F & B
The Cavalier Hotel ’ s Tarnished Truth distillery offers tours and an opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind barrel of bourbon , for US $ 25,000 .
and the three of them came up with the idea for the private-label gin , which can only be found at the hotel .
Sara Sergent says that many members of the hotel ’ s F & B team were involved in the making of the gin . “ They got to move barrels , to touch every part of the production ,” Sergent says . “ So when a guest asks them about the gin , they ’ re invested in it .”
The aroma experience evolved out of the gin . “ It ’ s put together as an interactive game that can be both fun and competitive as each guest gets to smell a scent and then tries to guess what it is ,” Hendricks says . “ The most amazing thing about it is that it ’ s educational , fun , engaging , and once you activate your senses through smell , you can literally pick out those flavors when you try different gins . We use it to elevate our cocktail experience for our guests .”
CAVALIER HOTEL VIRGINIA BEACH , VIRGINIA Tours at the Cavalier Hotel ’ s in-house distillery , Tarnished Truth , not only top the list of things to do in Virginia Beach on Trip Advisor , but it ’ s become a branding point for the entire hotel . While the tours draw in repeat business for vacationers and corporate , both hotel General Manager Brad Chance and distillery owner Andrew Yancey are even more excited about their new Presidential Bourbon Club experience .
“ Someone gets to create their own recipe of bourbon , they help make the mash , distill it and put it in a barrel ,” Yancey says . “ Then , they get to come back once a year to check on their barrel , and when they think their bourbon is ready – three years , five years or eight years — we will bottle it and hold a bottle release party for them and 18 of their friends .”
The new program , which debuts in March with a US $ 25,000 price tag , already has people signed up . With those bragging rights , “ it ’ s conversational currency ,” Chance says . The hotel also offers monthly distillery dinners , which sell out quickly , and several corporate clients are bringing in their customers and employees for private dinners , tours and events .
Both Chance and Yancey say building a distillery into a hotel was not a small
36 hotelsmag . com March 2019