Here’s a secret: if you’re ever looking for new ways to spice up your cocktail know-how, ask your hotel bartender. Most up-scale resorts employ food & beverage staff that rival your favorite restaurants and bars; these people are the best of the best. But because they’re also in the hospitality business, they’re often much more chatty and (maybe) willing to share a secret or two. Now with fall here and winter around the corner, many of us struggle with the complex and heavy flavors of a hearty, cold-weather drink; something that, in summertime, seemed as easy as throwing some fruit in a pitcher of white wine. So we at TURNER took a second to admit defeat (dumping rum in a glass of cider can only go so far), swallow our pride and ask the pros at our favorite hotel bars for advice. Here’s what they told us:
For the beginner:
- Winter Warmer; Waldorf Astoria Park City, Utah
- 5 oz. Cruzan Estate Single Barrel Rum
- 5 oz. Red Barn Cider from Santaquin, Utah
- 5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
- Hard Spiced Sugar Rim
- Drink Preparation Instructions: Heat the cider, and combine all ingredients together in a mug.
For the intermediate:
- Whiskey Spiced Chai Latte; Stanley Hotel, Estes Park
- 5 Spicebox Canadian Bourbon
- 8 oz milk
- 2 oz Tazo spiced chai mix
- Fresh Nutmeg
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Drink Preparation Instructions: Combine 1.5 oz Spicebox Canadian Bourbon with the milk and chai. Steam the mix to a froth. Top the mix with the nutmeg and garnish with the cinnamon stick. Serve hot.
For the expert:
- The Chile Berry Glow; Hotel Parq Central, Albuquerque
- (Wet ingredients)
- 4 oz Gran Reposado Centenario tequila
- 4 oz water
- 6 dashes Aztec chocolate bitters
- 1/2 oz agave syrup
- (Dry ingredients)
- 2 tsp medium NM grown red chile
- 10 dried raspberries
- 1tsp dark Ghirardelli cocoa powder
- Drink Preparation Instructions: Ignite flame, and upon completion of infusion serve in glasses with 1 ounce of our chile berry chocolate purée,and 1.5oz half and half. Stir, drink, and enjoy the glow. ¡Salud!
- Apple Infused Angel’s Envy; Westin Austin Downtown, Austin
- 12 Honey crisp apples sliced (circular)
- 1 750ml Angel’s Envy bourbon
- Infusion Preparation: Layer the sliced apples around a 1 gallon glass infuser (be sure to only overlap the apples by 1Ž4 so that the bourbon can take on the apple flavor. Pour in the bottle of angles envy and cover. Allow the fruit to infuse with the bourbon four 4 days, do not go over the 4 days (this will bitter the bourbon) extract the infusion and use as needed.
