JW Marriott embraces sustainability, local foods with new beverage program

/

by Leah Demirjian, special to Edible DC Tins of appetizers, including cold-smoked tuna and prosciutto di Parma, flecked with goat cheese- filled Peppadew peppers-- a sweet piquanté variety grown in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Washington, D.C.’s flagship JW Marriott hotel recently unveiled their new beverage program, Cocktails with Purpose, welcoming guests on a wintry evening with their warming signature house-infused Bourbon Manhattan cocktail: an aromatic blend of bourbon whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters, garnished with fresh orange peel. Developed in collaboration with New York-based mixologists Tippling Bros. and nutritionist Keri Glassman, the Cocktails with Purpose initiative strives to produce healthier cocktails while enriching the JW Marriott’s beverage program with fresh juices, raw honey (in lieu of refined sugars), and garnishes plucked from the hotel’s garden.

Mini glass jugs bearing the JW Marriott emblem decorated the cocktail bar.

Well-being and sustainability are key ingredients of the JW Marriott’s food and beverage experience; Executive Chef Adam Salyer actively seeks to bring seasonal local foods into the menu, such as a rustic wood board boasting fresh local root vegetable offerings, including white radishes, leafy greens, purple and yellow bean pods, baby turnips and carrots. Other dishes include foie gras with cherry jam featuring a cinnamon- and sugar-dusted apple crisp, and prosciutto di Parma, with pickled pear, arugula, walnut, olive oil, and local honey, accompanied by fingerling potato chips brushed with black caviar.

Local, seasonal greens and root vegetables.

A Green Orchard Highball — just one of dozens of new cocktails on the menu — combines brandy, unfiltered apple juice, lemon juice, raw honey syrup, fresh tarragon, ginger beer, and a dried apple chip for garnish, emphasizing the fresh ingredients key to the beverage program that also mirror the hotel’s recent renovations—clean, streamlined, and classic. At the same time, Chef Salyer continues to take a playful approach with some dishes, such as the cold smoked spiced tuna with preserved lemon and corn shoots which arrive plated in tin containers, a fun throwback to canned foods that takes the fussiness out of fine dining.

Fried Brussels sprouts, with apricot, pickled onion, and apple cider.

Mini chocolate spheres.

JW Marriott Hotel: 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, www.marriott.com