One of the largest components of Tahoe’s nightlife is the mix of countless breweries, bars and restaurants that offer unique drinks difficult to find outside the basin. In our Drink of the Week segment, we’ll showcase one type of beer, wine, cocktail — you name it — to try around the basin.

Before all you marijuana enthusiasts stand up and rejoice at the name of this cocktail, let me be the first to burst your bubble and tell you that it does not contain what you may think it does.

This week’s drink is, however, top of the Freel Peak when it comes to flavorful fall cocktails — it is the Loft’s High Hopes.

If I were to host a holiday party in an apple orchard, hang a bunch of those smelly, spiced wreaths on the branches, and host games like bobbing for pears and trampoline leaf jumping, you would pretty much have this cocktail nailed.

There’s a lot of flavor going on in this glass. Rocket vodka, apple brandy, allspice, spiced-pear liqueur, brown sugar, ginger shrub and apple cider round out the mixology medley.

While it’s seemingly a mouthful of ingredients, it’s a mouthful that you want to make its way to your belly. Your palette will appreciate the complexity on its way through.

The flavor profile of this cocktail is bookended by fruit. That clean, crisp apple flavor first hits your lips like a Mike Tyson haymaker. All of the spice flavors are “Malcolm in the Middle” and then it finishes with a spiced-pear pirouette.

While you may peg this drink as the perfect fit for that upcoming business Christmas party, don’t let its sophistication fool you. It’s clamoring to hop in the copy room and get the festivities started. Bottoms up. Pinkies out.

The Loft opens daily at 5 p.m., and is located at 1001 Heavenly Village Way. Learn more online at http://www.thelofttahoe.com or call 530-523-8024.