“The More You Try, The Better You Get” Michele Mariotti Presents The American Bar at Gleneagles’ Perfectly Imperfect ‘Rose Compendium’ 

We’re sitting beside the counter at The American Bar at Gleneagles with Michele Mariotti. His carefully maintained stubble frames a faintly rosy complexion — the kind you develop as an adopted Scot who’s weathered five Perthshire winters. Only, right now, he’s basking in the evening light streaming in through The American Bar’s windows towards the end of a day of unseasonal Highland springtime sunshine.

He’s forsaken the tweeds and brogues of his adopted homeland for a sharp monochrome blue suit and waistcoat, the crisp white shirt and spotted tie with matching pocket square serving as quiet reminders of his Italian sartorial heritage.

It’s these small tensions — Mediterranean precision amid Scottish wilderness — that seem to define both Michele, the Head of Bars here at Gleneagles, and his approach to mixology.

“I’m from Udine, in the north of Italy,” Michele explains with the chatty conviviality of a podcast host. He did host a podcast for a short time (the Unjiggered Podcast) until the distancing of the pandemic removed the chance to “chat with industry figures in a close-up way, while learning more about them.”

“Udine is one of the rainiest cities in the country,” he continues. “And we get cold winters, so I really enjoy winter clothes and being warm.” He’s especially enjoying being able to wear suits, something he could rarely do in the Singapore heat.

 “I think this is the best place in the world,” he nods, looking out of The American Bar’s windows again. 

Considering The Grandeur Of The Gleneagles Hotel

Michele came here from Proof & Co’s MO Bar, Singapore, joining first as Head of Mixology and Century Bar Manager – one of 10 outlets at the magisterial Gleneagles – then, for the last couple of years, as Head of Bars. “I think it’s 11 outlets, now” he corrects us, doing some quick mathematics in his head.

Michele knew Daniel Baernreuther, the hotel manager at Gleneagles who proposed the idea of him coming, from his time at The Savoy and The Berkeley. Back then he’d come up to Gleneagles sometimes, led by his love of whisky. 

Considering the grandeur of The Gleneagles Hotel, the chance to build deep local partnerships, to create an inward-looking project to reuse ingredients; to evolve the bars at Gleneagles as unique entities (with a shared DNA), and to develop a world-beating team on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, the idea quickly grew on him, “after consulting with my wife,” he quickly adds.   

The Scotsman called his job, “one of the top booze jobs in Scotland.” And right now, with The American Bar cast in its golden-hour glow, Head Bartender Emilio Giovanazzi pouring the menu’s signature cocktails – twists on a Rob Roy – called Amber Stem, and based on ‘Barley,’ into bespoke glasses “with indentations in the bowl of the glass so you can swirl the ‘cherry’ around like a ball in a roulette wheel,’” it certainly feels like it.

The Art of Hospitality Award & Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award

The grand Gleneagles Hotel – a bucolic 45-minute drive from Edinburgh’s Waverly Station – is set amid 850 acres of stunning countryside. Taking the countryside route, you’ll catch your first glimpse of the hotel as you descend the A823 between electric yellow gorse bushes, with its meticulously maintained grounds, golf courses, and gardens.

In a star-cast 2023, The Gleneagles Hotel had glimpsed perfection. 

At the inaugural World’s 50 Best Hotels, the hotel was awarded The Art of Hospitality Award, “the only prize that really matters,” former Managing Director Conor O’Leary had commented at the time. 

And the same year, at the World’s 50 Best Bars, Gleneagles’ The American Bar took the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2023 for its winning entry, ‘The Book of Berries.’ Interestingly, the former was held at the Guildhall London and the latter during a balmy night at the Pasir Panjang Power Station in Singapore (Michele had worn a suit that time regardless of the heat), the twin poles of his cocktail initiation before Gleneagles.

Gleneagles’ The American Bar’s ‘The Rose Compendium’

This is the follow-up menu to ‘The Book Of Berries,’ born from a serendipitous discovery of the Royal Rose Society, who Michele fondly describes as “nutjobs.”

During the research phase, Michele and the team uncovered this organization which, from 1887 until 2014, convened annually to discuss roses and published their eccentric but meticulous ‘Rose Annuals.’ This historical treasure became the inspiration for The American Bar’s ‘The Rose Compendium.’

Michele’s team uncovered the surprising breadth of the Rosaceae family — a botanical dynasty encompassing over 90 genera spanning delicate herbs to towering trees. What unites this diverse lineage are their signature five-petaled blossoms, abundant stamens, and their tendency toward succulent, fleshy fruits — a botanical treasure trove far beyond mere garden roses.

“Our menu draws directly from the 1925 edition,” Michele explains, “with its earnest recommendations on growing varieties and caring for them. We adopted that graphic style completely — the vintage advertisements, the seed company sponsorships, all of it.”

A Rich Collection Of Rosaceae Drinks

The result is a menu that wears its scholarly underpinnings lightly. “In this intriguing compendium we’ve compiled a rich collection of rosaceae drinks, how to care for your roses and a tantalizing selection of other beverages,” the menu begins, embracing the quirky capitalizations and italicizations characteristic of early 20th century horticultural literature.

Acknowledging modern attention spans, a pragmatic one-page section labeled ‘Too Long To Read’ gets straight to business, listing all 19 cocktails (21 counting the Rob Roy variations) alongside their prices and categorized by the rosaceae family members: Barley, Apple, Pear, Quince, Cherry, Peach, Plum, Strawberry, Blackberry and Almond.

The full menu then unfolds with ‘advice and notes,’ each cocktail helpfully explained through its classic inspiration — the Highball-inspired Blossom Breeze, an El Presidente reimagined as the Spiced Marzipan, a French 75 transformed into the Crimson Royale.

“Half our menu comes from the Gleneagles ecosystem itself,” he explains. “We preserve ingredients from the surrounding estates and work directly with our kitchens to repurpose by-products that would otherwise be discarded.” 

“The other half,” he continues, “comes through our hyperlocal supplier network — Scottish artisans we’ve collaborated with to develop ingredients in various formats specifically for our cocktail production.”

And so, Glenturret Distillery anchors the menu with three custom spirits for their signature Amber Stem, while experimental foragers Buck & Birch contributed both the rose-infused vermouth that accompanies them, and a quince liqueur that elevates their Bitter Shrub twist on a Negroni.

The countryside continues to reveal itself through other unexpected partnerships: Abernethy’s Allan’s Chilli Products supplied the fragrant pear and chili jam that defines their Margarita riff, fittingly called Fragrant Jam, while local farmers crafted exclusive peach-basil yogurt for the clarified, carbonated Silky Drizzle. Even traditional confectioner Gordon & Durward of Crieff played a role, their marzipan infusing both rum and vermouth in the Spiced Marzipan’s reimagined El Presidente.

From Persie Distillery’s locally-foraged Plum & Sloe Gin to Highland Moon Company’s complex blackberry moonshine that incorporates fruit, leaves and roots, each collaboration celebrates Scotland’s craft producers. Along the way, suppliers have become friends, like Allan. “He’s a guy that lives and breathes chili jam,” Emilio remembers. “He came to the menu launch in a kilt, super excited, it was brilliant.”

Working With Glenturret “The Other Side Of Crieff”

While we’ve been scanning the menu, Emilio has finished pouring the three variations of Amber Stem in order from Dry to Perfect to Sweet. His crisp white dinner jacket and black bow tie give him that timeless appearance — the kind of button-down bartender befitting The American Bar’s heritage.

The distinctive variations in these Rob Roy-inspired cocktails aren’t achieved through different amounts of vermouth as tradition would dictate, but by deploying different base spirits developed in collaboration with Glenturret Distillery — a Highland single-malt Scotch whiskey producer located about a 30-minute drive from Gleneagles. “The other side of Crieff,” Emilio smiles, in the warm way they talk about distances around here on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, the warm burr of his Glaswegian accent betraying his third-generation Italian roots.

The Spirit-Based Backbone Of Their Amber Stem 

“The Glenturret collaboration was really interesting,” Michele leans in, his eyes brightening. “Working with Bob Dalgarno was a truly collaborative experience.” He’s referring to inductee #81 of the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame, who joined Glenturret in 2019 following the distillery’s acquisition by Lalique Group. This partnership yielded the three expressions forming the backbone of their Rob Roy variations.

The Dry Amber Stem emerges from a surprisingly complex source: a 1986 distillation that spent just six months in virgin oak casks. “It’s super grassy,” Michele explains, “but having aged since ’86, it’s lost some of its fire.” The result is a whisky that carries unexpected subtlety despite its youth in wood.

Between them sits the Perfect — the house favorite — a rich and oaky malt aged in white oak, sherry seasoned casks. “This is where balance lives,” Michele says, lifting the glass with reverence. “The distinct toffee notes create a through-line that connects the whisky to the vermouth.” When backlit by the bar’s soft lighting, the amber liquid seems to hold the essence of what they’ve been trying to achieve — tradition reimagined rather than reinvented.

For the Sweet variation, they selected a spirit that spent 36 years inside port casks. “It’s profoundly fruit-forward,” Emilio adds, sliding the deep ruby cocktail forward. “The extended time in cask naturally reduced the ABV while concentrating those darker fruit notes.”

The process was deliberately blind. “Throughout six months, we tried countless expressions without knowing what we were sampling,” Michele recalls with evident satisfaction. “We weren’t bound by cost considerations, which freed our palates completely.” He describes a pivotal moment when selecting the Dry expression, choosing between their final pick and a 7-year-old aged in Tokaji casks. “The Tokaji — a sweet wine cask — paradoxically created this bright, citrusy profile. But ultimately, we went with the ’86 for its structure.”

Part Of The Process

The glassware became part of the creative process, too.

The glasses were perhaps the hardest part,” Emilio admits, demonstrating how the indentations cradle the round ‘cherry’ garnishes. These aren’t simple cherries, but sophisticated spheres: mandarin jelly coated in white chocolate painted red for the ‘Dry,’ Seville orange jelly in milk chocolate for the ‘Perfect,’ or blood orange jelly in dark chocolate for the ‘Sweet.”

But technology has accelerated everything. “Once we gave them a direction, they began 3D-printing prototypes almost immediately.” He spins the cherry in its glass for effect, bouncing it between indentations. “You get better at it the more you try.”

“And even the vermouth was made entirely from local ingredients,” Emilio adds with unmistakable pride, about the collaboration with Buck & Birch, the maverick Scottish producers whose experimental approach to native flora has won them critical acclaim.

“It’s the only element in our entire Rose Compendium that actually contains roses,” Michele adds. The base is a split of Japanese knotweed, primrose, and birch wines — a combination that lends each Amber Stem variation a herbaceousness and gentle acidity that distinguishes it from traditional Rob Roys. The sweetness comes balanced by rose hip fruitiness, calibrated perfectly to complement all three whisky expressions.

The More You Try, The Better You Get

But, then, Barley shouldn’t be here in The Rose Compendium anyway. It’s a deliberate mistake amid the rose family theme. This isn’t oversight but intention; a clever continuation of the tradition of incorporating scholarly ‘mistakes’ that reward the attentive reader. Just as their award-winning Book of Berries included Juniper (technically not a berry) as its centerpiece exploration of the Martini, Barley stands as the magnificent outlier in the rosaceae narrative.

“The pursuit of perfection requires these small transgressions,” Michele muses, examining the three variations before us. “It’s not about being flawless — it’s about the tension between tradition and innovation.” This philosophy permeates everything at Gleneagles, from the storytelling embedded in menus to the uncompromising attention to detail in each glass.

As we taste the trio, Michele observes our reactions with quiet satisfaction. But, there’s another menu in the offing, Michele confides in us, although he can’t say too much for now. “The more you try, the better you get,” he repeats, about the ongoing pursuit of perfection at The American Bar that goes on, as he swirls the ‘Perfect’ Amber Stem one last time.