It’s fitting that a hotel themed around travel would have a bar dedicated to rum. An exploration of Bar 1802’s vast collection of bottles, not to mention the diverse selection of rum-based cocktails on offer, takes guests on a journey that spans the globe. 

The bar’s lush interior is filled with tropical plants, Chinese pottery and no small amount of taxidermy, not to mention shelves upon shelves of rum, with a beautiful cabinet holding the rarest bottles. Red velvet couches line the walls, with marble tables and wicker armchairs throughout. While the room is dimly lit, each table has a lamp with adjustable brightness, which allows for intimate moments to suit the mood of guests’ visit – or the time of day. 

At the centre of it all is the island bar, clad in beautiful azulejos tiles, where bartenders create cocktails from a list that changes annually. The current concept takes inspiration from materials that guests can see throughout the bar, such as ceramic, porcelain and glass, and applies these to both the glassware and the drinks themselves. To bring these to life, craftsmen – many of them Parisian – were enlisted to create bespoke glassware for each of the 12 drinks, as well as a small bottle from the respective material. There’s a book coming that will showcase this craftsmanship and pay tribute to the deep work that has gone on behind the scenes here. 

Cocktails on the ‘Materials’ menu experiment with temperatures and textures, often employing culinary methods such as lacto-fermentation. To create these – all of the non-alcoholic ingredients are made in-house – the team use a dedicated prep room filled with technical equipment such as a centrifuge and immersion heater. Cocktails, where appropriate, are served in glassware from a -10°C glass freezer. Two of the 12 drinks, ‘Ceramic’ and ‘Coconut’, are available with and without alcohol.

As outstanding as this cocktail offering is, the main event at Bar 1802 has to be the encyclopaedic rum collection, consisting of 1,500 bottles from around the world, all available to taste by the glass. Guests are not left to navigate this collection alone – there are knowledgeable staff to talk through the rums, bring their stories to life and help to find the ideal serve for each person – much as you would expect a sommelier to do with wine. For a more in-depth experience, bespoke rum tastings can be booked for small groups with a member of the team guiding you through some of their rarer finds. 

Since opening in 2018, the team have also bottled 35 rums unique to the bar, working with distilleries and independent bottlers alike. These 1802-branded cuvées are also for sale by the bottle – keep your eyes peeled for one of their own-branded tasting glasses which often find their way into the bag as a gift!

The team’s extensive rum knowledge stems from in-depth training on the subject, but they also focus trainings around service standards and sustainability. 

The latter is core to the ethos at Bar 1802, from local sourcing of produce from French farmers to composting where possible, as well as minimising waste. Social impact is an important consideration too, as is the local community, with neighbourhood suppliers for honey, cheese, bread and more. For products that can’t be sourced locally – they work hard to ensure these are truly maximised – their limes for example are used for juice, then soaked to make a lime stock and then the shells are soaked in vinegar to make a cleaning product used at the bar. 

To build community with other bar teams in Paris, Bar 1802 hosts events for others in the industry, focused on learning about crafting methods around the world, such as leather working in Venezuela and pottery in Barbados. Another way they have ventured beyond the bar was a recent collaboration with Michelin starred restaurant Le Baudelaire, also in Paris. The result was two multi-course menus with paired cocktails by Bar 1802, perfectly made and ready to pour direct from the freezer.