Pedestrians walking past Seattle’s Mayflower Park Hotel can’t resist glancing through the majestic floor-to-ceiling windows of Oliver’s Lounge. After noticing bartenders preparing the hotel’s signature cocktails, some spontaneously decide to enter and join in the fun. Many try Oliver’s Classic Martini, a perennial winner in Seattle’s Martini Classic Challenge. The bartender starts with an empty ice cold martini mixing glass, adding 1/2 ounce of Cinzano Dry Vermouth. He swirls to coat the entire inside of the mixing glass and then discards the excess in the sink. After filling with ice, he adds 2-1/2 ounces of Bombay Sapphire Gin or Stolichnaya Gold Vodka, caps the mixing glass and shakes vigorously. While the mixture stands for 20 seconds, he sets two large vermouth-marinated olives on the edge of an ice cold martini glass and strains the mixture into the glass over the olives.

Or a guest may try Oliver’s Paradigm Shift. Setting the stage for this drink is a quote from anonymous, “I’m not talking gin splashed over ice. I’m talking the elegance of Fred Astaire in a glass, fire and ice, pure liquid crystal, insight and comfort, redemption and absolution, and a shared savor of solitude. I’m talking a martini.” That’s quite a challenge to live up to. This drink is Oliver’s invitation to “enter an alternative martini dimension.”

Again starting with an empty ice cold mixing glass, the bartender swirls 1/8 ounce of campari to coat the entire inside, disposing of the excess. After filling with ice he squeezes 1 ounce of fresh Texas Ruby Red grapefruit juice into the mixing glass and adds 1 ounce of fresh in-house made raspberry lemon-lime sour. He then adds 2 ounces of Ketel One Vodka and 3/4 ounce Bombay Gin, caps and shakes vigorously. Straining the mixture into a chilled martini glass, he garnishes with a fresh grapefruit slice and fresh raspberries.

F&B Manager Steve Johansson points out that Oliver’s Lounge is not just about martinis. “Many of our guests, of all ages, are very much into single malt whiskies. We carry about 15 different malts and there is often a lively discussion at the bar about the merits and differences of each,” he says.

While most enjoy these whiskies neat or over the rocks, a few ask for a Smoky Martini—adding a splash of single malt Scotch to their martini of choice. Or they may call for a Braveheart—Hendrick’s Gin on the rocks with a few dashes of The Glenlivet, garnished with a cucumber slice.

“Quickly becoming a favorite among regulars is McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Pot Distilled Whiskey,” adds Johansson. “It’s made from peat-malted barley brought in from Scotland, and after distillation it is aged in several kinds of oak barrels for three years, producing a smooth peaty whiskey with a clean finish.”

Steve McCarthy’s Clear Creek Distillery began making this whiskey eight years ago and, despite doubling production (from a small base) each of the past three years, it is still in limited supply.

You might be familiar with Clear Creek Distillery from its outstanding eau de vies. Especially their pear eau de vie.

“McCarthy’s Single Malt Whiskey is much like Islay whiskey,” says Steve McCarthy. “Peaty, but more at the level of Lagavulin, rather than Ardbeg. True peat malted barley, (the peat coming from Islay), is made into a wash and then we distill and barrel age in a series of barrels that usually includes old Sherry barrels, some old French (Limousin) oak and finally new, smaller 55 gallon Oregon oak barrels.”

He uses Holstein eau de vie pot stills, and McCarthy is quite happy with the smoothness and distinctive flavor that results. Others are too. Demand is slightly greater than supply, fueled, in part, by comments like this: “Clear Creek Distillery once again produced another quite breathtaking edition of the beautifully peated McCarthy’s. ... McCarthy’s has earned a place among the world’s elite whiskeys,” Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible ... “in blind tastings it holds its own against Lagavulin ...” Alan Farnham, Forbes magazine.