Through Hotels With Great Taste, we’re unveiling the “secret ingredient” hotels utilize to craft unforgettable and meaningful dining experiences for their patrons.
I regard the hotel bar as a remnant of the travel journey, a remnant from a past era when retreating to a wood-clad chamber off the lobby and billing a Cabernet or a neat double scotch to your room was evidence of you being truly living.
Even as they start to break away from this outdated stereotype—establishments situated in a Four Seasons and a Courtyard by Marriott have recently been recognized as James Beard Award semifinalists in the bar categories, for instance—recently and stylish still aren’t my keywords for hotel bars.
This led to my delightful surprise at discovering a bar initiative that is both exquisite and trendy at the Rosewood hotel in Munich. Descend the staircase to Bar Montez, where you will encounter one of the most creative nonalcoholic drink offerings I’ve encountered globally.
Rosewood Munich
The ambiance of the bar, featuring dim lights, plush chairs, Art Deco designs, and golden accents, would have seamlessly blended with the speakeasy trend of the late 2000s and early 2010s. However, during my visit, the jazz trio in the heart of the room (an almost nightly presence) performed in T-shirts and jumped decades in their song repertoire, shifting from Gershwin to an Ed Sheeran instrumental. It felt warmly welcoming, whether you belong to the mixology crowd or lean more towards a simple vodka soda.
This “everyone’s invited to be stylish here” atmosphere is also at the core of the zero-proof drink selection. “Why were non-alcoholic beverages tucked away on another menu page for so long?” ponders bar manager Mario Schulz, one of the creative forces behind the cocktails. “A non-alcoholic drink [crafted at a cocktail bar] should be regarded in the same light as any other—without justifications, special considerations, or labels.”
To achieve this, Schulz initiated a menu pairing—an alcoholic and NA variant of the same beverage. Unlike other bars attempting something similar, the two cocktails share a remarkably similar taste.
Juice crafted from freshly pressed apples simmered with thyme and a hint of malic acid elevates a gin and soda known as the Malicious with an excellent combination of tartness and sweetness. The alcohol-free version employs a Bavarian NA spirit instead of Hendrick’s, yet retains all the richness and taste of its gin counterpart.
Rosewood Munich
