The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte unveils its ‘Champagne Speakeasy Tree.’ (We wish it actually served champagne.)
The 17-foot, eco-friendly tree made with 789 recycled, green plastic bottles is the first clue. It’s a conspicuous fixture outside of Bar Cocoa on the corner of College and Trade Streets Uptown.
Walk inside, past the cases of desserts and honeys, down the hall with the giant, lighted Christmas balls hanging from the ceiling. To the right is your second clue: a 12-foot-wide gingerbread house with an electric train snaking through it. Smack dab in the middle of The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte’s lobby.
You’re really close to the Champagne Speakeasy Tree now. Pick an elevator and ride to the 15th floor. You’ll find it behind the closed doors of The Punch Room.
If The Punch Room is open, that is.
The speakeasy tree is a new addition to the Holiday Wonderland display that has filled The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte’s lobby every December since 2013.
If you make it to The Punch Room during its usual hours (Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.) you should be able to get up close to it in all its 6.5-foot, champagne-colored, vintage gold-and-silver-ornamented glory.
That was my goal when I first read about it. But it was a bit of a bummer to find that it’s not a majestic champagne spout shaped like a tree. (My imagination ran away from me. Yours too?)
A post shared by The Punch Room (@thepunchroom) on Nov 21, 2017 at 2:31pm PST
Even if you wander into the Ritz on a random Tuesday morning like me, there’s plenty to gawk at to fill five minutes of your time. There just aren’t any cocktails spilling off of trees.
Take a closer look at the gingerbread house in the lobby. According to a press release, the gingerbread, cookies and candies it’s made of are actually edible. If you get hungry, there’s a basket of candy canes on the white picket fence, next to a stack of letters you can write to Santa. (You know you want to.)
Take a look at the three trees nearby that are made with a combined 9,500 macarons, and revisit Bar Cocoa to catch that tree made of 1,00 French eclairs that you breezed past when you first walked in. You can actually leave teddy bears under this tree that will be donated to Levine Children’s Hospital (I wasn’t carrying one that day, darn it).
The public can view these displays from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. through Dec. 27 for free. Take a break from work. Get in the holiday spirit.
And maybe start the tour by entering through the front doors of the Ritz at 201 E. Trade St. Then you won’t take the tour backwards, like me.
Photos: Katie Toussaint
This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 10:00 PM with the headline "The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte unveils its ‘Champagne Speakeasy Tree.’ (We wish it actually served champagne.)."