I was in Scottsdale, Arizona and, to put it mildly, a little squiffy. Most folk go there to play golf (yawn) but I’d gone there to drink and, after a lengthy tequila masterclass in La Hacienda and several cocktails at Platform 18 (‘best US cocktail bar’ in the 2023 Spirited Awards, incidentally) in nearby Phoenix, I was also more than a little disorientated.

No, don’t laugh. Firstly, La Hacienda – a fancy bar in the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort – has more than 240 different tequilas and mezcals on its list and, thanks to the resort’s resident Tequila Goddess (its term, not mine), they just kept on coming. And secondly, Platform 18, a Prohibition-era, presidential Pullman-inspired train-carriage-cum-bar on the ground floor of Century Grand which goes absolutely nowhere but which, owing to clever choreography and video trickery, appears to rattle through the North American countryside, is so ridiculously convincing that a lady at the neighbouring table had to draw the curtains because she felt travel-sick.

On some barfly’s advice, I’d downloaded a taxi app to ensure I got home safely. I thought it was for Uber or Lyft, but it turned out to be for Waymo, the driverless car company, which is being trialled in Scottsdale........

© The Spectator