Mountain inn has new take on old drinks

Flagstaff House’s drinkmeister (cocktail shaker, bartender extraordinaire) Melanie Kaman is now its venerable sommelier as well.

Cocktails such as the Moscow Mule, the Sunset Spritz and the Rocky Mountain Elderberry now are part of the mixed-drinks menu on the restaurant terrace. Jockey with the pro and amateur bicyclists headed up and down Flagstaff Mountain on their workouts to get a parking space across the street from the restaurant at 1138 Flagstaff Road. The terrace is billed as a place with “breathtaking views from 6,000 feet.” You can see the white, pointy domes of DIA on a clear day.

Kaman created new-school twists on old favorites such as the Mule; many of the drinks feature organic ingredients and/or Colorado liquors. “Tastes on the Terrace” small plates ($12-$17 each) offer tapas-style menu items to go along with your and your compadres’ favorite drinks.

Tastes on the Terrace has become a great way to celebrate summer and experience a casual side of Flagstaff House, according to Mark Monette, the restaurant’s chef and owner.

But that’s “casual” as in “business casual,” not as in bicycling jerseys and hiking shorts.

The restaurant’s dress code is spelled out in a recent press statement: Collared shirts, casual pants, slacks, skirts and dresses. “No shorts, T-shirts, or athletic attire, please,” the statement said, a possible reference to those aforementioned cycleheads.

Speaking of sommeliers: Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson at Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder are seeing huge success with their Scarpetta wines.

The Italian word “scarpetta” means “little shoe.”

Grapes from those Scarpetta wines are grown in the Friuli region of Italy, which is where those tasty dish recipes at Frasca come from as well.

Charles Holmes, president of the new Centennial Bank branch in Boulder, said he recently helped the duo with a financing deal “in the six figures” to help grow the Scarpetta wine business. The La Scarpetta pinot grigio is a huge seller in California, Holmes said. It’s also available at the Boulder Wine Merchant, at North Boulder Liquor and, of course, at Liquor Mart, which calls it the “essential summer wine.”

The pinot grigio’s light flavor and low alcohol content complement Frasca’s food very well, Holmes said.

“We’re just helping them along with their growth,” Holmes said. “It’s not like they’re trying to arrive. They’re already there.”

Why “scarpetta”? While the wine bottles all feature a stylish pig on the label (seems like many trendy labels do these days), the Italian “little shoe” actually is the word used for the bread you use to sop up the last drop of sauce left on your plate.

“They are wildly successful, and it’s fun to be a part of it,” said Holmes, who has just a few treasured bottles of wine left over from a recent bank event.

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