It's Impossible to Tell the Boozy from the Booze-Free at This Munich Hotel Bar

"With Hotels With Great Taste, we're pulling back the curtain for a peek at the "special sauce" that hotels use to create memorable, meaningful culinary experiences for their guests. I see the hotel bar as a vestigial organ of the travel experience, a holdover from a bygone time when retiring to a wood-paneled room off the lobby and charging a cabernet or a double Scotch, neat, to your room was proof that you were really living."

"The bar's moody lights, tufted chairs, deco patterns, and gold accents would have fit right in with the speakeasy craze of the late 2000s and early 2010s. But, when I was there, the jazz trio in the center of the room (an almost-nightly fixture) played in t-shirts and jumped decades in their song selection, transitioning from Gershwin to an instrumental Ed Sheeran. It felt warmly inviting, whether you consider yourself part of the mixology set or are more of a I'll-just-have-a-vodka-soda type."

Bar Montez at the Rosewood Munich pairs deco-inspired, moody interiors and live jazz with a pioneering zero-proof cocktail program that treats alcohol-free drinks as normal menu items. The bar combines a warmly inviting atmosphere with inventive non-alcoholic recipes designed to appeal to both mixology enthusiasts and casual guests. Bar manager Mario Schulz champions removing labels and special treatment from alcohol-free options, emphasizing parity with alcoholic cocktails. The program reframes hotel bars as contemporary, inclusive destinations that prioritize creativity, hospitality, and accessibility in beverage offerings.

Read at Bon Appetit