Recently, Luxury Travel Advisor was invited to The Stinger at InterContinental Times Square for the launch of InterContinental’s Worldly Classics cocktail program created in partnership with renowned mixologist Angus Winchester. The purpose of the program was to put a twist on classic—or, worldly—cocktails to represent iconic locations of InterContinental hotels.
Winchester, who has bartended and created menus for bars all over the world, doesn’t jump at every opportunity available to him, he told us. However, he felt inspired by what InterContinental was trying to do and he felt he was up to the challenge of taking classic cocktails and putting a Brazilian, Mexican, Asian, Indonesian spin on them. The biggest challenge, according to Winchester, wasn't creating the recipe but to find ingredients that would be available worldwide, so that bartenders at each property could create the same, consistent drink.
Inspired by the Golden Age of luxury travel, Winchester created eleven cocktails for the menu. Examples of the innovative cocktails to be served across the Americas portfolio include:
- Brazilian Smash – Caipirinha inspired by the InterContinental San Paulo Hotel
- French Moto – Sidecar inspired by the InterContinental Paris le Grand Hotel
- Hong Kong Mule – Moscow Mule inspired by the InterContinental Hong Kong Hotel
- Indonesian Nu Fashioned – Old Fashioned inspired by the InterContinental Bali Resort
- Argentine Libre – Rum and Coke (Cuba Libre) inspired by the InterContinental London Park Lane
- American Dutchman – Negroni inspired by InterContinental New York Barclay
“When I was approached to create the Worldly Classics cocktails, it wasn't difficult to gain inspiration from the brand's rich 70-year history,” Winchester said.
We felt it wouldn't be wise to try each cocktail but the two we did try (the American Dutchman and Brazilian Smash) were fantastic. Taking the word from others in attendance, each of the drinks were a hit.
The Worldly Classics program comes as part of the brand's "Stories of the InterContinental Life" campaign, which launched fall 2016 and “showcases multi-sensory journeys to InterContinental Hotels & Resorts destinations around the world.”
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