“People in restaurants talk about food, and people in bars talk about cocktails,” remarks Ellen Van Slyke of the Food and Beverage Advisory Council for Loews Hotels. That’s why Loews developed a glossy new Signature Cocktails menu, featuring premium cocktails submitted by bartenders from each Loews hotel, reflecting that hotel’s “style and destination.” What’s smart about this initiative is that it not only markets premium liquors, it markets the hotels themselves, featuring a gorgeous image of each property alongside a shimmering, garnished cocktail glass and the detailed recipe for the libation inside it.

Van Slyke says that Loews’ motivation in creating the menus was to enable guests to feel some connection to other Loews hotels. By perusing a menu in New York, for example, a guest can essentially tour hotels in Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Tucson, Denver, Los Angeles, and Montreal, to name a few of Loews’ 17 properties.

“The menus are conversation starters,” explains Van Slyke. “We overhear people saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know there’s a Loews in Montreal.’ And another cool thing that gets people talking is the drink recipes— I’ve seen people sneaking menus into their purses or computer cases so they can take them home and learn how to make the drinks themselves. What I guess they didn’t know is that we actually encourage people to steal the menus—it’s like having a guidebook to our hotels in your home. The pictures of the properties are next to the drinks and recipes, enticing you to visit, and the last page of the menu lists the addresses and phone numbers for quick reference.”

Conversation, Van Slyke continues, is one of the “tenets of hospitality,” so all Loews bars and lounges are designed with intentionally private and intimate seating, with every area independent of the next and televisions discreetly placed so as not to dominate the atmosphere.

“Loews is an older chain of hotels,” she says, “so we remember the past but look to the future. We feel there is a culture to cocktails, not only to drinking them, but making them and talking about them. We’re not one of the massive hotel chains, so we have time to cultivate this culture, focusing creatively on each property and making them distinctly local.”

These distinctly local properties have come up with names for their signature cocktails and tastes reflecting the vibe of each location. For instance, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson features the Ventana Stargazer, made with Grey Goose L’Orange vodka, Grand Marnier, freshly squeezed orange juice, and Desert Pear, a Monin syrup. In L.A., the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel mixes up the Raspberry Mojito with 10 Cane Rum, mint leaves, brown sugar, lime juice, a top-off of Sprite, and a float of Chambord Liqueur Royale. Caribbean Sunshine is Loews Miami Beach Hotel’s choice cocktail, with Bacardi Coco Rum, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur, and orange and cranberry juices. Loews Philadelphia offers the Philly Gin Blitz, made with Beefeater Gin, Midori Melon Liqueur, DeKuyper Pucker Watermelon, and pineapple juice.

The list goes on and on, with 32 pages of property imagery and tempting concoctions, which are working their marketing magic on Loews’ clientele. Van Slyke says the menus have brought a distinct increase in revenues behind the bar, and guest comment cards express positive reviews of the cocktails, as well as interest in the other hotels. The menu also made waves in the advertising world, winning it one of the industry’s coveted gold Addy awards; in addition, it won Loews a finalist position for Best Chain Hotel Beverage Program in the 2006 Cheers Awards for Beverage Excellence. This fanfare, adds Van Slyke, is not too surprising, given the attention garnered by cocktails overall in 2006.

“Food & Wine deemed 2006 ‘The Year of the Cocktail’ due to cult followings for really talented mixologists [of which Loews has many] and a focus on cocktail innovation—new flavors, garnishes, coatings on the rims of the glasses, and the glasses themselves. Loews seized the moment by picking up on the trend and the cocktail culture and running with it—we took it seriously.” So seriously, in fact, that Van Slyke keeps a copy of famed mixologist Dale DeGroff’s book The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender in her desk and also made it her duty to personally taste each signature cocktail on Loews’ new menu. Tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.