Madrid's Dani Brasserie Is One Bar Worth Traveling For

Some bars feel like home… but these aren’t just some bars.

Wanderlust is a circumstance with many possible suit . For some , it stems from cultural curiosity — an earnest attempt to cognize and experience a home other than their own . Merely seeing it is just window dressing . Sure , white sands and turquoise seascan make for enviable societal media mental object , but it ’s not needs going to fulfil a craving for fundamental interaction , for everlasting immersion .

For my money , there ’s no more informal way to spark this conversation than by amaze to eff the culinary art and cocktail of any open destination . You ’re literally absorbing the flavors of the place — its olfaction and tastes . And these offering are so oftentimes presented alongside personal accounts , delivering the form of context that ’s most - unimaginable to conveyvia Instagram Charles William Post . It ’s difficult enough using factual words …

Yet , that ’s the business we ’re in . In an effort to spread the travel gospel , Thrillist Travel is launch a column spotlight bars so awful , so utterly appoint , and so plenteous with local ambiance , they justifybraving flight hold , long layovers , and even a hit to the bank account . These are ginmill worth traveling for .

Photo courtesy of the Four Seasons

First up : Dani Brasserie , an graceful , semi - al fresco outpost positioned atopthe Four Seasons Madrid . The holding itself invade a 130 - year - old ethnic inheritance monument in the warmness of the Spanish capital , just a engine block forth fromPuerta del Sol . More on the hotel subsequently — we’re here for the drinks and , most vitally , thevermut .

Vermouth act as a modifier in some of the world ’s most lionize cocktail ( we ’re looking at you , Martinisand Manhattans ) . But in many share of Spain , this perfume wine-coloured is the champion of the show , particularly during aperitif minute when it ’s often served on the rocks with nothing more than a spritz of sal soda and a twist of citrous fruit .

The Four Seasons showcases the ethnical significance of the drink by stocking their very own proprietary recording label — or gun barrel , more specifically . Bodegas Barbadillo , located in Somontano de Barbastro , crafted an undivided version of itsAtamán Vermouthjust for the hotel , which is go on in a sherry caskful propped above the anteroom streak . It ’s a comparatively dry offering despite the hints of cinnamon and orange zest characterise its rounded body , flavors mine from a recipe idle since the 1960s . Up on the rooftop at Dani , these tasting notes pair marvellously with the afternoon Lord’s Day shimmering off the historic colonnade of Puerta del Sol .

But if you ’re attached to enjoying Spanish vermouth in cocktail shape , beverage director Raúl Navarro has just the cookery — or four — for you . The veteran mixologist weaves the native juice into several numbers on the drink bill of fare . Known locally as the “ bearded bartender of Barcelona , ” Navarro most late spent a six year stint behind the joystick at theFour Seasons Kyoto . There , he honed a hang for the pernicious compositions familiar tothe Far East bar scene , working on inventive ways to rework standards .

My personal favorite is the Leyenda , a acerbic - forward , slenderly herbaceous tipple that riffs on the Tailspin .

“ It ’s a ostensibly uncomplicated take on the classic , but by replacing gin with agave spirit it creates a important leaving from the original , ” explains Navarro . “ This is a cocktail with strong personality and passion . At the beginning , the dissimilar flavors might have a solid wallop , but after some sip , the unlike nuances give room to smell you never imagine before . ’’

Photo courtesy of the Four Seasons

This Mezcal and Vermouth Cocktail Is Reason Enough to Travel to Madrid

Bartender Raúl Navarro of Dani at the Four Seasons Madrid shares his recipe.

It shin even brighter when dish alongside another Spanish staple : acorn - fed Iberico ham . At Dani , the ravisher is prepared both traditionally — with a wide-eyed pan con tomate — or in funky fashion , combined with a creamy béchamel in croquette mannequin . Either way,“la hora del vermut”is an unforgettable one here as even condescend on the city and a warm gentle wind blows across the verdant outside outer space .

Through and through , the Four Seasons Madrid is an exceptional addition to the luxury brand ’s worldwide portfolio as well as to the landscape of the urban center itself . It is among the large and most expensive hotels in all of Madrid ( the most modest of its 200 Edgar Albert Guest rooms commence at $ 700 a Nox ) . But it also had the misfortune of opening in September 2020 at the heart of the pandemic , and so it ’s only now take up to strike its stride as a hub for high - ending food and shopping . That condition has been cement with the opening of Galeria Canalejas , an adjoining collection of designer stores — plus a cellar food for thought hall — disperse across more than 15,000 square meter .

While all that will surely vibrate the fancy of travelers who allocate supererogatory baggage quad for bauble , again , I ’m here for the drink . And for professed drink enthusiasts such as myself , the new Four Seasons is a destination in its own right . And its coordinates within the metropolis gives way to yet another boozy giving : La Venencia — only the honest damn sherry bar on earth — sits less than two blocks from the hotel ’s third house . What makes it so special ? Well , that ’s a story for another 24-hour interval .