Library Lounge

George Vanderbilt planned an inn for his estate in 1900, and the idea took a century to become a building — the Inn on Biltmore Estate opened in 2001, and the Library Lounge opens off its lobby, wood-paneled under a wrought-iron chandelier strung with candle-shaped bulbs. A baby grand piano stands near the club chairs, and windows run floor to ceiling, framing the Blue Ridge past the estate’s own lawns. A stone fireplace anchors the other end of the room, its screen worked in wrought iron. A terrace opens off the lounge, railed above the lawn. The cocktail list runs eight drinks under a single header, Spirited Tales, and most lean on something made in the kitchen rather than poured straight from a bottle: a house demerara, a raspberry-lemon oleo saccharum, a chamomile-herb simple. The Biltmore Smoked Old Fashioned tops the list at $40 — the estate’s own barrel-select bourbon, hickory, that demerara — and the rest start at $20 — The Edith, Cornelia, Royal Wisteria among them. Food runs savory to sweet: a lobster roll and onion-topped smash sliders sit next to a three-tiered stand of scones, quick bread and cheese by the window for tea service, and Biltmore wine is poured alongside the cocktails. Getting a seat is not a walk-in errand: it takes an estate admission ticket, an Annual Pass, or a room key upstairs, so by the time a cocktail arrives, the guest has already paid for the privilege once today. Buy the ticket, or book the room, before you plan on a nightcap.