It’s one thing to raise a glass and enjoy a well built cocktail. It’s another thing to make it yourself. I’m finding that out firsthand at Grand View. Fortunately I have an impressively full bar at my disposal. But this is no ordinary bar. It’s Grand View’s relatively new Dry Bar, and I’ve been invited with a group of media to sample and enjoy a hands-on nonalcoholic mixology session. Released last summer, the dry menu has expanded the mocktails and other nonalcoholic drinks at Grand View with an emphasis that extends beyond Dry January.
“We wanted to create a more inclusive environment in the restaurant,” says Jesse Murillo, food and beverage director at Garden of the Gods Resort and Club. “We have a lot of people here who are celebrating things. It might be a pregnancy or a milestone of sobriety. We really wanted to make sure that everyone at the table could enjoy something elegant and beautiful.”
Call it Dry January, Sober October or simply taking an alcohol break, there’s no denying the sober-curious movement is on the rise, especially among younger generations. Only time will tell if it’s a passing trend or a permanent cultural shift, but for now drinkers have more and better options that provide the social aspects of drinking without any health concerns.
Grand View’s Dry Bar menu is a perfect example. After adding a bar and top-shelf cocktail program during its large-scale renovation, the signature restaurant at the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club opened to the public, along with its members and guests. It’s one of the best restaurants in town, in our opinion. And it’s a logical step in service to offer an excellent lineup of nonalcoholic cocktails to its patrons.
Grand View Dry Bar menu currently features six regular zero-proof cocktails, plus nonalcoholic wines and nonalcoholic beers. The menu rotates seasonally with occasional featured specials.
“A lot of people are really surprised when they see the length of the menu and how many nonalcoholic options they have,” Murillo says. “Most people are used to looking at a footnote on the bottom of a menu that says. ‘Here’s our Coke products.’”
In keeping with its level of regular craft cocktails, Grand View is using a wide range of nonalcoholic spirits, elixirs and house-made syrups to blend its beverages. Some include adaptogens, nootropics and other botanicals, which are claimed to add natural mood-enhancing and health benefits.
“These Three Spirit elixirs are unique,” Murillo says. “ They’re botanical elixirs made from reductions of all kinds of things like lion’s mane mushroom, ginger, carrot and beet juice, chamomile tea, cayenne pepper, things like that. They’re really complex blends.”
At our event, we divide into groups, and lead bartender Phil Vaglica guides us through the process with recommended ratios and tips. Our group starts with a sour cocktail. With Three Spirit Livener as our base nonalcoholic spirit, we add Grand View’s house citrus blend and Stirring’s Grenadine to sweeten. After shaking over ice and garnishing with a mint sprig and dried orange garnish, it’s a bright NA cocktail with a nice sour bite.
Next we attempt a rendition of an old-fashioned based on Spiritless Kentucky 74, an award-winning distilled nonalcoholic bourbon. The fun comes from getting to use the bar’s smoker, which naturally adds a satisfying smoked finish. We call ours the Smoking J since all four members of our group have names beginning with the letter.
Our drinks pass Vaglica’s approval, not bad for a bunch of novices, though of course not up to the expertise or complexity of Grand View’s dry menu.
“I’m blessed to have a wonderful bar team who come up with a lot of nonalcoholic ideas of what they’d like to recreate from the high-end cocktail world,” Murillo says. “We really want to make sure that we match that level of quality and tradition.”
Grand View’s Dry Bar is a natural fit with Garden of the Gods’ high level of service and the holistic health emphasis of Strata, its wellness spa, salon and concierge healthcare practice. But how are diners and drinkers responding?
“Pretty much every shift our bartenders are making at least a few of these drinks, which is nice,” Murillo says. “It means people are partaking.”
Explore the full menus at Grand View at gardenofthegodsresort.com.
Sober Curious in Colorado Springs?
Read about more options for nonalcoholic drinks in our articles about Gratitude Zero-Proof Bar and standout mocktails in the Springs.
