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Luxury travel tip, eat, drink and think history

Kiearan Macdonald and Family Trade

Kiearan MacDonald and Family Trade

Is the past really more interesting than the present, wonders the gal?  Sometimes a little voice says Yes, but most of the time another little voice says NO, appreciate today, which many people do not – the newspapers, certainly, are full of nothing but doom and woe, as though we were all born on a Monday.

Think positively. I happened to call in on The American Bar at The Savoy, a Fairmont hotel, and loved its recreation of cocktails going back to 1889, the year of its birth – the earliest commemorative cocktails include La Dame de Fer, a reminder that the Eiffel Tower is also that vintage (Château Boulard Calvados, Trois Rivière Rhum, lemon juice, sugar syrup, leather-infused Angostura bitters, and matcha tea dust, if you want that brew).  I preferred the cocktail of the moment, Family Trade, a reminder of the fact that the Nolet family has been distilling Ketel One vodka for ten centuries. Here it is, held by the boss of the Savoy, Kieran MacDonald – it is blended with the luxury hotel’s own-made copper and corn cordial, and stirred with Savoy Dry vermouth.

And, guess what, it is ABSOLUTELY delicious.  This champagne and wine drinker learned something, positively.