Signature cocktails
Hit on the right recipe and you could be cashing in
There must be a module on it in the tourism management degrees: have your hotel create a signature cocktail and your business will be set for decades to come. It’s worked for the makers of the bloody mary, the martini, the sidecar and the singapore sling. Their hotel homes ratchet-up the drink prices, while claiming that they’re serving a slice of history as a bar snack.
It makes sense to make your onsite bars and restaurants the place to be to keep guests’ wallets near your own tills. And hotels wanting to invest in their shared spaces should be applauded since most hotel bars and restaurants are tired, uninteresting and empty. But when you’re a fivestar joint that created a beverage known the world over, you can sit pretty knowing the novelty factor will keep the punters ordering.
Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel
You know you’ve had a good day at the office when your cocktail creation goes on to become the national drink of your country. That’s exactly the kind of day barman Ngiam Tong Boon from Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar had in 1915. The boozy long drink, which mixes gin, orange and lime juices, grenadine and cointreau, suits Singapore’s tropical climate and will again draw the tourist crowd when the historical Raffles re-opens this year after extensive renovations.
Pay for the privilege: The Long Bar last sold a Sling for NZ$39.
Martini at the Knickerbocker Hotel, New York City
If you can’t invent the national drink, another option is to create a concoction named after yourself. And in serving hotel regular John D Rockerfeller, a bartender named Martini di Arma di Taggia created the signature classic cocktail: the martini. A potent blend of gin, vermouth and bitters went global. Years later, at Dukes London, Ian Fleming made the cocktail legendary, writing them into his James Bond novels, ‘‘shaken, not stirred’’, naturally. Pay for the privilege: Served at the hotel’s Charlie Palmer at The Knick for NZ$36.
Bloody Mary at the St Regis, New York City
The brunch-time staple and much-hyped hair-ofthe-dog mix of vodka, tomato juice, pepper and Worcester sauce was originally called the red snapper – to not offend the posh guests staying at this luxury hotel in the 1930s. Its creator Fernand Petiot had been working on similar creations as far back as 1921 in another famous watering hole, Harry’s Bar in Paris (a Hemingway hangout). Modern takes include celery and horseradish garnish, tabasco sauce and even stacks of onion rings, but the King Cole bar at the St Regis became a New York icon by playing up its history and the original recipe is still served here.
Pay for the privilege: Sure to make your hangover worse, that’ll be $37 (plus tip).
Sidecar and Mimosa at the Hotel Ritz, Paris
The Hotel Ritz claims the straight-up sidecar (cognac, cointreau and lemon juice) and brunchfavourite mimosa (bubbles and orange juice). The latter was invented at the hotel around 1925 by bartender Frank Meier, while the former is claimed by London and Paris after coming on to the scene in the early 1920s. Bar Hemingway in Paris’ Hotel Ritz can certainly claim the most expensive Sidecar, selling one with rare 19thcentury cognac in the early 2000s for just shy of $3000.
Pay for the privilege: A classic sidecar will be just under $50 at Bar Hemingway and $46 for a mimosa at art-deco-themed Bar Ritz.