Gunner’s Libation: The Dude Abides

Marble Bar Aspen opened officially last weekend in the Hyatt Grand Aspen and, judging by throngs of folks clamoring around polished stone, the new tasting room for Carbondale’s Marble Distilling will keep minds limber this winter.

The company’s MVP original cocktail is “The Dude,” made with Moonlight EXpresso — its most-achieving spirit, having won a Good Food Award, accolades at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and a 2017 Top 100 nod from Wine Enthusiast magazine. Little wonder, since the rich java liqueur comprises just four ingredients, including organic Guatemalan beans roasted by Bonfire Coffee, Ugandan vanilla, and Wyoming beet sugar.

Various spinoffs exist (see Make It), but a new favorite, “The Dude Abides,” is one helluva Caucasian. Here it’s spiked with Marble’s Crystal River Vodka 80 (distilled through crushed namesake stone) and topped with a croissant-doughnut-and-cake-doughnut-hole hybrid baked by partner Sweet Coloradough of Glenwood Springs.

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“The key is to take a bite of the doughnut, then let it soak in the booze,” says Marble Bar manager Zach Burns.

Try it daily beginning at 3 p.m., or during comedy night featuring Stephen Agyei and Geoff Tice this Saturday, Jan. 13, at 9 p.m.

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I dunno ’bout you, but I take comfort in that….

Libations was created by beloved Aspen Times publisher Gunilla Asher, who died June 2, 2014, after a brave battle with cancer. Cheers — to Gunner!