Rado is for Colorado
The place to be this weekend was the grand opening of Rado Distilling, a new distillery in Arvada Colorado. Walking up to the grand opening of Rado on Saturday May 30th, 2015 I was greeted by jamming music, a throng of happy locals all proudly sporting a Rado cocktail concoction. The crowd was big, a giant mixture of young and old, boomer and millennial all jubilantly sipping and enjoying Colorado's newest and perhaps most unique gem. Whats the deal? Its about the Rum Baby!
Rado Facts:
Website:
http://www.radodistilling.com/
Address:
5405 W 56th Ave.
Arvada, CO 80002
Colorado now has RUM! that's right not whiskey, not Microbrews, no none of the usual things we are used to seeing in Colorado but RUM. It is high quality, super smooth Rum that is made in Colorado with the Colorado produce. Rado distillery goes a step with their innovation further and mixes their liqueur into various cocktails that can made at the bar or even kegged. The group behind the site has big ideas, including future canned versions of their cocktails. I was immediately struck with how great an idea this sounded. I will soon be able to grab a can of a locally produced, high quality cocktail and carry it with me on the ski slopes or the bike trail.
The bottles on site are not called Rum. Whats the deal? The type of liquor produced by Rado technically can not be called Rum because its produced with Colorado Sugar Beets as opposed to Sugarcain. The beauty of this is that the Sugar Beets are local, the problem is that company must call its product Beet Liquor. I will say from first hand experience what this Beet Liquor tastes like is really damn good Rum.
Unique and Local:
While the Mile High City has become nearly synonymous with microbrews it only has a few distilleries. Most of those distilleries focus on whiskey what makes Rado immediately stand out is that it makes Rum. That's right the drink known for being made of sugar in the tropics is now being produced in Colorado. What is really amazing is that Rado is not only producing Rum in Colorado, but that they are also using Colorado crops to produce it. While Colorado is not known for producing sugar cane the ingredient used to produce Rum, the state does have an ample supply of Sugar Beets. The founders of Rado learned that Sugar Beets can be transformed to sugar and fermented into liquor. The company calls this liquor Colorado Beet Spirit. In the age of trying to use things produced locally it does not get more local than this.
Cocktails:
I loved some of the cocktails at Rado. I may have over indulged myself in my attempt to sample them. My personal favorites are:
The Denver Donkey - Rado's take on a Moscow Mule
and my personal favorite
The Trail Blazer - Liquor, Mango juice and jalapeno. The Trail Blazer was a sweet with a little kick. I loved it. Be sure to try it at Rado.
If you are in Arvada or one of the liquor stores carrying Rado's cocktails be sure to try them. You won't be disappointed.
