JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa in February partnered with Desert Door Texas Sotol on a common mission to preserve Texas bees. All of the resort’s restaurant and bar outlets serve a signature Paloma Preserve cocktail using Desert Door Texas Sotol’s Pollinator spirit, the third Texas Sotol variation in Desert Door’s Conservation Series.
Desert Door’s nonprofit foundation Wild Spirit Wild Places (WSWP) is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of wild lands across Texas and the U.S. through research, education and conservation practices, and spearheaded the planting of pollinator gardens across Central Texas as part of the release of Pollinator. Texas loses 40% of its honeybee population every year, according to WSWP, from pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, disease and other causes.
“Desert Door’s nonprofit foundation and third Conservation Series spirit directly aligns with the resort’s missions to protect bees in Texas and to establish local community partnerships,” says Adam Tyler, director of food & beverage at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. “We are proud to have them as a partner and are confident our guests will enjoy the exclusive Paloma Preserve cocktail using Desert Door Texas Sotol’s new Pollinator spirit.”
Pollinator, a sotol spirit is made from the West Texas-grown evergreen sotol plant, is similar in profile to agave-based spirits, tequila and mezcal. Pollinator was created with mesquite, persimmon and honeysuckle, which are native plants that are pollinated by Texas bee species.
The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country’s food and beverage team and culinary gardener provide regional bees with the home they need to thrive by maintaining beehives on the resort’s property and harvesting honey from them. Honey harvested at the resort was recently used to brew a new beer, Hill Country Honey Blonde, in partnership with Freetail Brewing Co., a company that actively builds awareness for wildlife conservation through the development of their products.
Both the Paloma Preserve, served in signature blue porcelain tumblers, and Hill Country Honey Blonde beer are part of the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa’s Conservation Series aimed at creating a positive impact in the local community.
Paloma Preserve
Ingredients
- 1 ½ oz. Grapefruit juice
- ½ oz. Lime juice
- ¼ oz. Agave simple syrup
- 1 ¼ oz. Sotol
Instructions
- Build in glass rimmed from 12-6 o’clock with salt.
- Fill with ice and top with soda.
- Garnish with lime at 10 o’clock.
