Wooden Barrel Hotel in the Netherlands

From Fun Fever:

"The De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel in the Netherlands salvaged four wine casks from Switzerland and converted them into rooms. Formerly filled with 14,500 liters of Beaujolais wine from the French chateau, each now holds a modest two-person room with standard amenities and even an attached bathroom and a sitting room.

The one thing that might bother you, if you’re not a wine enthusiast, is the smell of wine that the barrels still maintain. All in all the Barrel Hotel, in Stavoren, northern Netherlands, makes for a very pleasurable experience. General rates for a cask room are from 74-119 Euros a night with discounts of up to 75% off depending on season. If you go in the wintertime, a wine cask room can be as low as 18 Euros a night, cheaper than most hostels."

Reminds me of the park in Germany where you could spend the night in a luxury sewer hotel. Weird. But fun. Could be a great way of developing a tourist angle at our distilleries.

World's Oldest Cognac for $6,000 a Shot

From Luxist

"The luxe Lanesborough Hotel in London has just acquired the world's oldest bottle of cognac, distilled in 1770, and is offering it to patrons of their plush Library Bar (above) for £4,000, or about $6,000, per shot. That's considerably more than the ultra-expensive Louis XIII Black Pearl Magnum cognac my colleague Lisa Palladino wrote about last summer, which cost $2,500 per shot. In addition to the 240-year-old tipple, the Lanesborough, a St. Regis property, just installed a new walk-in cigar humidor, the first of its kind in a London hotel. The humidor houses 1,000 cigars and contains 25 private lockers for the personal collections of top patrons, who can enjoy Cuban and even pre-Castro smokes in the hotel's posh Garden Room."

I wonder what "brand" is behind this? Not many of the cognac houses were around in 1770 apart from Remy and Martell,so it might well be an indepenent cognac. It's interesting that several people have picked up on the fact that you can legally smoke cigars at the Lanesborough as the big selling point!

This was also covered on Just Luxe

Stoli "Hotel"

From The Coolhunter:

"The beds have been made, the concierge desk polished and the piano in the lobby has been tuned. On its tour around America, the Stoli Hotel has set up shop in Miami where it will host a variety of invite only music, fashion and sport events over the next two and a half weeks.

Designed by creative architecture agency Pompei A.D, the 10,000 square foot hotel-themed space is inspired by the iconic Hotel Moskva which features on Stolichnaya's labels.

"Each facet of the hotel has been carefully selected to incorporate Stolichnaya's authentic heritage, while drawing upon the modern day qualities that top metropolitan hotels possess" says Adam Rosen, Senior Brand Manager of Stolichnaya vodka.

"Guests can browse (but not sleep in) rooms designed around Stoli blends, enjoy Stoli cocktails and indulge in manicures, facials, scalp treatments and chair massages.

You are, however, going to need to be wearing some serious bling if you want to enter the elit suite. Paying homage to Stoli's high-end range, it is only open to celebrities and VIP's.

Heading over to New York next, the Stoli Hotel adds yet another milestone to Stolichnaya's unique history of innovation and championing all things Russian. By Brendan McKnight."

Great bit of brand behavoiur that is interesting, PR able and fits in well with Stoli's Russian heritage. But wouldn't it have been better if you could actually sleep in the hotel... and the website feels just like playing Command and Conquer in 1995. I like the Progagandist look and feel.