The gourmet cocktail culture is firmly established in Colorado, with hangouts like Green Russell(1422 Larimer St.) and The Squeaky Bean(3301 Tejon St.) catering to cocktail fanatics with masterful bartenders and exotic recipes. The cocktail seeker is welcomed, but also encouraged to just sit back and let the professionals do their job.
Salt (1047 Pearl St., Boulder) takes a different approach.
The bistro’s Cocktail Element menu lets drinkers create their own fancy cocktail with — gasp — little to no guidance from the bartender. Instead, the bar becomes the customer’s personal liquor laboratory.
Guests receive a Cocktail Element menu when they sit at Salt’s rustic bar. It’s initially a little overwhelming, but this is where Salt beverage director Evan Faber comes into the picture.
Faber created the program as a way to help cocktail drinkers break out of a monotonous mixed-drink cycle.
“The idea came out of ordering at a coffee shop,” he says. “You’ve always got your standby drinks.”
On the Cocktail Element menu, presented on a rough-hewn clipboard, guests work from left to right starting with their choice of “base liquor.”
“Think of the liquors as flavors,” advises Faber.
Most of the major styles are represented: tequila, vodka, gin, bourbon, scotch and rum. After picking a poison, it’s time to select one of three flavors to complement the booze. Reading from left to right, each liquor has three choices of its own. They range from fruit flavors, like lychee, to more challenging stuff, like chipotle.
Faber is proud of his flavorings: Instead of a huge bank of infused liquors, he says, each flavor is made in-house as a simple syrup. The syrup is then added to the drink as it’s ordered.
The final step is to choose the “style” of drink. A martini adds sweet vermouth to the chosen concoction. A “fizz” spritzes in lime juice and club soda.
With spring finally here, Faber added a sangria drink style to the seasonal menu. (There’s rickey, collins and sour styles too.)
A grease pencil comes with each laminated menu for circling choices, and then it’s off to the mixing stage. Drinks come in a small $5 size for the experimental taster, or in an $8 tall glass for those who throw caution to the wind.
On a recent visit, the tequila chipotle fizz turned out to be a worthwhile combination. The smokiness of chipotle mixed well with the tequila’s woody flavors to take most of the alcoholic sting out of the liquor. Combined with lime juice, it created a light and lovely margarita-like drink.
Thoughtfully, a skewer of sliced serrano pepper came balanced on the rim of the glass. Faber explains it was for adding — or not adding — some serious heat to the beverage. Sure enough, after a minute or two in the glass, the cool drink became unexpectedly spicy. After a few more minutes, it almost started to smolder. (And it was good.)
Faber says Salt typically creates seasonal menus around the solstices and equinoxes, meaning its current spring Cocktail Element menu will be available until the summer solstice in June. Then it’s on to summer, and new flavors and styles.
Naturally, Faber’s bar crew is available for guidance when crafting a cocktail. Not sure how rum’s going to do as a “martini”? Ask away. But it’s a little more fun without a safety net.
Beach party.
Miami madness comes to Denver when DJ Robbie Rivera touches down at Beta (1909 Blake St.) on Saturday.
Fresh off the fun of Miami’s Winter Music Conference, Rivera spins “tough, sexy house music.” Happily, he’s had a week to recover from Juicy Beach, the 17-hour party he throws annually at the Winter Music Conference.
Advance tickets to Saturday’s show are $10 at groovetickets.
