Libations: New moxieBar serving up martini that has some chutzpah

Any bar that makes me think of James Cagney talking with a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth in a 1930s movie telling some punk kid he has “moxie” has a bit of intrigue to me.

Being a Snowmass Village resident, I waited out the crowds the past few weekends and swung by the Base Village’s new moxieBar and mix6 restaurant Monday night to check out the cocktail menu.

And at this point if you’re wondering what moxie means, here’s a quick lesson: It takes moxie to go with lower case “m” and upper case “B” in your name.

With its newness still shining, there was a solid Monday crowd in The Collective space. So, I settled in at the end of the bar and chatted with a couple of valley locals slinging drinks ­— Molly (who you’ve likely seen behind the bar at other area watering holes) and Taylor (welcome back to the valley, Glenwood High grad).

There were two drinks in particular that caught my eye, so I went with the one that sounded healthy: the 3 Berry Martini.

Taylor deferred to Molly to mix it up, and you can tell she’s been mashing up a few since they opened Dec. 7.

She started with a good pour of Absolut vodka, muddled some blueberries, added a bit of pomegranate juice and then showed me the kicker in Cedilla Liqueur de Acai. The latter is a 25% by volume liqueur that is made of acai berries, which are picked from palm trees in South America and sent to the Maison Leblon distillery in south central Brazil.

Shaken then strained and garnished with some lemon peal, the 3 Berry Martini is smooth thanks to the Absolut and sweet because of berries.

And just think of all those antioxidants you’re treating yourself to. That kind of thinking takes moxie, kid.