Fall is in the air, and what better way to ring in the coziest time of year than with the most delicious cocktail? As much as we all love heading out to a favorite hotel bar and to enjoy a perfectly autumnal drink, sometimes you just need to bring the hotel ambiance into your home and put your bartending skills to the test to concoct the loveliest fall drinks. It’s also a way to bring your favorite hotels into your home, at a time when not everyone is able to jet off to their most-adored haunt.
Subscribe to Observer’s Lifestyle Newsletter
Luckily, we found all the best cocktails from the most luxurious hotels all around the world, so you can bring a little taste of your favorite drink
Apple Cider Margarita
No.27 The Shelbourne Hotel Bar, Dublin, Ireland
“Merging an Irish classic winter warmer with hot apple cider, we create this funky fusion,” Sean McGoldrick, the Shelbourne’s bar and lounge manager, explained. By combining these two we put a bespoke twist on a widely loved cocktail, using Irish cloudy apple juice, orange juice and tequila, we create a finely balanced winter warmer to be much loved by all during the frosty season.”
Recipe:
1 oz Olmeca Alots
3.5 oz Irish Cloudy Apple Juice
1 oz orange juice
.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz agave syrup
Combine all ingredients in a steamer jug (or a milk frother); steam until hot. Serve.
Trick or Treat
Lifesaving Station Restaurant at Sanderling Resort in Outer Banks, North Carolina
“Kahlua, crea, and pumpkin spice syrup juxtapose with bourbon and a bacon garnish, making the Trick or Treat a savory and sweet combination made to spook the senses,” said bartender Fredy Cruz. “Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to create cocktails for, because October is a month with many flavorful ingredients available.”
Recipe:
1.5 oz bourbon
.5 oz Kahlua
.5 oz cream (can use half and half)
1 oz bacon pumpkin spiced syrup
Add all ingredients into a shaker; shake and pour over ice.
Coffee & Coke
The Living Room at The Dewberry in Charleston, South Carolina
Recipe:
1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
.25 oz Gran Classico
.25 oz Mancino Rosso Vermouth
1 oz espresso
1 dash chocolate bitters
1 oz Coca-Cola
Add all ingredients except for Coca-Cola to a shaker tin. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds and double strain into a rocks glass with ice. Top with Coca-Cola, garnish with an orange slice.
LAV Flaming Coffee Cocktail
The Lodge at Vail, a RockResort in Vail, Colorado
Recipe:
1 oz Bacardi 151
1 oz Amaretto
coffee
Ground cinnamon
Sugar
Whipped cream
Rim a stemmed glass with sugar. Pour overproof rum into glass. While holding glass at a 45 degree angle (away from face!), ignite rum using a long lighter. Swirl rum and sprinkle cinnamon sugar. Add amaretto and coffee. Finally, garnish with whipped cream and ground cinnamon.
The Red Snapper
The King Cole Bar at The St. Regis New York
Recipe:
1 oz vodka
2 oz tomato juice
1 dash lemon juice
2 dashes celery salt
2 dashes black pepper
2 dashes cayenne pepper
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain over ice cubes and garnish with a lemon wedge.
Maple Old Fashioned
The Point Hotel in Adirondacks, New York
Recipe:
0.5 oz maple syrup
3 dashes angostura bitters
3 dashes orange bitters
1.5 oz bourbon
Muddle muddle maple syrup with bitters in an old fashioned glass. Once incorporated, add a large ice cub and whiskey. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Boulevardier
Bertie’s Whisky Bar at the Fife Arms in Braemar, Scotland
Recipe:
1.35 oz JP Wiser’s 15-Year-Old Whiskey (can replace with any whiskey)
.68 oz Campari
.68 oz Antica formula
1 orange peel
Add ingredients to mixing glass with ice, stir to chill. Serve with orange twist.
The Casanova
The Dandy Bar at the Mayfair Townhouse in London, England
Recipe:
1.5 oz gin
.85 oz Select Apertif
.33 oz grappa
.68 oz lemon juice
2 drops Rhubarb Bitter
2 oz Prosecco
Edible skeleton blue leaf for garnish
Mix all the ingredients together except from the Prosecco. Shake with ice, pour into flute and top with Prosecco and garnish.
Blood Moon
Cavallo Point in Sausalito, California
“This is a fall inspired cocktail that evokes the aromas and colors of the season best enjoyed by the warmth of a golden fire, whether indoors in front of a fireplace or outside by a campfire,” said Hani Kirollos, director of food and beverage at Cavallo Point.
Recipe:
1.5 oz Siete Leguas Reposado Tequila
.5 oz agave syrup
5 oz spiced hibiscus tea (dried hibiscus flower, clove and star anise)
In a Boston shaker, steep the hibiscus tea by combining five dried hibiscus flowers, two cloves, and a star anise with five ounces of boiling hot
Refashioned Old-Fashioned
The Beaumont in London, England
Recipe:
2 oz Hazelnut-washed bourbon
2 tsp Cascara vermouth
1 tsp Pedro Ximenez sherry
1 tsp Demerara sugar syrup
2 drops Aphrodite bitters
Add Aphrodite bitters, sugar syrup, Pedro Ximenez sherry, Cascara vermouth the bourbon into a tumbler glass. Gently stir to combine, and add one large ice cube. Garnish with lemon zest and dehydrated blood orange.
Apple Sour
The Wayfinder Hotel in Newport, Rhode Island
Recipe:
1.5 oz rye whiskey
1.5 oz red apple (muddle/puree or apple cider)
.75 oz lemon
.75 oz simple syrup
Egg white
Combine all ingredients in a shaker; dry shake for around 30 seconds. Add ice, shake for another 20 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with an apple slice.
Pumpkin Spice Martini
Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in Maui, Hawaii
1 oz vanilla vodka
5 oz creme de coco
Splash of half and half
Pinch of pumpkin spice
Add all ingredients into a shaker; shake and strain into a martini glass with a cinnamon sugar rim.
Blackberry Nostalgia
Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, California
“This cocktail is created with nostalgic flavors in mind while giving me flashbacks of Thanksgivings growing up in Ohio and driving to North Carolina with my family to visit my aunt and uncle,” mixologist Jason Sorge told Observer.
.25 oz Benedictine
.25 oz brown sugar syrup
.75 oz blackberry peppercorn shrub
1 oz Aquafaba
1.5 oz bourbon
2 dashes Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
Combine all ingredients and shake over ice; strain into a martini glass.
