Krcha –amid the soaring arches.
The Chandelier, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, US: Hotel bars on the Las Vegas Strip are on completely different turf than their brethren. The city has considerably upped the quality of its beverage programmes through the years, led by bartenders such as the Chandelier’s Mariena Mercer Boarini, yet bars are still showy and theatrical – exactly how they need to be (and, when in Vegas, how you want them to be) in order to capture the fleeting attention of restless tourists meandering across the casino floor. The Chandelier, originally designed by Rockwell Group, is comprised of three different bars, all situated within a gleaming, tri-level structure sheathed in undulating string and crystal. You’re either sitting at the bottom of the Chandelier with a ‘Whiskey Business’ (Knob Creek bourbon, Amaro di Angostura, Amaro Meletti, ‘old time rock ’n’ roll’ syrup); tucked inside it sipping an ‘Evil Twin’ (Don Julio Anejo tequila, Laird’s apple brandy, Allspice Dram, Zirbenz pine liqueur, smoked maple syrup); or at the very top, trying the Mule-inspired ‘Finishing School ‘(CÎROC Red Berry vodka, lemon, strawberry-rhubarb rose syrup, ginger beer, plum bitters).
The Milk Room, Chicago Athletic Association, Chicago, US: There are only eight stools at this bar on the second floor of the Chicago Athletic Association hotel, and the booze geeks who don’t flinch at the hefty prices must reserve in advance. Here, bar-goers are wooed by an ever-changing stock of rare spirits such as a Very Old Fitzgerald bourbon bottled in bond from 1945–53, or a 1978 Delord BasArmagnac. When a bottle of 1970s Tarragona Chartreuse graces the eclectic collection, the bartender will be happy to let it sing in a truly retro ‘Last Word’.
Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, Fairmont San Francisco, US: In 1945, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer set designer was tasked with reimagining the Fairmont San Francisco’s one-time pool into a lagoon and floating stage. The occasion was the opening of the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, a tiki paradise that embodied the post-World-War-II fascination with the Polynesian idyll. Dancing on the floor fashioned from the remains of S.S. Forester, a schooner that darted between San Francisco and the South Seas, pausing only for sips of Don the Beachcomber’s 1934 ‘Zombie’, was all the reassurance folks needed that a better life was indeed around the bend. Overlook the cloying cocktails – you’re here because the thatched roofs and tropical storms, replete with lightning and rain falling from the ceiling above the lagoon, are an illusion you’re not ready to shatter.
destinations fuelled by a singular vision
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interactive sensory journey
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an allusion you’re not ready to shatter
No. 25
Juniper/Beetroot/Pineapple/Cocktail
BAR AM STEINPLATZ AT HOTEL AM STEINPLATZ, BERLIN, GERMANY
INGREDIENTS
40 ml (1⅓ fl oz) Freimeister Doppelwacholder juniper spirit
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) Faude beetroot (beet) spirit
20 ml (⅔ fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice or lemon-infused water
15 ml (½ fl oz) Pineapple Syrup*
2 drops of mint oil
*For the Pineapple Syrup:
500 ml (17 fl oz) simple syrup
5 ml (1 teaspoon) pineapple essence
METHOD
For the Pineapple Syrup, combine the simple syrup and pineapple essence in a mixing glass.
For the cocktail, stir all the ingredients together in a separate mixing glass filled with ice, then double strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Finish with a couple of drops of the mint oil.
Hotel am Steinplatz opened in Berlin’s swanky Charlottenburg neighbourhood in 1913 – an Art-Nouveau marvel that was the handiwork of Jugendstil architect August Endell, who designed the city’s Hackesche Höfe courtyard complex. After a restoration in 2013, the olive-green-hued building, festooned with geometric decorative elements, still stands out, encouraging passersby to walk underneath
