Cocktails bring people together in a relaxed and comfortable way—a social lubricant, as they’ve been called—so it’s no surprise properties are offering groups hands-on, interactive programs to blend history, mixology and, of course, tasting. Here are some cocktail-inspired experiences that are sure to “mix up” a meeting.
Down in South Florida, the Caribbean culture is all around, and that includes the region’s most popular spirit, rum. The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village has partnered with local distillery Wicked Dolphin Rum and offers tours, lessons and tastings. At the distillery, groups are taken through the steps of how Wicked Dolphin Rum sources ingredients, cooks, ferments and distills its rum, and in the barrel room, there is an explanation of how the spirit gets its color and taste. Finally, in the tasting room, groups can sample different flavors and styles of rum. There is also a teambuilding option in which participants are provided recipe cards and challenged to craft a rum-based cocktail using Wicked Dolphin Rum and fresh local ingredients.
At New York City’s The Surrey, it’s room service for cocktails. The hotel’s Private Cocktail Experience brings drinks inspired by old New York, often using locally distilled spirits, to the comfort and privacy of guest rooms, suites or group space. Guests choose from an in-room menu and a bartender from the hotel’s Bar Pleiades will arrive to mix and pour libations ranging from an apple rickey or a gimlet to an old fashioned. For groups in the 2,800-square-foot presidential suite or 1,200-square-foot penthouse suites, the service includes a bottle of liquor and all needed ingredients. At the hotel’s private rooftop garden on the 17th floor, which can accommodate 40 guests, a cocktail alchemist can be on hand for cocktail-making demonstrations. A favorite is the lemon sorbet margarita, inspired by Peter D. Gerakaris’ Floating Garden, a botanic installation in the rooftop garden.
You can’t visit the Big Easy without sipping a cocktail, or two, and especially the city’s signature drink, the sazerac. At the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, which has 1,600 guest rooms and 130,000 square feet of event space, groups can participate in a hands-on mixology class at Public Belt, the hotel’s speakeasy-style piano lounge. The course begins with a history lesson on the drinks and the city’s influence on cocktail culture, followed by an interactive demonstration on crafting the perfect libation. The group will not only leave with new knowledge on mixology, but also a recipe card and Public Belt T-shirt.
Another hotel offering private cocktail service is The Gwen, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Chicago. The property’s Prohibition Porter program allows individual guests or groups to have crafted cocktails in their room, meeting space or anywhere on-property, which has nearly 6,400 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space. The 30-minute experience offers a choice of drinks, ranging from a 1930s-inspired cocktail menu, like an old fashioned or mint julep, and the mixologist will create and explain the concoctions.
After a local economic boom in 1876 thanks to the launch of the Texas and Pacific Railway, Fort Worth was a pulsing town with saloons and dance halls around the railroad depot, which earned the moniker Hell’s Half Acre. Today at Whiskey & Rye, located in the 263-room Omni Fort Worth Hotel, groups can learn to make the depot, a cocktail inspired by the city’s past and made with Texas whiskey, muddled blackberries, orange liquor, lemon juice and sugar. Around the corner from the hotel, and across the street from the Fort Worth Convention Center, is Acre Distilling Co., where groups can take tours, learn the history of the neighborhood and taste spirits such as barrel-strength bourbon, flavored vodkas and a variety of gins.