Drinking comes with the ski territory but some drinks are better than others. Rachael Oakes-Ash discovers a bespoke cocktail bar in Aspen where no two drinks are ever the same.
There was a time that I could drink all night, dance on bars, tables, car boots and ice laden roads and still get up for first tracks. It was a short window of time that lasted a mere handful of ski seasons but during that time I had the honour (or shame) of having a cocktail named after me.
It was called Rachael’s Undoing and was on the bar menu at The Spire in Church Lane in Queenstown with a description that simply said “named after our favourite Australian journalist because after two of these she comes undone.” My mother was so proud.
The cocktail in question came about one night when after ten nights in a dancing row I showed up at Bardeaux, a den of alcohol fuelled iniquity down a side alley in Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island. The barman, Ryan, asked what I wanted to drink and I simply could not decide.
So he asked me what I didn’t like so he could create a drink for me.
“Galliano, bourban, cream” I reeled off. “Tequila, hate tequila. Port, creme de menthe, midori, that melon liquor thing, bad champagne, racists, bro boys, socks that fall off inside your shoe…”
He placed before me a concoction in a cocktail glass and said “try it.”
I did.
It was delicious, the best cocktail I had ever tried in my life.
When I met people heading to Queenstown while I was overseas I would say “head to Bardeaux, ask for Ryan and say you want The Rachael Special, it’s not on the menu”. They would go, request the drink, he would ask if I was in town and they would tell him the story of how we met overseas instead.
The drink became underground famous with a cult following (you can too have three in a cult).
When Ryan headed over to The Spire as bar manager he made the cocktail official, changed it’s name to Rachael’s Undoing and put it on the menu in black and white.
What was in it? Everything I hated (ok, not everything) and some secret ingredients that ensured I didn’t recognise any of the spirits I loathed in that glass.
So I was curious to find Samuel Eugene Gemus behind the bar at Justice Snow’s, a local favourite watering hole in downtown Aspen in the historic Wheeler Opera House. Why? Because Sam and his band of merry bar men know how to make a cocktail. They are known around town for it and they also pride themselves on attitude, only they call it banter. This is not a bad thing. Bland, after all, is seriously boring.
Sam has created a bespoke cocktail experience that means no two cocktails are the same. He hands over this to you at the bar (see below). It’s called The Dealer’s Choice.
He then gives you a felt tip whiteboard pen and you circle each of the elements you fancy. Mine are circled in green.
He then whips up something that matches your request. Mine is the one in, yes, green.
Now, I didn’t fancy feeding the banter with too much praise but I also pride myself on being straight up and trust me, this damn fine concoction he presented to me was seriously the new best cocktail I have ever had. That’s right, ever had. Ever with a capital E. And if you know me then you know I’ve had a few cocktails in my time.
This is what’s in it.
1.5oz of Vodka
0.5oz of Yellow Chartreuse
0.5oz of Saint Germain
0.5oz of lime juice (fresh)
0.5oz of grapefruit juice
Dash of sugar cane syrup
Dash of lavender bitters
I slice of cucumber (muddled)
Then it’s shaken and put through an old fine strain and mixed with a dash of soda and a mint garnish.
In honour of the lovely Ryan who has clearly been usurped by Sam, the cocktail was named (by Sam) ‘Rachael’s Undoing #2‘. Bless you Ryan, I mean Sam.
So, when you go to Aspen head to Justice Snow’s ask for Samuel and tell him I sent you and that you, too, want to come undone.
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