Arts Bar inside The St Regis Venice has revealed a new cocktail menu inspired by artists such as Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso, in collaboration with glass studio Berengo.
Titled ‘Worldwide Icons of Art’, the menu features 12 cocktails that draw from both classic and contemporary works of art.
Those represented include a range of international artists such as Warhol, Picasso, Eugenio Recuenco, Carlo Scarpa, Banksy, Claude Monet, Salvador Dalí and Ai Weiwei. Each cocktail is presented in Murano glassware and uses ingredients that ‘reflect the essence’ of the artwork it represents.
Some of the highlights include Silver Dreams, which is inspired by Warhol’s Shots Marilyn series of paintings. The cocktail comes in a glass depicting Marilyn Monroe’s face and is made with vodka, St-Germain, popcorn essence syrup and topped with Champagne, which is said to be the actor’s favourite drink.
There’s also the Canvas Temptation, a homage to Picasso that is presented in a ruby-coloured glass. The serve brings together grape distillate, a fig-tonka cordial, chili pepper and spirulina algae, which the bar says reflects the ‘abundance and sensuality’ found in Picacco’s Les demoiselles d’Avignon painting.
Meanwhile, Still Waiting pays homage to Erwin Wurm, with its glassware mirroring one of the artist’s sculptures. Containing Grey Goose vodka, crème de cacao, Giffard Abricot du Roussillon, homemade vanilla syrup and verjus, the cocktail also features an ‘elaborate’ orange cloud garnish.
Another highlight sees Urban Grid – a drink based on abstract artist Piet Mondrian’s square, grid-like compositions – that’s a Martini served in three different glasses, while Through The Trees considers Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s The Scream, and is made with Norwegian aquavit, roasted barley syrup and finished with smoky hop soda and a twist of absinthe.
For guests not imbibing, non-alcoholic cocktails include the Tanqueray 0.0%-based Britannia 1201 (a tribute to Monet) and an alcohol-free spritz called Spirit Illusions, which is influenced by Karen La Monte’s Reclining Nocturne glass dress sculpture.
The menu was created by The St Regis Venice’s food and beverage director, Facundo Gallegos, and head of bars Ludwig Negri, in collaboration with Berengo Studio’s designer, Mariapia Bellis.
‘Intimate and refined experience’
The general manager of The St Regis Venice, Audrey Huttert, said: ““Through our partnership with Berengo Studio, we aim to preserve the Venetian tradition of glassmaking, as well as to stay true to the St Regis brand’s vocation of continuing to push the boundaries in terms of artistic innovation.
“The Arts Bar becomes the scene of an intimate and refined experience, where we experience, literally, cocktails in their glasses, designed uniquely for us, inspired by the artistic and cultural heritage of the city, but not only.”
Additionally, a few old cocktails from the Arts Bar menu will stay on. These include Canal Art, a mezcal-based cocktail inspired by Banksy, and The Negroni Desire, which nods to Dalí.
On creating the menu, Gallegos said it was a “pioneering project, a skilful and original mix of art, design and mixology”.
For her work on the glassware, Bellis added that a glass “is an intimate object, bridging the cocktail and our experience of it”.
She explained: “The design process considers ergonomics, the hands that will hold it, and the mouth that will touch it, as well as the materiality and colours of the glass to enhance the liquid within.”
Located on the city’s Grand Canal, Arts Bar at The St Regis Venice is open Wednesday to Saturday from 6.30pm to 12.30am.
In other recent bar happenings from around the world, New York’s Double Chicken Please debuted a new concept for its front room, Delhi’s Pass Code Only opened an omakase cocktail space, and we caught up with Swift’s new managing director on the venue’s latest chapter.
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Author: Rupert Hohwieler
