COCKT AIL TRAIL
SEPTEMBER 1 st - OCTOBER 1 st
The Farm-to -Glass Cocktail Trail
A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one sip CENTRAL
SALT LAKE CITY
COPPER COMMON
CURRENT
FELT
FLANKER
FRANKLIN AVENUE
HK BREWING
HSL
MAR | MUNTANYA
MATTEO
MELANCHOLY
POST OFFICE PLACE
ROUSER AT ASHER ADAMS
SCION CIDER
URBAN HILL
THE VAULT AT BAMBARA
WATER WITCH
September 1 st through October 1 st
Check the box as you wet your whistle at each of our Cocktail Trail contenders. May the best cocktail win!
How It Works
PARK CITY
GRAND HYATT DEER VALLEY
HIGH WEST SALOON PALOMINO
SCAN HERE FOR THE TRAIL MAP
SOUTH (ISH)
SALT LAKE CITY
HARBOR SEAFOOD + STEAK
HOPKINS BREWING
SUGAR HOUSE STATION
LOG HAVEN
THROUGHOUT THE CONTEST PERIOD, OUR CONTESTANTS WILL BE SERVING THEIR entries. Your job? Walk into any number of the bars and restaurants in this guide and order up the “Farm-to-Glass Special” (or the actual drink name). Now what? Well, ideally, you are over the age of 21 (with a valid ID) and have some experience with what to do when a lovely drink is placed in front of you. Do that. Consider this amazing concoction. Take notes (or don’t). Basically, do you like it? Vote for it at saltlakemagazine.com. One down, 22 to go. Sip. Vote. Repeat.
Gear Checklist
A pair of good walking shoes
Your Cocktail Trail Field Guide
A pen or pencil for taking field notes
Valid I.D.
Chapstick
Debit and/or Credit Card
Cellphone (charged) with Instagram on the ready
Cash for tips
Sunnies
Lyft, Uber, and/or Green Bike app(s) installed and ready to launch
FEW BAR JOKES FOR THE TRAIL..
A blind
into a bar... and a table. And a bar stool. And a door...
A grasshopper walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Hey, we have a drink named after you.” Grasshopper replies, “You have a drink named Ed?”
Comic Sans walks into a bar.
“Get out!” shouts the barman.
“We don’t serve your type here!”
man walks
Two guys walk into a bar—the third one ducks.
Two conspiracy theorists walk into a bar. You can’t tell me that was just a coincidence, man.
Two unforgettable destinations. One shared spirit.
Salt Lake magazine celebrates over 35 years
Since 1989, our readers have looked to us to discover their very best life, right here in Utah
Where craft cocktails, live music, and elevated dining come together in timeless style.
repealutah.com | prohibitionutah.com
Scan the QR code and use code SLM25 at checkout to receive 50% off of a one-year subscription
Or visit https:saltlakemagazine. com/subscribe-today/
Wasatch Front
EAST OF STATE STREET
COPPER
FRANKLIN
CURRENT
HANDLE
FLAVOR
FLANKER KITCHEN + SPORTING CLUB
6 N. RIO GRANDE ST., SALT LAKE CITY
LEO ROSAS
LEO STUMBLED INTO BARTENDING IN 2015 and never looked back.
“That first cocktail I made lit a fire in me; it wasn’t just a drink, it was an experience.” For more than 10 years, he’s been crafting cocktails with purpose and flair, specializing in fine dining and craft bars.
Farm to glass means something personal to him—he’s lived in some of Utah’s most rural areas.
“For someone like me who
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actually grew up in the countryside, it means home and my heritage.” Not that he hasn’t also enjoyed city life—his experiences in Vegas and LA inform his work. He wants to bring some of the showmanship of those places home to Salt Lake. Bartending for him is part craft, part theater and all heart.
Like all good bartenders, Leo understands why people sometimes order bad drinks. He’ll serve you a Jack and Coke with a smile, but he’d much prefer to take that whiskey, make it into something beautiful and then talk about what’s going on in your life. “What are you going to do with your day?” he might ask a guest. “Talk to me and then I’ll recommend something.” The ethic of care is at the core of his work. —SW
GARDEN BLISS
• 1 oz Alpine Gin
• 1 oz Angel Vert Apéritif
• 1/2 oz St-Germain Liqueur
• 1 oz Verjus Blanc
• 1/2 oz house-made syrup with local strawberries, basil and honey
Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain over a large ice cube in a footed glass
Garnish:
One small dollop of locally sourced plain yogurt flavored with local mint leaves sitting on the ice cube surface (use a pastry bag). Add pea shoots and edible flowers to the yogurt.
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STICKS & STONES
• 3/4 oz Neisson Rhum Agricole Blanc
• 3/4 oz Angeleno Amaro
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/4 oz Bees Brothers honey infused with saffron tea
• 1 Tbs of Tagges apricot preserves
• 1 dash of Scrappys cardamom bitters
• 1 hefty pinch of fresh Frog Bench Farms arugula
FLAVOR BALANCE PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
• Dash of salt
Garnish with fresh arugula leaves and a crack of black pepper
ROUSER AT ASHER ADAMS
2 S. 400 WEST, SALT LAKE CITY
BENJAMIN ARCIA
BEN ARCIA WORKS TO TRANSCEND THE ROLE OF A BARTENDER—he is an architect of experience, a curator of flavor and a storyteller through spirits. This expertise extends beyond the mechanics of crafting cocktails; understanding the rhythm of a
room, the alchemy of ingredients and the unspoken language of hospitality. He especially enjoys taking well-loved drinks and making them fresh. “In modern bartending, you need your own take on classics. I’ll try and reinvent the wheel for somebody.”
Whether reviving a forgotten classic or trying something new, Ben wants to turn every drink into an encounter—an invitation to indulge, savor and remember.
What does he love most about being behind the bar? “I get to make silly drinks and talk to people all day. I get to have my fun while giving people an experience." —SW
POST DISTRICT - SALT LAKE
URBAN HILL
510 S. 300 WEST, SALT LAKE CITY
JORDON STRANG
IN ADDITION TO HIS WORK AT URBAN HILL, Jordon Strang runs a popular pop-up drink series called Bitter Lovers, which shows how much this bartender dives into the deep end of the liquor pool. He’s so enthusiastic about the farm-to-glass concept of our
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contest that he’s revised the entire Urban Hill drinks menu this fall. The whole lineup will be made with products farmed, produced, or foraged in the state of Utah. (He actually made six entries and all will appear on the menu.)
“We have short seasons and rapid growing periods, and it’s very feast or famine, so we are picking these products in the peak of their season and doing some slight fermentation or preserving them for this menu. I think it’s a fun opportunity to highlight our local farmers.”
What does he love about bar work? “Taking care of people. Maybe take them away from the tedium, the mundane, the troubles of their life.”
After a night of drinking, Jordon loves the salty limeade at Salt Lake’s Phở Tây Hô. A bit of bitter, a bit of salty, a bit of sweet, just as it should be. —SW
AFTERLIGHT
• 11/2
1/2
• Grated Ritual Chocolate on top
Stir and strain over a big rock and generously grate chocolate over the top.
Apricot-Golden
Beet Gum Syrup
Juice equal parts apricot and golden beet syrup, add 50% sugar by weight and combine and blend 5g of xantham gum into the mix immediately.
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GOAT IN THE GARDEN
• 1 1/2 oz water pocket Temple of the Moon Gin
• 1 oz fino sherry
• 1/4 oz cappelletti
• 1 oz verjus blanc
• 1 oz blackberry lemon zest honey syrup
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• Goat cheese whey
• 2 dashes black pepper tincture
Shake, double-strain and serve up.
FLAVOR BALANCE PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
MELANCHOLY WINE + COCKTAIL LOUNGE
556 S. GALE
TAY DIXON
TAY DIXON GOT INTO BARTENDING because when he was younger, he struggled talking to people. He figured if there was one job that would help him get over that, it would be bartending. That “just jump in” attitude continues to inform his work, with a cocktail that uses exotic ingredients that might give others pause—goat cheese whey, black pepper, lemon zest honey. He’s not afraid to swing for the fences. Tay’s favorite drink to make is a sazerac, the ur-cocktail that started it all down in New Orleans. It speaks to his deep immersion into cocktail history and tradition—even though he’s only been behind the bar for two years, he’s gone into the deep end of cocktail culture, finding those old things that can be made new again. “Whatever you are doing, you should take pride in it.” He takes pride in being a bartender in Utah. “We kind of have a chip on our shoulder, in a good way.” Tay’s motivated by the idea that we have something to prove. “I like that angst.” —SW
WEST OF STATE - SALT LAKE
MAR | MUNTANYA
170 S. WEST TEMPLE ST., SALT LAKE CITY
KESLEE SMITH
KESLEE SMITH HAS BEEN BEHIND THE BAR FOR CLOSE TO TWO DECADES in Utah and she loves to bring the local flavor. That’s why she uses raspberries from the Salt Lake farmer’s market for her cocktail that pays homage to Bear Lake’s Raspberry Days festival. Mixed with gin from Alpine Distillery, it’s Utah’s mountains in a glass.
Kelsee has worked extensively with the chef Tyler Peterson at Mar | Muntanya to craft drinks that complement the food coming out of the kitchen.”I just love creating and finding the flavors that work together—sweet, savory, bitter, citrus, etc.”
Her favorite thing about bartending in Utah? Using those clicker devices that measure out alcohol, which bartenders call “bergs” after the company that makes them. “I’m explaining the laws more than I’m making drinks sometimes.” With all her experience, what was the worst drink she was asked to make? “A virgin mojito. Just get a Sprite.”
Kelsee’s after-shift drink is a glass of wine and a shot of tequila. “Quality tequila. I’ve had enough bad tequila. I have my standards now.” And for the next morning? A cheeseburger and a mimosa. —SW
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RASPBERRY DAYS GIMLET
• 1 1/2 oz Alpine Gin
• 3/4 oz Alpine Preserve Cordial
• 1/4 oz Empress Rose Gin
• 1 oz acid-adjusted raspberry juice
• 1 oz Cox Honey syrup
Garnish
• 1 oz raspberry leaf espuma
• 1 fresh raspberry leaf
• 1 freeze-dried local raspberry
• 1 feeze-dried spruce tip
Shake with ice and strain into a Nick and Nora. Top with chilled espuma. Place a large, clean raspberry leaf on top of the foam. Stuff a freeze-dried raspberry with a freeze-dried spruce tip and place on top of the raspberry leaf.
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FLAVOR BALANCE
PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
ACQUAPRESE
• 1 oz Madame Pattrini Gin
• 1 1/2 oz tomato water
• 1/4 oz whey
• 1/4 oz white balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 3-5 basil leaves (give the leaves a firm clap in your hand before adding to the shaker)
Garnish with fresh arugula leaves and a crack of black pepper. Combine and shake with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a fresh sprig of basil or basil leaves.
Tomato water Cut desired tomatoes into smaller pieces. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste. Blend tomatoes to a puree with minimal chunks and push through a fine mesh strainer.
MATTEO RISTORANTE ITALIANO
77 W. 200 SOUTH, SALT LAKE CITY
JOEL AOYAGI
MANY SALT LAKERS LIKELY FIRST MET JOEL AOYAGI BEHIND THE BAR at Stoneground Italian Kitchen, where he elevated the bar program at an already elevated mainstay of SLC dining. This 20-year veteran of the service industry has worn many hats but is most at home behind the bar. He’s now at home running the bar program at Matteo.
Joel likes to play with his food. “One of the things that I love about the industry is food and beverage pairing,” he says. “What I’m drinking is definitely determined by what I’m eating.” To that end, his cocktail, the Acquaprese, is a moonshot: a liquid Caprese salad.
“Caprese is a really simple dish,” he says. “There are only three ingredients. Tomatoes are abundant in the summer and I’m utilizing multiple varieties to make a tomato water. For the mozzarella element, I’m using the whey liquid from our imported Italian burrata cheese. The whey adds an awesome creamy flavor and texture. White balsamic vinegar of Modena (Matteo’s family is from Modena) gives you the perfect amount of acidic balance. Lastly, local basil brings a sweet herbaceous note to play with the spices and botanicals in Madam Pattrini Gin from Ogden’s Own Distillery.” —JP
THE VAULT AT BAMBARA
202 S. MAIN ST., SALT LAKE CITY
NICK MURPHY
“SALT LAKE IS A LITTLE HESITANT on boozeforward cocktails,” Nick Murphy says, “so I try to make something that’s a little more boozy, but not just a punch in the mouth.” Working in the bar at the Kimpton Monaco means that he needs to straddle two worlds—locals and visitors. Nick works to marry the sophistication that his globe-trotting customers expect with Utah’s local ingredients. He loves the interaction he gets with all kinds of people. “Everyone has an amazing story. Once you get past the initial icebreaker, most times they open up.”
His cocktail is squarely aimed at the fall weather he enjoys as an outdoor guy. With ginger and cinnamon bark to evoke the changing seasons and whiskey and reposado to warm you up, the Pear of Amigos is a campfire cocktail that works well served up in one of Salt Lake’s swankiest hotels .—SW
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FLAVOR BALANCE
PRESENTATION
CREATIVITY
PEAR
• 1 1/2 oz Elijah Craig • 1/2 oz Casamigos Reposado • 1/4 oz spiced pear • 1/4 oz Domaine De Canton
1/4 oz lemon • 1/2 oz cinnamon bark syrup Garnish with toasted cinnamon sticks.
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FLAVOR BALANCE PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
WHAT REMAINS
• 6 drops preserved lemon cordial
• 6 drops botanical brine
• 1/2 oz clarified lemon juice
• 1/2 oz juniper-sage and blue spirulina syrup
• 1/2 oz Waterpocket Meliae
• 1/2 oz Iichiko shochu
• 1 oz Waterpocket Gin
Shake and strain into a small coupe. Siphon sumac tea, watermelon juice, hibiscus liqueur and salt foam. Sprinkle salted sumac on one half of the cocktail and garnish with a pickled sea bean.
POST OFFICE PLACE
16 W. MARKET ST., SALT LAKE CITY
APRIL LONG
THE STAR INGREDIENT of “What
Remains,” is its story. April Long designed it with the dwindling Great Salt Lake in her mind.
“It’s the story of how the lake is changing,” she says. “As the water level drops and the saline concentration grows in the lake, its blue color gives way to red algae. That red algae is the last color the lake will have. So hopefully this cocktail is just a little bit of a nudge to think about preservation and what we have yet to save.”
Built with Waterpocket Gin, Meliae and shochu, the cocktail’s soft blue-green base is tinted with blue spirulina to evoke the lake’s iconic color when it’s full of life. Crowning the top is an aromatic, silky red foam of tangy sumac, watermelon and hibiscus, symbolizing the hues of the concentrated salinity of the lake.
A pickled sea bean garnish is a taste of the wetlands, which are a critical habitat for migratory birds. Now that’s a story.
“Fall is a time for reflecting and this drink invites us to consider our relationship with the land—what we protect and ‘What Remains’ if we fail.” April hopes her drink will spark bar talk about the lake. “I want to ask what people think about the lake, what do they know? Have they ever been there? Cocktails can be a means to communicate something larger.”
She’ll be directing patrons to the Great Salt Lake Hopeline, a project supported by the public art project Wake the Great Salt Lake. She’d love folks to call and leave the Great Salt Lake a loving voicemail. “It’s the coolest thing,” she says. (Call 979-GSL-HOPE or visit gslhopeline. org for more info.) —JP
FELT BAR AND EATERY
341 S. MAIN ST., SALT LAKE CITY
JOSH VAN GORDEN
FOR JOSH VAN GORDEN, after a long shift, his preferred taste is a traditional pint of Guinness, because sometimes the old ways are the best.
Josh loves to surprise his customers by going back to the roots. His traditional daiquiris are tart and bracing, not the usual sugar bomb from a blender that most folks are used to. Trendy celebrityendorsed liquors, made without the quality that comes with time and good practice, are what make him cringe. “You’re paying so much more for an inferior product. I like to make anybody what they order, I just like to avoid certain spirits that aren’t ethical or made correctly.”
Farm-to-glass is how Josh thinks we should always be making cocktails. “It’s a way to explore and champion local spirits and products, whether it’s foraging, which is really abundant in Salt Lake, or buying from the farmers’ market, it’s a great way to reduce the amount of waste that is so inherent in bars.”
Josh’s rigor in how he works extends to how he cures a hangover— with a cold plunge, or as he puts it, “diving into the hurt locker.” With that kind of discipline, you know that he’s never going to put a drink in front of you that doesn’t meet his standards. —SW
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THE CAFE RACER
• 1 oz Beehive Decade Dry Gin
• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz Campari
• 1/4 oz Notom Amaro
• 1/2 oz five-spice syrup
• 2 oz peach cordial
Garnish with five-spice foam, lemon zest and sage.
Peach Cordial
Get yourself a hearty basket of yellow peaches from the farmers’ market. Set aside half for juicing and half for a syrup. For the syrup, combine equal weight peach slices and white sugar. Let it sit for 24 hours and strain. Once you have your syrup and fresh peach juice, blend them at a ratio of 3:1 juice to sugar.
Your Trail Guides
Our Motto: Be Prepared (ish)
Every year, we assemble a troop of convivial trail guides to lead the way through our 2025 Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Contest. During the contest, from September 1 to October 1, our panel will disperse along the trail to scout ahead for “danger.”
Note: There are no snakes on the Cocktail Trail (that we know of).
DARBY DOYLE FREELANCE WRITER
Darby Doyle is a food, beverage, and outdoor writer who covers the culinary and natural wonders of the American West. She is also in possession of an overflowing pantry primarily devoted to whiskey.
STUART MELLING
EPICURIAN
Gastronomic SLC
Stuart is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Utah dining scene for 15 years. He’s also the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC and a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for The Salt Lake Tribune.
JOSH
EDWARDS
PRESIDENT
Utah Bartenders Guild
Josh is a native of Salt Lake City who has been working in the bar and hospitality industry since 1999. USBG UT chapter director. Cocktail, spirit and food enthusiast. Caviar Club affiliate and record collector.
LYDIA MARTINEZ FOOD WRITER
Salt Lake magazine
Lydia is a freelance food, travel and culture writer. She writes for Salt Lake magazine, Suitcase Foodist and Utah Stories. And we confirm that she is not a lawyer; she’s never passed the bar.
JEREMY PUGH
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
S alt Lake magazine
Jeremy is the Executive Editor of Salt Lake magazine, a lofty title that belies (or perhaps underscores) his love of a good bar. He is also the author of 100 Things to Do in Salt Lake City (Before You Die) and co-author of Secret Salt Lake
SPENCER WENDES
MANAGING EDITOR
Salt Lake magazine
Spencer is Salt Lake magazine’s Managing Editor. A Utah native, he has returned to Utah by way of Santa Fe, where he was the editor of Santa Fe Magazine. A descendant of Utah pioneers, Spencer didn’t try his first drink until the age of 30 (when he joined a rugby team.) He’s been making up for lost time since. Favorite classic cocktail: Sazerac.
ALI VALLARTA HOST
City Cast Salt Lake
Ali is a co-creator and host for the City Cast Salt Lake podcast. In 2024, she fulfilled a personal resolution to visit every bar in Salt Lake County and, thus, she knows every bit of the terrain of this year’s Cocktail Trail.
AVREY EVANS DIGITAL EDITOR
Salt Lake magazine
Avrey is Salt Lake magazine’s After Dark editor and our web and social media manager. She herself is a bartender who still picks up shifts at Post Office Place. (Don’t worry, she has recused herself from judging POP.)
CHELSEA RUSHTON ART DIRECTOR
Salt Lake magazine
A reformed river guide with a penchant for brown water (in the form of High West whiskey) Chelsea traded rafting life for city lights to study Medical Illustration in Chicago. These days, she splits her time between hanging with her dog, Toby, and drawing maps for local cocktail trail guide books.
FRANCIS FECTEAU - LIBATIONS LLC
This year’s Farm-to-Glass featured partner is Francis Fecteau and his spirit and wine brokerage Libations LLC. Francis represents unique and small brands across the spectrum and he truly represents them. Spirit brokerage in Utah is a relationship and shoe-leather business and he puts a lot of miles on his Hokas representing his clients. This year (once again) Libations LLC has generously donated the prize money for our winning bartenders. Find him on Instagram @libationslc
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SWAMP THING
• 1 1/2 oz Sugar House Vodka
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/4 oz Amaro Sfumato
• 1 oz “swamp” orgeat
Whip, shake and dirty dump into a double rocks glass. Top with crushed ice and garnish with toasted nori leaves to add an umami boost.
Swamp Orgeat
Take raw almonds and roast them in the oven until fragrant. Blend roasted almonds in water to make almond milk. Strain the almond pulp out of the milk. In a blender, add almond milk to fresh green beans, cilantro, and cucumber skins and
strain until all the pulp is separated. In a pan, add 1.5:1 sugar to liquid and cook until sugar is dissolved. Add 1 teaspoon of rose water and 1 teaspoon of orange blossom water to the liquid and mix thoroughly.
COPPER COMMON
111 E. BROADWAY, SALT LAKE CITY
JAY WRIGHT
JAY WANTS HIS COCKTAIL TO TASTE LIKE THE “LAST TASTE OF SUMMER,” a fittingly lyrical description for a dude who also works as a musician. He started slinging drinks to pay the bills between gigs, but got swept up in the art of it all and now he’s training to be a certified sommelier. He’s letting the creativity long put into his music flow into the drinks he makes.
He gets excited when someone tells him they don’t like a particular spirit. He takes it as a challenge—you just haven’t had it the right way. “When their face lights up and it’s like, wow, I never would have expected it, that’s my favorite.”
Jay’s also on a mission to wean Utahns off of their sweet tooth when it comes to cocktails. “A lot of people have the misperception that spiritforward cocktails are going to burn your throat. If they’re made properly, you should not have that burn.”
He loves the Utah bar culture and how tight-knit the community is. “A lot of people in Utah get into drinking at a later age and a more mature aspect comes into it, learning cocktails, learning how to drink as opposed to just slamming beers. Nothing wrong with just slamming beers though!”
For those mornings when you’ve enjoyed a few too many spirits, Jay suggests a three-part cure: sleep, phở and Pedialyte. —SW
FRANKLIN AVENUE
231 S. EDISON ST., SALT LAKE CITY
HANNAH TROSCLAIR & KATIE PATRICK
FRANKLIN AVENUE’S HANNAH
TROSCLAIR AND KATIE PATRICK
are a unique combo of Southern charm (Hannah, New Orleans) and Northern big city energy (Katie, Chicago). Their cocktail shows off their combined love of the Beehive State, inspired by collaboration with Alan Scott from Waterpocket Distillery.
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FLAVOR BALANCE
PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
Fittingly, their cocktail is called “The Sundance Kid,” after Utah’s most famous outlaw. It doesn’t get more Utah than that, but Katie went further, using local peaches, honey and tea and Alpine Distillery’s Lafayette Bourbon.
“I thought of everything that was Utah and put it into one drink,” Katie says. “We turn it into a highball, add soda water and then top it with a chamomile vanilla honey foam. Honestly, it’s like a dirty soda.”
So it is possible to get more Utah.
“Moving here from the Midwest and the South, we experienced Utah culture shock,” Hannah adds. “Soda shops on every corner, mysterious Mormon history, native peaches (aren’t those only in Georgia?), a rebellious counterculture, an alien desert landscape. We found all of it strange and wonderful. Our appreciation for these things has shifted from an unusual delight to a familiar comfort.” —JP
“Alan has a lot of stories about the history of outlaws in Utah,” Katie says. “We wanted to make the most Utah cocktail we could conceive. His stories inspired me, so I used his amaro (Notom).”
THE SUNDANCE KID
• 11/4 oz Alpine Lafayette
• 3/4 oz Waterpocket Notom
• 2 oz grilled peach syrup
• topped with soda and a chamomile, honey and vanilla cocktail foam
Grilled Peach Syrup
Cocktail Foam
Blend grilled peaches with sugar and water, strain. Add lactic acid to taste.
Add chamomile tea, honey, vanilla, egg white, lemon and a pinch of cream of tartar into a whip cream canister, shake, charge and chill.
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SPOREPLAY
• 1 1/2 oz Beehive Jack Rabbit Gin
• 1 oz lemon
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 oz habanero syrup
• 1 1/2 oz brown butter washed oyster mushroom simple
• muddled peaches
Dry shake, wet shake, double strain and top with five drops of sage oil and a pinned sage leaf.
CURRENT FISH AND OYSTER
279 E. 300 SOUTH, SALT LAKE CITY
KARISSA
KARISSA KERMODE’S CONCEPT OF LOCAL INGREDIENTS takes an unexpected turn: mushrooms. That’s right, her cocktail, “Sporeplay,” finishes with a surprising note of locally foraged oyster mushrooms. Yes. Mushrooms. She shrugs: “What can I say, there are a lot of people who like to forage in Utah, so I wanted to bring that to light.”
The drink is a Beehive Jack Rabbit Gin-based trip, to say the least. Combining local peaches from Burgess Orchards in Alpine and locally sourced mushrooms delivered in a butter wash, it sounds like a dare. But early tastings indicate that this cocktail is definitely one to watch in this year’s contest.
“There’s definitely a lot going on,” she winks. “Bartending in Utah has made me very creative. I’m from Connecticut and there’s no restrictions, so using splits (combinations of base spirits and flavoring spirits) is new to me.” Umm, yeah. —JP
418 E. 200 SOUTH, SALT LAKE CITY
COLE JONES
COLE JONES TRIED SEVERAL DIFFERENT ARTISTIC FIELDS, including working as a chef, before he found bartending and something clicked. “I love coming up with cocktails and making menus, it’s such an interesting expression of creativity. There’s nothing else like it.”
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That creativity led to “The Dirty Rat,” a cocktail inspired by his experience making late summer ratatouille. “The second it hit me, a ratatouille martini, it was like divine inspiration.” Watch for hints of garlic and olive.
Even though his drink is veggieforward, when it comes to relaxing, Cole loves a tiki cocktail. A classic daiquiri or ‘ti punch with rhum agricole hits the spot. Cole also loves mixing up some theatrical drinks—“anything I can light on fire, I’m happy with.”
His hangover recovery routine is inspired by Anthony Bourdain: “Have a beer, have a cigarette, eat some spicy food, go for a long walk, drink some coffee, all within the same hour.” —SW
FLAVOR BALANCE
PRESENTATION CREATIVITY
THE DIRTY RAT
• 11/2 oz Sugar House Vodka
• 1 oz ratatouille shrub
• 1/2 oz olive brine
• 1/4 oz Waterpocket Toadstool Notom
• 1/4 oz Lusau Fino Sherry
• 2 drops of saline solution
Stir, strain and garnish with a skewer of dehydrated zucchini and yellow summer squash
Ratatouille Shrub
Add tomatoes, charred eggplant, zucchini, squash blossom, red bell pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, verjus rouge, red wine vinegar and water to a blender, blend on high till well incorporated, strain through a fine mesh strainer, then strain again through a coffee filter.
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SON OF A PEACH!
• 1 oz High West Bourbon
• 1 oz Waterpocket Fruita Triple Sec
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 4 dashes of veganfee foam
• 1 1/2 oz spicy peach shrub
• 2 oz of Han’s Cheers Queers white peach Champagne kombucha
Garnish:
• Large horseshoe cube
• Dust with finely ground freeze-fried reaches and Fresno chile
FLAVOR
BALANCE
PRESENTATION
CREATIVITY
Dust:
Freeze-dry fresh peaches and Fresno chilies. Finely grind together in a blender and now you have beautiful spicy, peachy magic.
In a shaker, combine bourbon, triple sec, bitters, fee foam and spicy peach shrub. Break a large cube and shake it like a Polaroid picture. With a rocks glass of your choice, double strain the bevy over a large cube. Top with Han’s Cheer Queers, a white peach Champagne kombucha. Now, generously dust your cocktail with finely ground freeze-dried peaches and chilies.
Enjoy!
HK BREWING
370 ASPEN AVE., SALT LAKE CITY
KATE LUBING, ZAC FORD & ALYSSA BURSON
ZAC IS ONE OF THE NEWEST BARTENDERS IN OUR CONTEST, with only a year under his belt behind the bar. That’s why he pulled in two of his elders at HK
Brewing—Alyssa Burson and Kate Lubing—to help craft their contest cocktail, the “Son of a Peach!”
With Utah-made bourbon, triple sec and kombucha, Zac and HK are leaning into local in
a big way—that isn’t a new thing at this brewery, which gives away its compost to area farmers.
Zac has only bartended in Salt Lake, so to him, our quirky liquor laws are just the way things are. He fits right in at HK, a whole team of beautiful dirtbags who clean up real nice. —SW
WATER WITCH
163 W. 900 SOUTH, SALT LAKE CITY
DAWSON JENKINS
DAWSON IS A LOCAL BOY who has been tending bar since he turned 21. It’s no wonder that his cocktail was inspired by a sack lunch like your momma used to make for you. Think recess vibes.
Don’t mistake youth for a lack of maturity though. With Waterpocket Snow Angel Aquavit, fino sherry, homemade peach burrata and locally produced bitters, this is not your
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kindergarten juice box.
Dawson loves whipping up egg white cocktails, as befits a guy who is always thinking about the chemistry of what he’s stirring and the idea of understanding what flavors exist in Utah's biome.
“What grows together, goes together, and we grow here.”
Bartending in Utah is especially fun because he gets to subvert the expectations that our drinks will suck.
“It makes me a little oppositional defiant …
I have the most fun job in the world. There’s so much more going on than making drinks … hosting a vibe, making sure that everybody’s having a good time and facilitating connections.”
Dawson used to be skeptical about the hair-of-the-dog hangover cure. “I thought ‘you guys are just looking for an excuse to drink again.’ It works, a little bit. So maybe an Underberg after a breakfast sandwich." —SW
SACK LUNCH
• 1 oz Waterpocket aquavit
• 1/2 oz cappaletti
• 1/2 oz fino Sherry
• 3/4 oz acid-corrected apple juice
• 1/2 oz whey
• A bar spoon of Maenad
• 1 sleeve bitters blend
Shake and strain onto ice
Garnish
Garnish with two crescent apple slices and a ball of housemade peach burrata.
Whey and Peach Burrata
Bring whole milk just below a boil and slowly add 1 cup of white vinegar per gallon of milk till the mixture curdles. Set aside for 20 minutes and blend the peaches. (You can use whey to begin the blending if peaches are less juicy).
Bitters Blend: Mix equal parts Angostura and Waterpocket Notom.
Acid Corrected Apple Juice
Juice green apples and add 4g of citric and 4g of malic acid to every 500g of apple juice
Set aside the whey to cool. Take milk solids (curds) and incorporate peaches. Add salt and sugar to taste and strain this wet mess in a cheesecloth. Suspend the cheesecloth in the fridge overnight to solidify and form into pearls once the cheese has set.
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RED RAVE
• 11/2 oz Holystone Normandy Apple Brandy
• 1 oz beet-brandy (fresh beet juice and Christian Bros. Brandy)
• 1/2 oz RAFT Demerara Syrup
• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice, orange twist and candied beet garnish
Serve in a rocks glass with ice.
SCION CIDER
916 S. JEFFERSON ST., SALT LAKE CITY
TYLER ZACHER
NATIVE UTAHN TYLER ZACHER WAS GONE FOR A LONG WHILE, spending 12 years behind bars in Austin before returning home to Salt Lake City. Tyler works at Scion, which has the secondlargest cider selection in North America, so he had plenty of inspiration around him. His cocktail uses a Normandy-style apple brandy produced here in Utah, combined with fresh beet juice from beets grown in the garden of Scion’s owner.
His time in Austin did leave him with a love of post-shift margaritas. He geeks out on cocktails that mimic things in the real world—a tootsie roll martini is a favorite. But most of all, he loves the speed of bartending, the constant flow of different folks and the diversity of tastes. He especially loves talking about Utah to visitors, explaining his favorite things about his home state that drew him back in after all those years away. —SW
@(brand of alcohol) | #SLMCocktailContest #drinklocal | @(barname) | #farmtoglass
HOPKINS BREWING
1048 E. 2100 SOUTH, SALT LAKE CITY
MADDIE VILLANO
WHEN SHE’S NOT OUT RIDING MOTORCYCLES, hiking in the mountains, or hitting up live shows, Maddie loves the balance between efficiency and creativity that bartending offers—whether pouring a perfect pint or mixing up a custom cocktail, she’s all about making people feel welcome and taken care of.
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She especially enjoys entertaining visitors with her take on Utah’s byzantine liquor regs. When it comes to her own drink preferences, she loves the cocktail classics—a manhattan, an old-fashioned, a sazerac. Like many of the bartenders we interviewed, she laments Salt Lake’s inexplicable fondness for the Long Island Iced Tea. Her cocktail is a dreamy tribute to Autumn in Utah, featuring local honey, Utah pear juice and two different local liquors—Sugar House Rye and Waterpocket’s Hartnet Amaro. Definitely not a Long Island Iced Tea. —SW
NOTES:
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SUGAR HOUSE ICED TEA
• 1 oz Sugar House New Make Bourbon
• 1 oz New World Wasatch Blossom Utah Tart Cherry Liqueur
• 1/2 oz Waterpocket Temple of the Moon Gin
• 1/2 oz Ruth Lewandowski Rosé
• 1/2 oz Miller’s Raw Clover Honey simple syrup
Add all ingredients with ice to a shaker tin and shake well. Strain into a collins glass over fresh ice and squeeze in a wedge of lemon on top as a garnish. Miller’s Raw Clover Honey simple syrup: Bring water to a boil and combine equal parts honey and water. Stir until the honey is evenly integrated.
SUGAR HOUSE STATION
2155 S. HIGHLAND DR., SALT LAKE CITY
JOSH BOYDEN
JOSH IS A BARTENDER, BUT HE’S ALSO A CERTIFIED SOMMELIER, someone committed to continuing his education in all things beverage. That mastery informed his wine-laced cocktail, the Sugar House Iced Tea. He designed his drink to be accessible and straightforward. “Inconsistency is the enemy of quality. I wanted a cocktail that all the bar staff and anyone at home could make easily.’
Josh works at Sugar House Station, which features four different local bar concepts under one roof. He was inspired to pull together ingredients from all of them into his glass, with representation from Casot Wine Bar, Sugar House Distillery and Waterpocket Distillery.
Farm-to-glass for Josh means going beyond the marketing to the integrity—how many steps do ingredients take to get from the field to the consumer?
Of course, it’s all about the customer in the end. “At one bar top, you can be celebrating a birthday, a divorce, a wedding and a funeral. Regardless, they all want to get a drink.”
After a long day of mixing concoctions, when he heads home, he prefers to drink a lot of water and enjoy a glass of whiskey, neat. And if he’s suffering the next morning? A lavender iced matcha latte with a shot of vodka does the trick. —SW
HARBOR SEAFOOD + STEAK CO.
2302 E. PARLEYS WAY, SALT LAKE CITY
HADEN BROMLEY & DEVIN KAUFUSI
RANDALL CURTIS, THE AFFABLE OWNER AND ALL-AROUND GREAT GUY you’ll find nearly every night working at Harbor Seafood + Steak, likes to do the talking, but “I brought two better-looking guys to the shoot.” The eye candy, Haden Bromley and Devin Kaufusi, are seasoned veterans at Harbor.
“These guys know a good drink should go with food and is not going to overpower anything,” Randall says. “We want to serve something that has a punch but is also easy to drink. Our servers
make the drinks for a table, so they’re interacting and learning about patrons’ tastes.”
To that end, behold, “Birdie.” A smooth swing into late summer, the Birdie blends Sugar House Vodka with Wasatch Blossom Utah Tart Cherry Liqueur, cherry schnapps, Utah Cherry-Sambal-Brown Sugar Syrup—shaken and crowned with a Disaronno amaretto foam.
“It’s super tart,” he says. “We really, really leaned into using Utah cherries. But it’s got a nice spice on the end to balance it out.” —JP
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FLAVOR BALANCE
PRESENTATION
CREATIVITY
BIRDIE
• 11/2 oz Sugar House Vodka
• 1 oz Wasatch Blossom Tart Cherry Liquor
• 3/4 oz birdie syrup
• juiced lemon
• Top with Disarrono cold foam
Birdie Syrup
Cherry schnapps, muddled Utah cherries, sambal and brown sugar, strained
Disarrono Amaretto Cold Foam
Heavy whipping cream, 2% milk, Disarrono Amaretto and a pinch of sea salt
NOTES:
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WILD MOUNTAIN THYME
• 11/2 oz Blue Corn Sugar House Bourbon
• 1/2 oz Caperitif
• 3/4 oz huckleberry thyme syrup
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 4 dashes of barrel-aged bitters
Shaken into a double rocks glass
Garnish with 3 sprigs of thyme, candied huckleberries and a lemon peel.
Huckleberry Thyme Syrup
• 1 cup fresh huckleberries
• 1 cup sugar
• Zest from 4 lemons
• 20 sprigs fresh thyme
Mix it all in a saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low for 15-30 minutes.
LOG HAVEN
ZACH GUNDERMAN
FOR A GUY WHOSE ADMITTED HIS FAVORITE after-shift drink is an “Irish whiskey on rocks, by myself,” his new position behind the bar at Log Haven has opened his eyes to the beautiful setting he works in, specifically the ingredients it provides.
“We’ve made it with the huckleberries that grow in Millcreek Canyon and the fresh thyme that grows right outside the kitchen,” he says.
Fittingly, Log Haven’s entry is called “Wild Mountain Thyme” and is a local (very local) take on a traditional whiskey sour. Starting with Sugar House Distillery’s Bourbon, Zach creates a simple syrup from the huckleberries, thyme and lemon, which provides the tartness one would expect in a whiskey sour. To take the edge off, he uses a Capertiff (vermouth) from South Africa, selected from Log Haven’s always eclectic spirit library. —JP
6451 MILL CREEK CANYON RD., SALT LAKE CITY
Wasatch Back
Welcome to the Independent Republic of Park City
DEER VALLEY
HIDDEN ACE AT THE GRAND HYATT DEER VALLEY
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HIGH WEST SALOON
703 PARK AVE., PARK CITY
KARINA BROWN
KARINA HAILS ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTRALIA, where she started bartending at 18, as you can down under. Eventually drawn to Utah by our great outdoors, she came to play and worked to stay. That love informs her campfire-inspired cocktail. “It looks like it would be a sweet drink, but it’s not.”
Farm-to-glass is about freshness to her, brightening up a cocktail with high-quality ingredients right off the nearby farm.
Working at a bar that’s also a distiller, Karina gets to lean into High West’s unique liquors. With 12 years behind the bar at High West, she knows her stuff. —SW
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WHAT THE DUCK?
• 11/2 oz High West gin
• 1/2 oz blue curacao
• 2 oz ‘What the duck’ mixer
Shake all the ingredients and double strain into a wine glass over pebble ice and top with Ruffino Prosecco.
What the Duck Mixer
Banana, coconut oil, toasted coconut syrup, lemon juice, polo santo bitters, basil and yuzu.
SIP.
PALOMIN0
540 MAIN ST., PARK CITY
NOTES:
SMOKED ORCHARD
• 11/2 oz. High West bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Amaro Nonino
• 1 oz. smoked pear and honey clarified cordial
• 1/2 oz. clarified lemon juice
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 3 dashes of ginger bitters
Serve in a rocks glass, garnished with a dried pear slice and a piece of flash paper
MARIANO AGUSTIN FORZA
MARIANO IS FROM A PLACE where food, fire and gathering are a way of life—Argentina. The keyword is asado, the social ritual that comes with grilling meat over an open fire. It’s a barbeque with the soul of a tango. That spirit
is what Mariano wanted to bring to his cocktail, the “Smoked Orchard,” which uses local pears smoked over oak with local bourbon and a dash of ginger bitters. Mariano is the only bartender I’ve ever met who enjoys making an espresso martini. He loves to get the foam exactly right. When you get it right, it shows and he appreciates the chance to show his work. He also loves the creativity he has experienced since he moved to the States. “Here in America,” he ruminates, “you guys love to drink in a way that you can do whatever you can to make the customer satisfied.”
Utah’s unique liquor laws have only amped up that artistry. “You are limited with alcohol and it’s making you more creative. It’s a challenge to me.”
His after-shift drink? A glass of Argentinian Malbec. And the next morning? A bowl of mate, of course. —SW
GRAND HYATT DEER VALLEY / HIDDEN ACE
1702 GLENCOE MOUNTAIN WAY, PARK CITY
VICTOR WILSON
WHEN VICTOR CAME TO OUR PHOTO SHOOT, he showed up with a big piece of honeycomb. He takes farm-to-glass seriously—his lavender and lemon twist on a French 85 uses local honey and Alpine gin. With 26 years behind the bar, he knows what he likes and he likes it local—He’ll often finish his evening with a glass of High West whiskey.
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When he says he’s an old-fashioned guy, he means both the drink and his respect for bartending traditions. But after so much time behind the bar, he’d be happy to never make another Long Island Iced Tea. “I’m done with that from the club days.” One pour that he hopes to never smell again? A Jager bomb. “I don’t think I can smell Jagermeister and Red Bull together anymore.”
Bartending is something he loves deeply—creating craft cocktails, making memories and talking to people from all over the world. “For me, it’s all about great drinks, good conversation and a little bit of showmanship.”
His hangover advice is to get out and go hiking in the great outdoors. “Suck it up. You did this to yourself.” —SW
LAVENDER
• Shake and strain into a Champagne glass
Top off with Champagne and serve with lemon twist garnish.
M A G AZIN E