{"id":1196,"date":"2015-12-11T07:34:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T15:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=1196"},"modified":"2015-12-11T07:34:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T15:34:50","slug":"do-all-hotel-bars-suck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=1196","title":{"rendered":"Do All Hotel Bars Suck??"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, maybe I should ask ‘do all business hotel’s bars suck?’<\/p>\n

I’m sure there are divine resorts out there somewhere on a moonlit beach that serve awesome never-to-be-forgotten martinis. \u00a0 \u00a0And exquisite penthouse bars topping luxury hotels in the cosmopolitan centers of the world that serve flaming ice cold martinis in giant stein sized stems. \u00a0You know, the places with Astons parked outside, topless Victoria Secret models lounging at the pools, and where cognac or champagne ads are perpetually being filmed.<\/p>\n

Most of us mere mortals do not stay at these places on business or even family vacations. No, most of us business travelers are not CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, or C ‘pick a title’ Os.\u00a0 We are are the road warriors that do real work for our companies.<\/p>\n

We end up at the Hampton\/Courtyard\/Ramada\/Howard Johnson\/Four Points. \u00a0And if<\/em><\/strong> they have a bar, they just suck. \u00a0 But what do you after 8 hours of flying in two, or more, aluminum cans and you finally get to the hotel at 9:47pm?? \u00a0Go out looking for a decent bar??<\/p>\n

You grimace, sigh heavily, and go down to the local hotel bar and order a drink. \u00a0 Then you pray. \u00a0Pray that the local beer slinger knows what a martini is. \u00a0 Pray that the local concept of a DRY martini is not a 2 to 1 ratio!!! \u00a0In either direction. \u00a0O.o\u00a0 Pray that they know the difference between a twist and a slice, or worse a wedge, of lemon.<\/p>\n

YES, I have experienced each of these disgraces to the noble Martini. \u00a0 And many more.\u00a0 I’ve previously detailed some of these experiences of my Martini pet peeves which you can see in my previous post, ingeniously named Martini Making Pet Peeves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is why I try very hard to stay at the local big city hotels when I travel, much to my boss’s amusement. \u00a0Even if I have to drive an hour into ‘the sticks’ to get to my meeting. \u00a0In the city I have a much better chance to find a good bar that knows how to make a good Martini.<\/p>\n

Driving an hour to work in the morning is better than an evening with a bad martini!\u00a0 If I just had an Aston it would be two hours!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, maybe I should ask ‘do all business hotel’s bars suck?’ I’m sure there are divine resorts out there somewhere on a moonlit beach that serve awesome never-to-be-forgotten martinis. \u00a0 \u00a0And exquisite penthouse bars topping luxury hotels in the cosmopolitan … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[35,10],"tags":[4,28,2,38,9],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":116,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=116","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":0},"title":"Thoughts on Stemware, Part Two","author":"wlmoon58","date":"March 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A few more rambling thoughts on \"cold\" stemware....... We know that smaller things warm up quickly and larger object warm up more slowly. Specifically objects with larger thermal masses warm up more slowly. Usually, but not always, thermal mass correlates with object mass. Additionally some materials are thermal insulators, meaning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Martini"","block_context":{"text":"Martini","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=36","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":1},"title":"Introduction, Part Three","author":"wlmoon58","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog is just one part of a trio of sites I intend to assemble to honor the martini. There will also be a Facebook page devoted to martini trivia and commentary and a Twitter account (@Shkn_Nt_Strrd) from which I will provide brief reviews of Martinis I enjoy (or not)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Gin","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":76,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=76","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":2},"title":"Martini Reviews – Ratings","author":"wlmoon58","date":"February 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It has always been my intent and desire to include in this blog reviews of the Martinis I have had at various restaurants and bars I visit.\u00a0\u00a0 I have already posted my first review and I'm sure many readers are confused with my grading system.\u00a0 In that review I gave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1143,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=1143","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":3},"title":"Friday Funny","author":"wlmoon58","date":"November 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A man walked into a bar and ordered a Martini.\u00a0 Before drinking it he carefully removes the olive and places it in a jar.\u00a0 Then he ordered another martini and did the same thing.\u00a0 After an hour, when he was full of martinis and the jar was full of olives,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Amusement"","block_context":{"text":"General Amusement","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shakennotstirred.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_8183_0-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1053,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=1053","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":4},"title":"Friday Funny","author":"wlmoon58","date":"October 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was watching my son act like James Bond in the garden earlier today. He wasn't going round pretending to shoot people, he was sipping martinis and chatting up all the ladies that walked by. I'm so proud of him. \u00a0 For more fun Martini jokes check out the appropriately\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Amusement"","block_context":{"text":"General Amusement","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shakennotstirred.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Martinis-on-the-Porch-300x228.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1698,"url":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?p=1698","url_meta":{"origin":1196,"position":5},"title":"Random Martini Quote of the Day","author":"wlmoon58","date":"October 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"There is no sugar in a martini; no egg whites, no black and white rums, no shaved almonds, no fruit juice, no chocolate, and no spices.... It is a clear, clean, cold, pure, honest drink ...\" Donald G. Smith, Wall Street Journal \u00a0 Another great quote that has previously appeared\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Martini"","block_context":{"text":"Martini","link":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shakennotstirred.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Martinis-on-the-Porch-300x228.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1196"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1209,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions\/1209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shakennotstirred.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}