Sip on The Grand Budapest Hotel with Two Inspired Cocktails: "Boy With Apple" and "Mendl’s Cake" Bring Art, Intrigue and Romance to Life

In a quiet cemetery stands a monument of hotel keys in remembrance to a monumental story heralded by many from The Grand Budapest Hotel.  The story, written by the author (Jude Law) who was told the story by Mr. Moustafa (F.Murray Abraham), the now-owner of The Grand Budapest Hotel.  The story is of concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) the two end up bonding over a fantastical sequence of events starting with an end to the relationship between M. Gustave and Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) and ends (kind of) with Zero and Agatha's (Saoirse Ronan) engagement.  In between, there is a "heist", an arrest made by a friend Henckels (Edward Norton), and placement into an internment prison, suspicion, intrigue and an intense chase by Willem Dafoe dressed head-to-toe in black leather and a snarl (playing hitman J.G. Jopling to son of Madame D., Dmitri (Adrien Brody), and a high-tower fall into a pile of pink cake boxes.  All over a priceless painting that was left to M. Gustave in a contested last-minute submission to the Madame's will presented by Deputy Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum).   

"Boy With Apple", the prized possession of Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) bequeathed the painting to concierge Gustave as a last-minute change to her will.  Our first cocktail is inspired by this painting and has influenced each ingredient as it influenced the course of Gustave and Zero's immediate and future path.  The priceless painting is described as "Czech mannerist, Habsburg high Renaissance, Budapest neo-humanist" style of the boy Johannes Van Hoytl the Younger set in a dark castle with velvet curtains with a apple held at platform with one hand while delicately pinching the apple stem at the top with the other.  The apple flavor and Central Europe region calls for Apple Brandy and to add more apple flavor, Granny Smith Apple Saccharum.  We infused the Apple Brandy with Butterfly Pea Flowers until it became the deep royal-purple color worn by the staff at The Grand Budapest Hotel. To add a little bit of spice and more sweetness, Ginger syrup.  All to be topped of with some chilled champagne that is Mr. Moustafa approved, so you can enjoy this cocktail with, "Ducks roasted with olives, lamb, and salad" while you enjoy the art on the menu and listen to the fantastical story from the beginning at the Grand Budapest Hotel's restaurant. 

Mr. Moustafa's story turns to telling of a love that blossomed over the project were Zero and Agatha spent several hours together setting rock picks into Mendl’s cakes, a jail break plan- call it, Mission: Courtesans Au Chocolat planned by M.Gustave's fellow inmate Ludwig (Harvey Keitel). Every good jail break plan involves cake, and every good cocktail menu has a cake-like cocktail.  Mendl's Cake, specifically the Courtesan Au Chocolat described in The Grand Budapest Hotel is a choux pastry filled with chocolate and glazed with white chocolate filigree.  We started by decorating a coupe glass with a glaze made from grenadine and powdered sugar to get the signature Mendl's pink and sprinkle the glass with fine sea salt to enhance the texture and flavor of the cocktail.  To give the cocktail the chocolate-filled choux pastry flavor, Peanut Butter Whiskey, Amarula Citrus Cream Liqueur, Lemon Juice and Coco Bitters are emulsified using a shaker.  This cocktail is gently sweet, light and surprisingly very chocolaty.  The perfect dessert to eat while laying out plans to break out of a Criminal Internment Camp, it may not last long enough to smuggle a rock pick in it.