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Mixing It Up

Signature Drinks at the Inter-Continental

What makes Cleveland rock? Why is New Orleans easy? Why do so many leave their hearts in San Francisco?

Inter-Continental hotels across North America explored the essence of these questions by tapping the culture of their host cities to develop distinctive "City Cocktails." The full collection of spirits, featured in the each of the hotels' restaurant and lounges, combines top-shelf ingredients with a regional twist, evoking the elegance and class that Inter-Continental has mastered in its properties.

"City Cocktails offers guests the unique flavor of each of the cities in which we operate across North America, and demonstrates each hotel's connection with local tradition," said Jean-Pierre Etcheberrigaray, Vice President of Food & Beverage, Six Continents Hotels, The Americas.

Each of the 15 Inter-Continental hotels in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico has a unique specialty cocktail with a related story.  Henry Clay's Southern Style Mint Julep at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel in Washington, DC, heralds back to the 1840s when the Kentucky statesman poured the first mint julep in Washington at the hotel then known as Fuller's City Hotel. Still served at the Willard's Round Robin Bar, the watering hole celebrates the history of the drink with an annual Kentucky Derby Day party.

Although New Orleans is better known for its Hurricanes, the Big Easy's native drink is the Sazerac, a mixture of brandy, absinthe and bitters invented by a Creole apothecary in the 1830s.  The Hotel Inter-Continental New Orleans mixes up a modern version using rye whiskey, Peychaud's bitters and Pernod, rather than absinthe, which is no longer a legal substance.

Other "City Cocktails" concoctions include a salute to Celine Dion in Montreal; a frozen blend of Puerto Rican rum in San Juan; a figurative Walk in the Park on New York City's Central Park South; a rock-n-roll mix in Cleveland; and a splash of Canadian maple in Toronto.  Each city provides its own inspiration:

• The Cleveland Rocker at the Cleveland Clinic Inter-Continental Suite Hotel

• Barclay's Appletini at the Inter-Continental The Barclay New York

• A Walk in the Park at the Inter-Continental Central Park South New York

• Coco Loco at the Inter-Continental San Juan Resort & Casino

• Midwest Cosmopolitan at the Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago

• The R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Martini at the Hotel Inter-Continental Toronto

• Blue Star Martini at the Hotel Inter-Continental Dallas

• Sparkling Celine at the Hotel Inter-Continental Montreal

• Sazerac at the Inter-Continental New Orleans

• Bloody Martini at the Inter-Continental Stephen F. Austin

• Henry Clay's Southern Style Mint Julep at the Round Robin Bar at the Willard Inter-Continental Washington, DC

• The Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental San Francisco skylounge

• Miami Metropolitan at the Indigo Bar at the Hotel Inter-Continental Miami

• The Armillary Snicker at the Inter-Continental Miami Airport West

Six Continents Hotels, Inc.
www.6c.com
www.interconti.com for Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts
www.crowneplaza.com for Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts
www.holiday-inn.com for Holiday Inn hotels
www.hiexpress.com for Holiday Inn Express hotels
www.staybridge.com for Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn
www.priorityclub.com

Photo courtesy of Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts

Edited by Dave Shultz

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