Board the Flight Around the World at Gate Bar Centro

Bar Centro at the SLS Beverly Hills has always had fun cocktails with molecular mixology components. Last year, they had a cocktail tasting menu of 5 drinks. Now, they've really upped the game. Bar Centro has taken over a new corner at the hotel and built a small new bar dubbed Gate Bar Centro. Gate Bar Centro is serving a reservation-only, 12-course cocktail tasting (don't worry, they're not all full sized cocktails) that takes guests around the world in cocktails. The tasting also includes a few tapas from The Bazaar - not quite dinner but enough bites to soak up the alcohol.

Here are some of the drink we had during our flight:
We started with Italy. Ciao Bella is a take on Aperol Spritz with fresh pineapple juice, yuzu, Aperol that's been carbonated in house.

The next course is Spain with Spanish Gin & Tonic, made right in front of you using a vacuum siphon (I previously wrote about this for The Bazaar's G&T Festival)



Their take on the Peruvian Pisco Sour is inspired by key lime pie with lime juice, heavy scream and vanilla sugar. It's topped with Licor 43 foam


Liquid nitrogren Caipirinha (Brazil)

The one in the cigar box is, of course, Cuba! It's a sphere of mojito


Mexico: Oaxacan Wedding with mezcal, chapulines and grapefruit. This cocktail was served in a soapstone glass and topped with Sal de Gusano foam (not pictured here since I took it before the foam was added).

For the U.S.A. they went to New Orleans with Sazerac variation they're calling Lost in French Quarter. It's made with Michter's rye and 1738 cognac that's been infused with chamomile, then served lemon rosemary chamomile cloud


These croquetas are one of the small plates we got throughout the tasting.


Another unique presentation is the cocktail for Russia.

No, these aren't real caviar. This is the Dirty Martini cocktail with olive "caviar" and a shot of vodka.

For South Africa they've brought a South African aperitif called Caperitif. It's a fairly new product that tries replicate a "ghost ingredient" from South Africa mentioned in various cocktail recipes from the 20th century.

A boozy Mango Lassi is next (India)! The lassi also incorporates rum, saffron, pistachio and banana with a cardamom pistachio cloud.

Japan: milk punch with Hibiki Harmony, yuzu, vanilla rice milk, nutmeg.

We ended with some desserts form France: cognac bonbons with Mr. Black coffee liqueur, creme de cacao. It's served with a sphere of carajillo (espresso and Licor 43).



The Bazaar Flight at Gate Bar Centro is definitely a fun experience. If you enjoy tasting cocktails, it's a flight you should consider taking. There are a lot of cocktails, but as you can see some of the portions are pretty small, so you won't be wasted. The bartenders told me it's the equivalent of 4-5 full sized cocktails. The 12-course tasting is $100 per person and has to be reserved via Tock.