Feature

Cocktail stories: Living The Dream, White Limozeen

27 December 2023 By Georgie Collins

Nashville’s White Limozeen adds a smooth touch to a summer rum cocktail with its Living The Dream.

*This feature was first published in the July 2023 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.

When we think of Tennessee, we think of two things: whiskey and country music. While this cocktail doesn’t include any of the former, the latter provides the thematic backdrop of where it is served.

White Limozeen is the roof bar of The Graduate hotel in Nashville. Famed for being the Bachelorette capital of the US, this bar has become a beacon for female visitors to the city. The appeal? Its 9-to-5-singing muse Dolly Parton.

Much like the country singer herself, White Limozeen is not understated. On the outdoor terrace, with views of the Nashville skyline, bright pink parasols cover the equally fuchsia day beds positioned next to the turquoise plunge pool, while an eight-foot-tall peach-coloured mural of Dolly’s head sits in the corner, just waiting to be Instagrammed.

Inside the venue, rhinestones glisten around the chandeliers, velvet beds double up as lavish spaces to sip cocktails, and a large bar takes centre stage. This is where the menu of themed cocktails are shaken up, including the new-for-summer serve, Living The Dream.

The first thing drinkers will notice about this long serve is the colour. “This drink is basically my thoughts on what would happen if a Blue Hawaiian and Piña Colada had a baby,” says beverage director Demi Natoli. “The inspiration behind this drink came from my love of blended drinks. I’m from Florida where I worked at various tiki bars, so I’m typically missing the breeze there, with a Piña Colada or Daiquiri in hand.”

The Pacific-blue-hued serve, presented in a Sling glass, is a combination of White Limozeen’s House Rum Blend (a mix of Plantation 5 Year Old, Plantation OFTD, and Plantation Original Dark), house-made coconut cream (created by chilling cans of full-fat coconut milk, scooping out the fat, and adding sugar and coconut-milk powder to boost the coconut flavour), crème de banane, Blue Curaçao, pineapple juice, and ripe banana, all blended in a smoothie maker with plenty of ice. “When all of those ingredients start to settle in the glass, it looks like waves on the ocean,” Natoli says.