WEEK OF JUNE 26, 2025
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 52
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June 17 Arvada City Council briefs Residents will see 3.5% rate increase for trash hauling, opt-out fee to stay the same BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Dreams, an elevated cocktail gin. The distillery also makes amari, an Italian bittersweet liqueur. Amaro is historically used for medicinal purposes, and while Method and Muse’s don’t necessarily have healing powers, they’re designed to play off of that history. “We realized that every culture on the planet had, at some point, grabbed herbs, alcohol and sugar, and mixed those things to make a drink, to make you feel better,” Wigner said. “For us, amaro is like (an homage to) the history of it is like cultures taking herbs, putting it in alcohol to preserve it and extract flavors.” Method and Muse has four amaro varieties, including a Caribbean Amaro, an Akajiso Ginger Amaro, a Thai Amaro and The Bartender’s Salute, which Wigner says combines ingredients that service industry workers hold near and dear.
Arvada had a busy city council meeting on June 17, as the council passed an anticipated 3.5% rate increase for trash hauling, approved a new intergovernmental agreement with the Jefferson County Public School District relating to school resource officers, and presented members of the Jefferson County Public Library with a proclamation for Juneteenth. The trash hauling increase was first discussed at the June 3 meeting, when the city council directed the city team to clarify language about roll-off events and other terms of the contract amendment with Republic Services, which has been Arvada’s trash hauler since 2020. At the June 17 meeting, City Councilmember Shawna Ambrose thanked the city team for addressing her concerns about the language in the contract and introduced a motion in support of the resolution, which passed 6-0. Mayor Pro Tem Randy Moorman was absent from the meeting. Jacqueline Rhoades, Arvada’s infrastructure director, laid out the terms of the contract amendment before the council vote and stated that the opt-out fee for residents who utilize a hauler other than Republic will stay the same through 2028. “This resolution allows for the contract to extend to July 2028 to allow the minimum service opt-out fee charged by Republic to be held at the current amount of $4.55 per month through that date,” Rhoades said. “The solid waste services fee schedule is being updated to reflect a price increase from our public services in accordance with our contract. “The increase in fees is 3.5% as demonstrated by Republic Services with the National Water, Sewer and Trash Index,” Rhoades continued. “Bills increase from 59 cents to 90 cents (depending on service level).”
SEE TASTING ROOM, P6
SEE COUNCIL BRIEFS, P7
This is the distillery’s first tasting room. COURTESY METHOD AND MUSE
Method and Muse Spirits opens Arvada tasting room Award-winning distiller brings craft cocktails to Olde Town — with a scientific twist
BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When Method and Muse Spirits got started a little over a year ago, it was a way for a group of scientist friends to create a different kind of alchemy. Now, on the heels of a slew of awards and a growing following, the company has opened a tasting room in Olde Town Arvada where folks can sample their spirits or try a craft cocktail. Founded by Aubrey Wigner, a professor at Colorado School of Mines; James McCall, an energy analyst at NREL; Rudy Sosa, who has been working in chemical synthesis; Ethan Tsai, a chemist and former professor and Sharlissa Moore, a former professor who works at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the company doesn’t necessarily have traditional distillery roots — though Tsai formerly ran Tivoli Brewing in Denver.
VOICES: 8 | LIFE: 10 | CALENDAR: 13
Wigner said the idea for a gin and amaro company came from the friend group’s shared love of food from around the world. “We used to do all these food nights, where we would pick a culture or a location in the world, and we would make food from that place,” Wigner said. “And that’s kind of how we celebrated and got together. So years later, we started doing the same thing with spirits, and we said to ourselves, ‘How could we make a bittersweet or liqueur that captures the essence of Caribbean food or Thai food or Japanese food?’ “That’s kind of how we just got into this; we’re all just big flavor hounds and foodies,” Wigner continued. “And we just started playing a lot with flavors, and realized along the way that people were really excited about it.” Now, Method and Muse offers four gin varieties: Persepolis, a Persian spiced gin; Izakaya, a Japanese sipping gin; Floral Alchemy, a French style gin and Bergamot
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