Crafted Conversations

If you haven't met David Moosman, you'd spot him in a crowd a mile away. 6' 12" he stands shoulders above others and his work showcases that as well. A big guy with big ideas and the drive to execute them, Moosman is setting to revolutionize the connections our favorite restaurants have with our favorite farms. We sit down and run the gamut on the different mini restaurants at Avanti as well as a couple of delicious drinks and get to chattin'.

ToMarket.Farm: http://www.tomarket.farm

Avanti Food & Beverage, A Collective Eatery: http://avantifandb.com

We took the opportunity to meet with Nick Martinez at the beginning of this year and we discussed his transition from Chef to Forager to Distributor/Account Manager, and even a short stint bar backing.

Topher had met Nick several years back at a pop up event and has followed a bit of his career over the past couple of years. We discuss his company with Graham called Hunt and Gather and what it means to forage for goods. We discuss where he's been since I met him, a bit of his past, and where he is now with Cascade Organic.

I'll bet you didn't know Colorado had so much deliciousness in our backyards, but be careful because you'd better know what you're doing or you'll become sick of it, literally.

Check out the write up on 5280 a while back: http://www.5280.com/eatanddrink/magazine/2014/09/mushroom-whisperers?page=full

Cascade Organic: http://cascadeorganic.com

The winter is upon us, the season is brisk, and what better to warm the toes and soul then with a dram of whiskey tequila? With stories from Peter's trip to Mexico and his love for the Blue Agave Goddess, we've packed this little puppy with some knowledge on tequila and some tasting. (at this point we're pretty much just using the podcast to drink...a lot...) Below are a couple of cocktail recipes as well for your enjoyment. Shoot us your feed back on these. They're simple and delicious, once you get the booze for them.

We're starting to get through the basics pretty quickly and we've lined up some great guests in the near future, so let us know what your thoughts have been and enjoy this little gem.

Also here's a recipe for one of my favorite tequila cocktails created with the help of my fellow bartender Joel (he's at Rare Italian in Fort Collins, killer spot, check it out). I give you "The Bekken"

The Bekken

The Bekken - A cocktail inspired by Jerry Thomas' Martinez

The Bekken - A cocktail inspired by Jerry Thomas' Martinez

A spin off of Jerry Thomas's Martinez, this little ditty substitutes a nice caramel-ly reposado tequila in place of the softer, sweeter more complex Old Tom Gin. Enjoy up or neat after a brief stir over ice.

1 1/2 oz Casa Noble Reposado - Or your choice Reposado or Anejo - The slight aging provides some softer more balanced flavors.

3/4 oz Carpano Antica Formula

1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

1 Dash Regans Orange bitters - Compared to Angosturas, Regan's Orange bitters is a bit softer and floral and less spice forward.

Combine all ingredients over ice and stir for about 12 to 15 seconds. The right amount of stiring to dilution will offer a perfectly blended, chilled and mellowed flavor. In other words, stirring is key in this drink so stir and taste throughout until you reach your optimum balance. Strain into your glass of choice and garnish with a flamed orange swathe, but be careful not to leave a singed zest over the drink. Enjoy and send me your feedback on this drink.

Vida Mezcal, Green Chartreuse, Blood Orange and a touch of orange zest.

Vida Mezcal, Green Chartreuse, Blood Orange and a touch of orange zest.

The Fireside

Here's a fun cocktail with Mezcal. A bit smokey, acidic, and floral this little gem provides a constantly evolving palate teaser.

1 1/2 oz Vida Mezcal

1/2 oz Green Chartreuse

1/2 oz Blood Orange concentrate

(in all honestly, the frozen and thawed stuff works best in this case. The flavor is just so much more packed in this way.)

Stir the Mezcal and Charteuse over ice for about 12 to 15 seconds, again dilution is important in this drink. Strain into you drinking glass of choice and add the blood orange Concentrate by pouring it on the side of the glass guiding it with a spoon. This will help the blood orange to settle to the bottom. Garnish with orange zest.

Drinking this cocktail is meant to be fun and ever changing. By layering the blood orange to the bottom you can take a sip of the cocktail with the chartreuse and mezcal acting as the most prominant flavor at first. Then by stirring the cocktail together with the blood orange you create an entirely different cocktail that is smoother but citrus-y and smokey. What a freaking blast!

Featured Spirits

Demetrio - Anejo

http://www.demetriotequila.com/home/

Tres Generaciones - Anejo

https://www.tresgeneraciones.com/

Sombra - Mezcal

http://sombraoaxaca.com/

Tio Beto's Tequila

Get it at Aaleyah's Restaurant in Sayulita.

The Holiday Season is over and done with and the holiday cheer has been tossed out with the shedding Christmas tree...Or has it? In this episode we dive into some random holiday influenced beers and swap childhood stories that you never knew you knew, but may have heard. We kick around some thoughts on the beers and find our selection to be rather interesting and somewhat disappointing. Fresh off the holidays and raring to get going again, this little gem for the new year is definite gold, or frankincense and myrrh...How do you even spell those?!!

Beers we drank (or at least tried)

Crazy Mountain - Bridge St. Holiday Ale 2014

Website: http://www.crazymountainbrewery.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/crazymtnbrewery

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazy-Mountain-Brewing-Company/271572677939

Rogue – Santa’s Private Reserve Ale

Website: http://www.rogue.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogueAles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RogueAles

Samuel Adams - Merry Maker Gingerbread Stout

Website: http://www.samueladams.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamuelAdamsBeer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamuelAdams

Southern Tier Brewery - 2XMAS Seasonal (mentioned on air)

Website: http://www.stbcbeer.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stbcbeer

What is Homesteading? Better yet, what the hell is Permaculture? Imagine turning your grassy spaces into lush vegetable gardens which reduce the amount of water used and provide you with a fresh goods and a cut off your grocery bill. Throw in some chickens and you’ve got yourself a sustainable mini-farm. In essence, it’s a touch of terraforming that can provide you with not only an excellent hobby outdoors, but also provide you with a bit of self sustainability. Imagine fresh miniature orchards in your front yard and delicious unadulterated vegetables in your back yard. Rather than wasting water on grass that has no purpose you’ve developed a skill that you can share with others and pass on to your kids. Not only that, but how about growing your own hops and herbs for your homebrewing?

Heck yeah! Jared Gatti has become a successful Homesteader and award winning Homebrewer in the past couple of years and shares a bit of his story. As a good friend of ours we have a couple of beers and discuss his view on Homesteading as well as where he derives his resources and knowledge. We show you the forward thinking he’s developed toward transforming his gardens and quarter-acre plot of land into seasonal treasures he and his wife both tend to. We also take a look at his recent success at amateur homebrewing and where his inspiration originated from. He provides you with a few resources to get you started and talks about his take on brewing and thoughts on previous competitions.

Pack up a picnic kiddies, because this podcast is only the beginning of several we’ll have with Mr. Gatti in the realms of successful homebrewing, homesteading, business recruiting/HR and marriage.

Follow Jared Gatti

Facebook for his Homesteading: https://www.facebook.com/SportelattiFarms

Pinterest(Loaded with Homesteading, Homebrewing and much more): http://www.pinterest.com/jaredgatti

Recommended reading, podcast, and resources by Jared:

Homesteading/Permaculture Podcast

Website: http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/

Feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/survivalpcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@bigcatjared

Homebrewing Books (click the hyperlink to find the book in Amazon)

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing – by Charlie Papazian

How to Brew: Everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time – by John J. Palmer

Designing Great Beers: The ultimate guide to brewing classic beer styles – by Ray Daniels

Vintage Beer: A tasters guide to brews that improve over time – by Patrick Dawson

Resources/Apps

Untapped – Beer tracking Social App and website: https://untappd.com/

Beer Judge Certification Program – Stylistic Definitions: http://www.bjcp.org/

We bring in brew-guru (brew-ru?) Jared Gatti to chat about some Pumpkin beers and pumpkin history. We alliterate the crap out of the letter ‘P’ and provide plenty of positive palate pleasing descriptions and stories in this pumpkin loaded podcast. We review three beers and chat about pumpkin prominence in American culture. We taste, we talk, we pumpkin up. Check it!

Beers under Discussion

The Bruery – Autumn Maple: http://www.thebruery.com/beer/autumn-maple/

Upslope - Pumpkin Ale: http://upslopebrewing.com/beer/pumpkin-ale/

Frogs Hollow - Double Pumpkin Ale: http://www.hoppinfrog.com/brewery/beers

Podcast 002 and of course we’re up to some bourbon drinking antics this time around. We’ve spent the evening discussing classic cocktails and sampling some of the best bartenders in Colorado’s mixing up of their interpretation of a variation of a drink named “Vengeance” in Breckenridge Distillery’s mixology competition. 14 variations to be exact and another excellent gathering with Breckenridge Distillery in a pivotal support role.

From housemade cardamom simple and housemade bitters featuring 20 botanicals and Wild Turkey, to a creamier/spicier(almost eggnog-esque), to renditions reminiscent of the Boulevardier, Manhattan and Old Fashions, to Topher’s personal favorite with a touch of Talkisker spritz right on top(talk about a smoking gun), all the cocktails were fantastic and truly showcased the skill set of who we’ve come to respect as the front runners of Colorado’s cocktail coalition simply known as our modern bartenders.

The event centered around this cocktail competition which would feature the winner in the release of Brian Koepke’s next book of the Reese Culver thriller series – Sabotage in 2015

The event hosted at The BSide Denver featured Bartenders from all over Colorado. Check out the podcast to get more our thoughts and

Author Bryan Koepke

Website: http://www.bryankoepke.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryanKoepke

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BryanKoepkeAspiringAuthor

The BSide – Denver

Website: http://www.thebsidedenver.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBSideDenver

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBSideDenver

Event: http://www.thebsidedenver.com/calendar/2014/10/7/vengeance-cocktail-competition

Breckenridge Distillery

Website: https://www.breckenridgedistillery.com/hooch/a-drink-named-vengeance/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Breckenridge-Distillery/137815552927042

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/717535538299843/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/breckdistillery

Heroes Like Us

Website: http://heroeslike.us/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeroesLikeUs

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeroesLike_Us

Instagram: http://instagram.com/HeroesLikeUs

The Competitors:

James Vickers (Stoic & Genuine)

Charles Oh (Salt)

Andreas Pejovic (Oak at Fourteenth)

Allison Widdecomb (William & Graham)

Jake Novotny (Salt)

William E. Golde III (Justice Snow, Aspen)

Adam Douglas (the Arvada Tavern)

Carly Raemer (Golden Moon Speak)

Nathaniel Maston (Oak at Fourteenth)

Dustin Hoeft (Modis, Breckenridge)

Patrick Ruberto (Gaetano’s)

Mike Chary (Centro Latin Kitchen)

Brandon Parker (the Arvada Tavern)

Joshua-Peter Smith (Justice Snow)

Podcast Shpeal

In our Gintroduction Episode we discuss origins, some delicious cocktails, a couple of excellent Colorado Distilled Gins and Peter takes his pants off; what more could you possible want?

For the most part we revel on our enjoyment of gin and discuss bits and pieces. Not wanting to spoil any knowledge gems some of our favorite bartenders and spirits aficionados may have for future pod casts we briefly discuss a few tidbits of origin and style.

We taste two spirits in this episode, both being Colorado Distilled, and discuss one other. Jinn Gin, Spirit Hound Gin, and Leopold Brother’s Gin. We mix up a couple of cocktails and introduce you to some of our current imbibing pleasures of gin.

In future episodes we’ll delve deeper into stylistic differences and let some of our friends give you their spiel on the history. In other words get ready for future episodes where we drop some serious knowledge on ya’.

Spirit Hound Distillers - Gin

Website: http://spirithounds.com/spirits-2/spirit-hound-gin/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpiritHoundDistillers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpiritHoundDist

KJ Woods Distiller – Jinn Gin

Website: http://kjwooddistillers.com/#jinngin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KJWoodDistillersInc

Twitter: http://twitter.com/KJWoodDistiller

Leopold Bros. – Navy Strength Gin

Website: http://www.leopoldbros.com/#!leopolds-gins/c1gb8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeopoldBros

Twitter: https://twitter.com/leopoldbros

Here it is, our Intro Episode 000(?) of Crafted Conversations. Hooray! We’re delivering you our weekly adventures and conversations as we peruse our local craft scene and divulge in some imported items and experiences from around the world. As we trade stories and dig up the origins and tidbits of curious information about what we’re enjoying we will share with you the amazing passions of ours and those who we converse with.

Our first podcast of course is just a random rambling of thoughts and a general directive as to how the show will go. Initially we want you to get a feel for who we are and how we think, or don’t in some cases. We’ll keep a bit of a structure/guideline to our podcasts but we’ll freeform most of our conversations when it really comes down to it.

In our first podcast, we discuss what the game plan is, we munch on a few tidbits, some beer and whiskey and we find out that Hunter S. Thompson and George Stranahan, from Stranahan’s Whiskey, were neighbors. We drink some Upslope and River North Beer, especially the delicious 2014 Barrel Reserve, and ramble on about a few of our favorite places to visit around town. A couple of beer and whiskey driven anecdotes later and you’ve got a fun little Intro Podcast. Enjoy the show and expect the other one shortly.

In the meantime, find us and keep in touch:Web: CraftedConversations.comFacebook: facebook.com/craftedconvosTwitter: @CraftedConvosInstagram: @CraftedConvos

Email us with your thoughts and suggestions:[email protected]@CraftedConversations.com

Subscribe, leave your feedback, and rate us on iTunes because there is so much more to come.

SHOW LINKS

River North Brewerywww.rivernorthbrewery.comwww.facebook.com/rivernorthbrewery@rivernorthbrew

Upslope Brewerywww.upslopebrewing.comwww.facebook.com/upslopebrewing@upslope

Stranahan’s Whiskeywww.stranahans.comwww.facebook.com/stranahans.colorado.whiskey@Stranahans 

Mile High Spiritswww.drinkmilehighspirits.comwww.facebook.com/MileHighSpirits@MileHighSpirits 

The Sourcewww.thesourcedenver.comwww.facebook.com/thesourcedenver@TheSourceDenver

The ProperPourwww.theproperpour.comwww.facebook.com/properpour@theproperpour 

Mondo Marketwww.mondofood.comwww.facebook.com/pages/MondoFoodcom/154467441188