{"id":2443398,"date":"2019-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=304646"},"modified":"2019-04-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T06:00:00","slug":"libations-the-perfect-patio-pounder-at-meat-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/libations-the-perfect-patio-pounder-at-meat-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Libations: The perfect \u2018patio pounder\u2019 at Meat &amp; Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.5027322404372\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-304646-586\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Dan Kiely\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Kiely\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Dan Kiely<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-1.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-2.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-3.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-4.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-4.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-5-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-5.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Dan Kiely\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-5.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Kiely\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Dan Kiely<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-6-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-6.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-6.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-7-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-7.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-7.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-8-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-8.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-8.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-9-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-9.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/libations-atw-042519-1-9.jpg\" alt><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/weekly\/the-perfect-patio-pounder-at-meat-cheese\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/weekly\/the-perfect-patio-pounder-at-meat-cheese\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"NormalParagraphStyle\">It\u2019s here. The time of the year in Aspen where hotels shut down for a few weeks for repairs and deep cleans, the lifts stop spinning, finding a parking spot in town becomes easy and many restaurants treat their staff to a long break by taping signs to their door proclaiming \u201cClosed until (end of May or beginning of June), thanks for a great winter season!\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Offseason can be a great time to get away from Aspen, but for some people whose offices don\u2019t close down for a monthlong break (I\u2019m looking at you, Aspen Times), it\u2019s important to have a few places left to go for lunch, dinner or the all-important after-work or weekend drink. So for the next month in this libations column, we aren\u2019t taking an offseason hiatus, instead we are focusing on showcasing some of the bars and restaurants that cater to the year-round locals and choose to stay open for all of (or the majority of) the spring mud season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>To kick things off, we are starting with Meat &amp; Cheese Restaurant and Farm Shop. Not only does the restaurant and attached market only close for two days this offseason, they are celebrating locals by offering 15 percent off the entire menu and items in the farm shop from May 1 to June 12.<\/p>\n<p>With the weather getting warmer in town and our attention turned toward hiking, climbing, biking and drinks on the patio, we were happy to taste Meat &amp; Cheese\u2019s latest creation that debuts April 25 on their new spring menu, called Dan\u2019s Hard Iced Tea.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A rift off Mike\u2019s Hard Lemonade, Dan\u2019s Hard Iced Tea is a classic \u201cpatio pounder,\u201d according to bartender Dan Kiely.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Starting with a base of cantaloupe tea, from there the cocktail has a little bit of lemon to add some acid, some honey simple syrup to bring sweetness where the cantaloupe did not, lavender bitters and then the final dimension of Contratto Aperitif, which adds an orange (and alcoholic) component. To top things off, Kiely adds an orange twist and rosemary sprig \u201cjust to give it a little bit of herbal essence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The result is an insanely easy to drink cocktail, and I can honestly see myself taking down a few of these on a sunny day. The fruit tea is the predominant flavor in the drink and the honey simple syrup adds the slightest touch of sweetness \u2014 but not too sugary, because \u201cit\u2019s Aspen; no one wants a sweet drink in Aspen\u201d \u2014 to keep the tea from being bitter.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kiely, like most drinks on the menu, the process to come up with Dan\u2019s Hard Iced Tea was a collaborative effort among the four bartenders at Meat &amp; Cheese along with other staff members and owner Wendy Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best cocktails are always collaborative efforts,\u201d he said. When \u201cone person makes a drink, it\u2019s great for them, but to get something that everyone likes, it\u2019s nice to have different input.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So with an eye toward outdoor activites and patio season, we see a lot of Dan\u2019s Hard Iced Tea in our future here at the ATW.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis would be the perfect drink when you\u2019re done hiking up Smuggler or up Ute and you come and sit out on our patio and you just want a nice, refreshing \u2018patio pounder,\u2019\u201d Kiely said.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/weekly\/the-perfect-patio-pounder-at-meat-cheese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dan KielyAnna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Dan KielyAnna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide Captions It\u2019s here. The time of the year in Aspen where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 07:13:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}