Kimpton Hotels has partnered with Steven Soderbergh’s Singani 63 on a unique cocktail offering: Thirty-two of the company’s properties across the U.S. and Caribbean now feature signature singani drinks on their menus.
Why singani? First off, Bolivia’s national spirit, singani is a grape eau de vie distilled from the muscat d’Alexandria grape grown in high altitudes of the Andes. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (TTB) in 2023 officially recognized singani as a unique type of brandy and a distinctive product of Bolivia.
Soderbergh founded Singani 63 in 2014 after falling in love with the spirit seven years earlier while filming the movie Che. Kimpton Hotels, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, was an early supporter of Singani 63 as it was new, interesting and extremely mixable in cocktails.
A test partnership with spirit was interrupted by Covid, but as travel came back, Kimpton began reimagining the next phase of their bar partnerships and how to incorporate Singani 63 into the beverage program. The hotel chain empowered its bar teams across 32 properties to create unique singani cocktails.
Kimpton’s featured singani drinks include The Wanderer at The Katherine at the Cardinal Hotel in Winston-Salem, NC, made with Singani 63, La Colombe cold brew concentrate, Licor 43 and Scrappy’s chocolate bitters; Sin63 at Area 31 in the Epic Hotel, Miami (shown atop), with Singani 63, lemon, simple syrup, strawberry syrup, Lillet rose, egg white; and the Cactus Cooler at Eden Rooftop, Palomar Phoenix (Singani 63, Tempus Fugit banane liqueur, passion fruit, coconut cream, lemon).
The program, which began this past June, has been extended through April 2026. The next round of Singani 63 cocktail creations will come when menus change again for the fall/winter season.
To celebrate this partnership and highlight creative mixology, Singani 63 hosted a cocktail competition among Kimpton bartenders, with the finalists competing at the Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans in July. Cecelia Crook from Merchant & Trade rooftop bar at Kimpton’s Tyron Park Hotel in Charlotte, NC, won with the La Altura. Here’s the full recipe.
La Altura
Ingredients
- 2 oz. Singani 63
- 1 oz. Yuzu juice
- ¾ oz. Yuzu syrup
- 1 oz. Paw paw cream
- 4 drops Honeysuckle water
- Top with Topo Chico
Instructions
- Combine ingredients and dry shake.
- Add ice, shake to dilute and combine.
- Strain into a Collins glass, allow to sit.
- Top with Topo Chico.
