In the hushed, velvet-draped lounge of Hotel Lancaster—just a whisper off the Champs-Élysées—you can now drink with ghosts. Or at least, to them. Paris institution CopperBay, tucked inside this century-old hotel where Marlene Dietrich once lived and Elizabeth Taylor once loved (and maybe stormed out), has launched a new cocktail menu. Ten drinks, each a kind of glass-blown time capsule, mark 100 years of scandal, royalty, Old Hollywood, and artistic renegades who’ve passed through the hotel’s doors since its 1925 inception.
This isn’t a stunt. It’s a love letter. Each cocktail nods to a personality who, in one way or another, helped shape the soul of the hotel—be it with paintings, poetry, or prolonged champagne-soaked residencies.
The opening act is the “Émile Wolf,” named after the man who converted the original townhouse into the five-star Lancaster. A take on the French 75, it fizzes with Bear Brothers gin, micro-citrus, Dolin génépi, and a sage-laced Deutz champagne float. Then comes “Marlene Dietrich,” a smoky, spiced riff on the Old Fashioned—Whistle Pig rye laced with beer-honey and Christmas bitters—that tastes like 1937 and smolders like a Berlin nightclub.
A double bill follows: “Elizabeth Taylor” and “Richard Burton.” Hers is a decadent white chocolate martini with vodka and cocoa liqueur. His, by contrast, is a bright Orange Dry Martini that could cut through even the thickest tabloid tension with its Bear Brothers clementine vodka and Colombo orange.
Art lovers aren’t left thirsty. Ukrainian painter Boris Pastoukhoff, who bartered his way through post-WWII Paris with canvas instead of cash, is immortalized in a bracing, absinthe-laced Corpse Reviver riff. Felix Ziem, a pre-war favorite of Napoleon III, gets a Bellini-inspired nod with peachy Rinquinquin and champagne.
Hotel staff aren’t forgotten. There’s “Le Propriétaire,” a Bordeaux-hued New York Sour in homage to the wine-loving family that still owns the property. “The Monsieur,” a non-alcoholic sipper crafted for Christophe, a 20-year staff veteran, and “The Directeur,” a tropical-leaning, peanut-tinged clarified cocktail inspired by Côte d’Ivoire.
And because bars are nothing without their bartenders, “The Team CopperBay” celebrates the crew that brought this whole Mediterranean-tinged dreamscape to life. A refreshing spritz of BB13 gin, Mauresco pastis, and citrus effervescence. Finally, “The Chef” closes things out with a tzatziki-inspired cocktail—yes, really—infused with dill vodka, cucumber, clarified goat’s milk, and Thai basil.
A century deep, Hotel Lancaster remains one of Paris’s most discreetly storied addresses. And now, thanks to CopperBay, and its new cocktail menu, you can drink its history—one icon at a time. For more information, head over to the bar’s official website.
Read our interview with Co-owner Aurélie Panhelleux.
