Bar Talk: Aspen Bartender Competition
Rose Laudicina/Courtesy photo
It was a classic spring day in Aspen: The sun was profusely shining, the gondola was running as skiers carved through the slush below, the DJ was playing all the right songs, and the bartenders were shaking up creative cocktails to delight a crowd.
It was the first, soon-to-be-annual, Aspen Bartender Competition hosted by W Aspen.
Eleven Roaring Fork Valley bartenders gathered on the W Aspen rooftop on Thursday to showcase their skills in a multi-round competition, the winner walking away with bragging rights and $1,000.
The competition was one part of W Aspen’s master plan to inject more life and locals into the downtown hotel, which opened in the former location of the rowdy local’s favorite Sky Hotel, less than seven months before COVID shutdowns temporarily shuttered the hospitality industry and with it the hotel’s vision to become a vibrant gathering space for the community of both visitors and locals.
Thibaut Asso, a recent addition to the W Aspen and St. Regis Aspen team as the complex director of sales and marketing, said the hotel is working on programming he hopes locals will be excited to engage with and will re-elevate the hotel to be a premier part of the Aspen après and culture scene.
A dual happy hour (pre-dinner and late-night) is debuting in May, as the hotel is staying open for the offseason, along with a rooftop Cinco de Mayo party. Then in the summer, he and his team have big plans, including summer-centric brand partnerships — think Food & Wine Classic parties that you don’t have to have an official pass to be a part of — movie nights, liquor brand partnerships, events surrounding Ruggerfest, etc.
The bartender competition, which was free to enter for the competitors and free to attend for the crowd, was one of the first big steps for the W Aspen team’s rejuvenation plan.
The atmosphere was lively and supportive — it also served as the debut of a new music program helmed by local vinyl DJ Alex Brough — reminiscent of non-pretentious community events of the past I used to attend.
When I first arrived in Aspen a little over 10 years ago, bartender competitions like this were part of the local scene. They took place in now-defunct restaurants in the middle of a weekday and were a simple excuse to gather to have a good time, cheer on friends and colleagues, sip on a cocktail or two, and foster a fun spirit-loving community.
All 11 bartenders at the event competed in two rounds with the top four advancing to a third “sudden death” round.
The first round was to showcase the bartender’s creativity. They were able to pick the base spirit, mixers, glassware, garnish, etc., but the organizers provided a secret ingredient before the competition that they had to incorporate, which was Perrier, which also happened to be one of the event sponsors.
The cocktails ranged from creative rifts on fizz’s and mai tai’s to summery spritzes and more spirit-forward drinks, as the bartenders’ showmanship ranged from steady focus to lighthearted dance moves to a few flips and tricks with the cocktail shaker. Although sparkling water is not necessarily a wild “Chopped” level surprise ingredient, it seemed some had more difficulty incorporating that component than others, with a few drinks losing a level of flavor as they seemed a little too diluted or watered down.
For rounds one and three, competitors were judged on the name of the drink, the balance, simplicity, taste, originality, and presentation, all on a point system out of a total of 30 available points.
For the second round — a speed-based round where the bartenders had to create a cocktail featuring a base spirit selected by the W Aspen Team — the spectators got to vote on their favorite after getting a small shooter-sized sample of the drink.
In the sudden death round, the four bartenders with the highest cumulative scores from the first two rounds, which happened to be mixologists from The Boat Tow, St. Regis Aspen, Merry-Go-Round on Highlands, and MOLLIE Aspen, competed by making a free-style cocktail creation of their choice, with the only stipulation being that they could not repeat the same base spirit from a previous round.
As one of the three judges for this event, I can confidently say the scores were close and the level of creativity and talent was evident, but it was Cece Folmar, a bartender at the Merry-Go-Round Restaurant on Aspen Highlands, who walked away with the grand prize.
She said she was encouraged by her regulars to participate in the competition.
“I like to challenge myself and go up against the best of the best,” she said.
Drawing inspiration from Aspen, specifically the culture and the lifestyle, Folmar created cocktails that showcased the paradoxes of the mountain town. For example, her first drink, called The Garden of Good and Evil, was essentially an alcoholic green juice that featured avocado, bell pepper, jalapeno, and herbs, highlighting the health-conscious nature of Aspen balanced with its love for a party.
Unfortunately, with Highlands closed for the season, she is heading to Cape Cod for the summer, taking her skills to Pepe’s Warf. But hopefully, she’ll return next winter, ready to defend her title.
