I read once something in the newspaper about this new place which sounded very tempting to visit as it is quite an unusual concept for a bar. If you think about it for a while though you realise that fragrances are not so far away from cocktails as one tries to achieve the same result in a cocktail as in a fragrance. The idea is not really new. Two friends of mine who worked in a fragrance industry had such an idea a while ago and I was already fascinated by it back then.
Vaara by Penhaligons
So it was clear to me that I had to try this new hotel bar. I wasn’t always fond of hotel bars but some of the best places in the world are located in hotels. Same counts for restaurants in hotels. I always had this kind of aversion but changed my view lately when I started to get interested in bars. Somebody said once a good hotel restaurant is judged by its club sandwich and I say so is the hotel bar by its Dirty Martini it serves. I still have to further develop my dirty martini index to see who scores very high. The Widder bar in Zurich does an excellent one for example. Coming back to Fragrances at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin which is located at Potsdammer Platz. I couldn’t just walk in there and order a Dirty Martini. Firstly, because it just wouldn’t be very polite and secondly you will just read why. You come in a corridor of various little artworks. Each one of them represents a drink and before you start to get what all is about a swift and friendly lady or gentleman from the staff is here to assist you. First you should nose the perfume if it is to your liking before you look at the ingredients, which though you will almost see instantly because they are displayed under a glass cover, the main ones at least. So you can either select your perfume or start with the base spirit, that also helps as you might prefer rum over gin. If you want the whole ingredients list, there is a little golden flap that you can open and you see the composition of the cocktail. I went for a combination as I was interested in the perfume but also liked the components even though it was gin. La nuit de l’homme by Yves Saint Laurent. Lavender infused Tanqueray Ten, Rhododendron Sake, Lemon Juice, Vanilla-Vetiver-Patchouli Grapefruit, Eucalyptus Syrup. It sounded very attractive. So you select and then you are placed somewhere in the bar. I could sit almost everywhere as only three tables were occupied. A bit of a shame on a Saturday night.
The Interior at Fragrances
The bar is a typical hotel bar. Elegant, cold, not entirely to my taste. The female bartender was Italian and very friendly. I had a good view to see how the creations were mixed together. Concentrated work and the presentation of every cocktail was different. All little pieces of art. Very well done. Mine came with a mirrored wall so I was able to see it 4 times. Would it taste as well as it looked? Before my visit I was sceptical. Can it really come close to a perfume or is it in the end just marketing? My cocktail, unfortunately did not live up to the expectation that I have built up. It was a good cocktail, no doubt about that but there was one thing bothering me. You have such carefully selected ingredients, so exotic. You want to somehow feel them. The overpowering scent of Lavender killed my drink. Too bad really as I very much like the concept idea. I would give it another try though and go again to check out a few more of their creations. You get curious, that is for sure. I am eager to see it again when I will return to Berlin.
© images: Ritz-Carlton Berlin
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