Latest news with #AmericanBar
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Woman left shocked at the price of cocktail at one of world's most famous hotels
A British woman who stayed at one of London 's most iconic hotels was left stunned by the eye-watering price of cocktails served at its bar. Hannah Ricketts regularly reviews the best food, hotels, shops and attractions the capital has to offer and posts her verdicts on YouTube. In a recent video, uploaded to her channel @hannahricketts, she was left lost for words during her stay at The Savoy, located in Westminster. Known for attracting a roster of famous figures, as well as members of royalty and high society, a stay at one of London's most luxurious five-star hotels can certainly cost a pretty penny. For a one-night stay in a Superior Queen Room, guests can expect to pay up to £1,100, while a Suite offering a view of the River Thames can exceed £2,000. The American Bar, located on the ground floor of The Savoy, offers a similarly high-end experience with high price points for its drinks, as experienced by Hannah herself. The content creator documented her visit to the bar, which offers bespoke and classic cocktails ranging from £25 to £30. After perusing the menu, Hannah settled on ordering a 'Turning 18 (Again!)' cocktail, priced at £29, before looking at more costly options. She showcased a unique whisky and chocolate-based beverage, named '135 Year Celebration,' that marks 135 years of drinks being served at The Savoy, costing £45. But it was the bar's vintage cocktail options that truly left Hannah taken aback, with prices reaching as high as £5,000 for a sazerac made with vintage spirits. A 'Hanky Panky,' made with vintage gin and vermouth, is priced at £120, while a 'White Lady' can be £130, and a 'Daiquiri,' made with vintage Bacardi, lime and sugar is £100. The £5,000 sazerac, meanwhile, features a blend of rare and aged ingredients, including 1858 Sazerac de Forge cognac, 1950s Pernod absinthe, and 1900 Peychaud's bitters. According to the high price reflects the historical significance and scarcity of these components. In the clip, Hannah commented: 'I'm going to put my foot down, guys - you cannot order that. It's five grand.' On Reddit, one former guest at The Savoy sparked a discussion of cocktail prices after posting a photo of the Vintage menu, with one contributor writing: 'Flavours would be so off... Def. interesting, but not 5k interesting.' Another said: 'I'd love to try these but I'd also hate to mix those liquors with anything. I'd want an ounce of the vintage spirit and an ounce of the same modern spirit to compare the two.' Another former guest wrote: 'I tried the vintage negroni there. Worth the splurge once if you're into spirits and really quite different to a standard negroni,' while a second said: 'I had the Manhattan and I believe a White Lady last time I was there. Delicious.' It comes after two hotel guests were left in disbelief after making a very pricey mistake at The Plaza in January. Friends Amira Harvey and Jenna Sinatra were enjoying a luxurious night at New York's infamous hotspot - which is especially popular due to it featuring in Home Alone 2 - when they made a very expensive mistake while ordering room service. Inspired by one of the famous scenes from the holiday classic where Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) orders the extravagant ice cream sundae, Amira and Jenna did the same - only to find out it cost a whopping $500.
Scotsman
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Inside Gleneagles American Bar new menu - and why their Rob Roy cocktails aren't made with whisky
The iconic American Bar in the Gleneagles hotel has recently changed its cocktail menu. Rosalind Erskine visited to find out more, and try an old classic - with a twist. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It's not often you visit a bar and end up learning something new, but that's exactly what happened when I went to the American Bar in the Gleneagles hotel earlier this month. The bar, which - no matter how many times you visit - always feels like a special place, has launched a new cocktail menu, the Rose Compendium with 19 drinks inspired by the rose family including the strawberry. Yep, unbeknownst to me (and, for a time, the bar staff) the strawberry is not strictly speaking a berry. Head of bars at the hotel, Michele Mariotti explained that it was the former menu - the award winning Book of Berries - and the strawberry, that led to the creation of this new menu. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'We wanted to have a continuity between menus and we'd had strawberry in the Book of Berries but then realised it was part of the Rose family. This helped inspire what was called the Book of Roses but became the Rose Compendium, which we think would sit on a bookshelf next to the Book of Berries.' The American Bar in Gleneagles has a new menu - and some classic whisky cocktails made without whisky | Rosalind Erskine While there's a range of amazing looking cocktails in this stunning little illustrated book, the Barley cocktail is the signature cocktail. It is a bold reimagining of one of the most iconic Scotch whisky cocktails, the Rob Roy. While Barley intentionally deviates from the rose family theme, it cleverly continues American Bar's tradition of incorporating deliberate 'mistakes' as a nod to the encyclopedic references that inspire their menus. The team wanted to create their own perfect, dry and sweet Rob Roy cocktails and have the vermouth, which normally takes centre stage in this classic drink, take a back seat. Each drink has been made in collaboration with Glenturret distillery and Buck and Birch , who created a Scottish vermouth made with rose hips for the cocktail. But only one drink - the perfect Rob Roy - has whisky in it. The sweet highlights the rich, fruity notes of a 38-year-old Port Pipe malt, which at less than 40% ABV (it sits at 37.5% ABV) means it cannot be called a whisky while the dry Rob Roy emphasises the fresh citrus and mineral qualities of a six-month-old spirit made from bright and grassy malted barley. At this young age it's amazingly delicious and rounded, but it also legally cannot be called a whisky. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rosalind Erskine The perfect Rob Roy strikes a harmonious balance with a 14-year-old American Oak Sherry Cask whisky, offering fruitiness and bright citrus. Other notable cocktails include The Smoked Cherry, a modern twist on the classic Paloma and the Espresso Martini. This attention to detail extends to the presentation. Glasses are often made bespoke for the bar, such as the wine/Glencairn style Rob Roy glass, or hand painted by Andrea of the bar team. Names in the Rose Compendium also come from names of roses bred by the National Rose Society and the menu highlights nine core ingredients of the rose family —apple, pear, quince, cherry, peach, plum, strawberry, blackberry, and almond—showcased in two iterations. One celebrates components from Gleneagles' ecosystems, repurposing kitchen ingredients to minimise waste.
Tatler Asia
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Home tour: Inside Bar Leone boss Lorenzo Antinori's new Hong Kong home
The layout is unusual—'basically a massive living room', as he describes it—with plenty of space to host friends. 'For the first time, I can have a communal dining table [at home] and invite friends over; the space definitely has this very liveable sort of vibe,' he says. Everywhere you turn, there are treasures to be spotted. Posters of Wong Kar-wai's seminal 2000 film In the Mood For Love ('my favourite Hong Kong movie') and the 1968 sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey ('Stanley Kubrick is one of my favourite directors') are part of a collection of framed prints in the living area. A shelf acts as a divider between the space and the bedroom. It houses both books—one volume is an Italian translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, the Chinese military text dating back to the 5th century BC that Antinori says offers advice applicable for modern-day business—and paintings by family members; several relatives on his mother's side of the family are artists. By his bed are photos of his parents and a frame depicting a religious icon, a gift from his mother, who's a devout Catholic. 'I'm very close to my family—wherever I have lived, in Hong Kong or South Korea, I always have [these items].' Don't miss: Home tour: Inside an Italian farmhouse-inspired retreat in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Above Antinori with 'The Savoy Cocktail Book'—he worked at the famed London hotel's American Bar—and 'The South American Gentleman's Companion', a cocktail guide originally published in 1951 (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong) Above A close-up of knick-knacks in the home (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong) Antinori wanted to give the home what he calls a vintage, nostalgic edge. Some of his favourite things—art, film, music—come from the Seventies. His favourite movie, the 1997 indie flick Boogie Nights, is set in the era, and its aesthetics strongly inspired his decorating choices. 'I love the Seventies—they were a cool time because pop culture was extremely loud and visually impactful,' he says. 'There are a lot of elements from that period that I tried to bring into this space.' That influence is evident in the palette: think burnt orange, forest green and acrylic accents. Above Lorenzo Antinori (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong) Above A view of the coffee in the dining room (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong) A neon sign that reads 'Bar Leone' lights up the space with a bright tangerine hue; the sofas are in the same shade; a Tiffany-style stained glass lamp, an emulation of the prized originals produced by the American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with green, orange and yellow glass, glows softly in the corner. Now read: Step inside 3 Hong Kong chefs' and restaurateurs' kitchens at home Above Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong Above A close-up of books in the home (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong) Antinori has applied the same design philosophy behind his bar to his home. 'We wanted Bar Leone to be a nostalgic space, almost like a trip back to a time in the past. We got a lot of references from the Seventies and Eighties. That's why some people feel like it has been there for a while. When I was thinking about this space, it was the same idea.' He wanted the home to feel 'a little bit chaotic', he adds, 'almost like it's coming out of a movie by [ Boogie Nights ' director] Paul Thomas Anderson or Wes Anderson.' To bring this vision to life, he enlisted Tiffany Kwan, founder of the interior design firm Studio TK, who also worked with him on Bar Leone. Above Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong Above Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong We wanted Bar Leone to be almost like a trip back to a time in the past. When I was thinking about this space, it was the same idea - Lorenzo Antinori - Above Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong After finally settling in, there are still 'a few other pieces that I need to put up'. A home is a place where one never stands still, he says. 'It's almost a dynamic place. I will always think of new elements that I want to introduce.' Much like the bar, the home has become a reflection of Antinori's personality. 'Bar Leone is a very personal project. I managed to fill it with things that I love, the things that remind me of home, the things that are connected to my roots. It's the same here; there are certain pieces that I have had in my apartment in Rome with my family, like the religious icon by my bed, the books, frames and prints. 'I think it's important to preserve this element of heritage that showcases our background and who we are. Otherwise, we just live in an empty box.'
Belfast Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
‘We may well live to regret this': Pints at Belfast bar could drop as low as 70p for Europa League final
Both sides will take to the pitch in Bilbao later for the competition's all-English finale, with the American Bar in Sailor Town making a special price offer to fans watching in the pub – depending on who is winning. The popular drinking spot are bringing back the historical prices of stout based on when both sides last lifted a European trophy. If Manchester United are ahead, the prices of the bar's Guinness will be £4.20, as they were in 2017 when United lifted the Europa League. However, if Spurs take the lead, pints will instead reflect 1984 rate from the London side's UEFA Cup win and will therefore cost 70p. The bar's stout will also remain at the same rate depending on what team ultimately wins with the offer standing 'until the keg runs dry'. "We may well live to regret this,' the American Bar said in a social media post. "When Man Utd last won the Europa League in 2017, a pint of stout would set you back about £4.20. Back in 1984 when Spurs last tasted European glory, a pint cost a paltry 70p. "So, for one night only, depending on who's ahead, the price of our Guinness will be decided by whatever side is winning. We're putting on a fresh keg the moment the ref kicks off and when it's done, we're done. News Catch Up - Wednesday 21 May "Whatever one of the two clubs go on to lift the trophy, our pints of Guinness will cost that until the keg runs dry. Let us be the first to say: 'Come on you Spurs'." Several high profile figures, including golfing star Rory McIlroy, will be in attendance for the 8pm kick-off in Bilbao, Spain's San Mamés stadium.
The Herald Scotland
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish cocktail bars named among the best in the world
As part of the guide's recognition system, locations given one pin were deemed "excellent," while those with two or three were "outstanding" and "exceptional," respectively. See the three Scottish cocktail bars named among the best in the world in a prestigious guide Hey Palu - Edinburgh * (Excellent) Panda & Sons - Edinburgh ** (Outstanding) The American Bar at Gleneagles - Auchterarder ** (Outstanding) These are the three cocktail bars in Scotland named among the best in the world by The Pinnacle Hey Palu, which is located on Bread Street, was commended by patrons, with users on Tripadvisor giving it a 4.8/5 out of 82 reviews. One rave review read: "Hey Palu is SUCH a vibe! My husband and I met some friends here for pre-dinner drinks after we saw it featured on the Top Jaw YouTube channel. "We had an absolute blast, trying a selection of cocktails between the four of us. I had the Pink Pigeon Club and a Coconut White Russian." Panda & Sons also received a lot of praise from customers, with users giving it a 4.5/5 out of 1153 reviews. One person wrote: "Panda & Sons is hands down one of the best cocktail bars in Edinburgh! "The speakeasy-style entrance through a former barbershop adds a fun and unique touch, setting the scene for an unforgettable night. The American Bar at Gleneagles (Image: Tripadvisor) Recommended Reading: "The cocktails are absolutely amazing — creative, expertly crafted, and full of flavour." Others dubbed the speakeasy a "brilliant experience" with a "superb" atmosphere. The American Bar at the Gleneagles hotel was also given great reviews, with one person writing: "The American Bar is a beautiful example of what a cocktail bar should be. "Dark but not depressing, attentive yet not in your face staff, great snacks."
