Funky Claude’s Bar sits inside the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, a Belle Époque building on the lakefront that has been at the centre of the city’s musical life for decades. The bar began as Harry’s New York Bar before being renamed in 2014 in memory of Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, whose nickname – given to him by Deep Purple after he helped evacuate guests during the 1971 Casino fire – became the name above the door. The connection is not decorative. Nobs was a regular presence in the bar for years, and on the windows his graffiti survives alongside the signatures and drawings of artists who passed through, left untouched as a record of those evenings. His collection of miniature trains sits above the back bar.

The room is U-shaped, with a long solid wood counter, brass fittings, and deep red tones throughout. Original furniture has been preserved and maintained by the hotel’s carpenter rather than replaced, and the back bar is organised by category – whisky, premium tequila, gin, exceptional spirits, and a dedicated Martini selection – with some bottles displayed on illuminated glass shelves. Around one hundred private lockers allow guests to store personal bottles and return for them, and a dedicated martini trolley is brought to the table for those who prefer their drink prepared in front of them.

The cocktail menu, designed by Montreux Jazz International on synthetic leather, opens with the bar’s history before moving through the full drinks selection. Each signature cocktail is mapped on a strength and volume grid before the recipes begin, and each is linked to a Spotify QR code. The best-selling Smoke on the Water arrives with an original concert ticket from the 1971 Frank Zappa performance that prompted Deep Purple to write the song. The Queen cocktail combines Freddie Mercury’s preferred Canadian whisky with a house-made soda infused with Earl Grey and smoked over applewood. A Vieux Carré riff honouring Trombone Shorty is aged in an ex-PX barrel for roundness and depth. The menu changes three times a year, with a dedicated edition released each July for the festival itself.

In-house production covers syrups, shrubs, cordials, bitters, oleo-saccharum, fresh juices, and honey from the bar’s own beehive, with a Brix meter used to standardise sugar content across batches. The alcohol-free selection draws from an extensive range of non-alcoholic spirits and vermouths, with a Dry January menu of nine drinks released each year. Wine is anchored by the bar’s own label, produced by Philippe Gex at Domaine de la Pierre Latine in Yvorne, ten kilometres away, from a Lavaux region whose wines are rarely exported. Monthly masterclasses open the bar to guests wanting to go deeper into spirits, technique, or the history of mixology, each session concluding with a printed booklet. Guest shifts in 2025 included a collaboration with Nico de Soto, paired with a full menu developed with Michelin-starred chef Ferdinando Bernardi.

Live music runs on Thursdays and Fridays, with international artists performing in duo, trio, or quartet across jazz, pop, rock, and funk. Saturday evenings move to DJ sets curated by the Kane agency, spanning house, funk, disco, and Afro house. During the Montreux Jazz Festival, the bar becomes an official festival stage, with a Swiss opening act followed by an international group each evening and frequent unannounced appearances from visiting artists. The bar’s Sustainable Development Committee participates annually in Net’Léman, last year collecting 299 kilograms of waste from the shores of Lake Geneva.