These Hotels Offer Their Own Signature Alcohol Gallery
These Hotels Offer Their Own Signature Alcohol
Who doesn't love a good hotel bar — bellying up with people you'll never see again, backpackers squeezed between businessmen and pilots, the distance between stool and bed covered in under a minute? Hotel bars are classic, timeless, but many hotels and resorts have transcended them, offering not just plain old bars, but signature liquors. That bartender in the vest and bowtie is no longer just handing you a martini — she's handing you a martini made with gin you can't drink anywhere else. She's not just pouring your beer; she's pouring a beer brewed just feet from where you're sitting.
As the travel industry becomes increasingly competitive, hotels and resorts are constantly upping their game, and that means tailoring their food and beverage programs to travelers who want unique experiences. Resorts are pulling out all the stops — letting guests do everything from learning about tequila with an in-resort tequila sommelier to taking a BMW out for a spin before heading back to the hotel for a whiskey nightcap.
"Today's traveler wants a more authentic experience," says Arleta Cosby of Cosby Travel Consultants. "That includes everything — accommodations, culinary offerings, activities. If resorts make their own liquors, they're providing guests with a more immersive experience, and often, helping them learn about the destinations they're visiting." Here are a few cool places to stay where you can imbibe the hotel's very own booze.
THE ROW, Reno, Nevada
At THE ROW in Reno, Nevada, three resorts (Eldorado Resort Casino, Circus Circus Resort, and Silver Legacy Resort Casino) combined into one, The Brew Brothers is the first-ever craft brewery in America to operate inside a casino and makes not just beers, but also the sweet and frothy Don's Root Beer, named after the founder, Don Carano. The Brew Brothers, one of 25 restaurants at THE ROW, serves delicious wood-fired pizzas. Once you're full of IPA and pepperoni, wander over to Eldorado Coffee Co. for coffee and fresh pastry, play a little poker, or hit The Spa at Silver Legacy, where the salt and sugar scrubs contain indigenous botanical ingredients, including the bark of white pine, which grows in Nevada and smells like vanilla.
AC Hotel Columbus Dublin, Dublin, Ohio
I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're unfamiliar with central Ohio's distillery scene. But it's a thing! Columbus is teeming with distilleries, making it a really cool, affordable weekend jaunt for people who like learning about booze (and drinking it). After a day of distillery-hopping, crash at AC Hotel Columbus Dublin, a hotel that slings its own gin. Check out the beautiful rooftop Spanish restaurant, Vaso, for paella and a cocktail made with Four Peel Gin. You probably also had no idea that you could go to Columbus for cool photos, but the panoramic view from Vaso of the Scioto River is spectacular.
Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Here are a few things you should know about tequila: 1) Stop shooting it! Unless you're a frat boy. Start sipping it, the way they do in Mexico. 2) It's only tequila if it comes not just from the blue agave, but from the blue agave's heart. And 3) It's only tequila if it comes from the Mexican state of Jalisco, home to one of the world's best beach towns, Puerto Vallarta. The Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa grows its own blue agave on site and produces its own tequila, CasaMagna. If you stay there, you can take a tequila tasting class with the resort's tequila sommelier. You'll also like the new oceanfront Ceviche & Tequila Bar, which offers more than 180 tequilas.
The Wauwinet, Nantucket, Massachusetts
The Wauwinet, a luxury inn overlooking a wildlife refuge on Nantucket, partnered with a local distillery and a local brewery to make only 200 bottles of Woody 25 Single Malt Whisky, so named because of the antique Chevy Woody the resort keeps on property. If you don't know what a Chevy Woody is (I sure didn't), it's a car, and if you like cars, you should book the Wauwinet's Anchorage House; if you stay there, you get a complimentary BMW to drive around the island.
Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club, Bermuda
If you're going to vacation in Bermuda, you'll probably drink a whole bunch of Dark 'n Stormies, the island's official drink. The cocktail is trademarked by Gosling Brothers Limited, a Bermuda-based rum manufacturer, and is made from ginger beer, ice, Gosling's Black Seal rum, and a wedge of lime. If you stay at Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club, you'll have to try their Princess Rum, Gosling's single-barrel reserve that's exclusive to the resort. Though the name sounds playful, "Dark 'n Stormy" refers to the storm clouds responsible for turning the sea around Bermuda into a graveyard for more than 300 wrecked ships.
The Vines Resort & Spa, Uco Valley, Argentina
South of Mendoza, Argentina, at the base of the Andes, the Uco Valley is one of the world's most important wine regions, not to mention one of the most beautiful. If you stay at The Vines Resort & Spa, a wine and culinary resort on 1,500 acres of private vineyards, you'll get to taste The Vines of Mendoza Winery's award-winning estate "Recuerdo" wines, including its delicious malbec, the grape the region is most known for. Exploring the Mendoza wine region is not only good for your sense of adventure, but can be great for your health, too. Here are 20 reasons why you should drink a glass of wine each day.
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