ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
I was never much of a wine drinker so drinking something that tastes like wine that was nonalcoholic never did it for me. I got a bottle of nonalcoholic wine at Food & Wine last year and it's still in my fridge. I could never find that moment where I went, "Tonight's the night for me to drink my nonalcoholic bottle of wine alone!"
As far as nonalcoholic spirits in cans and bottles (as opposed to a mocktail, aka a $15 juice drink), I have never found one that was better than a club soda, cranberry juice and a lime.
Sending me out to find my favorite NA drinks is like sending a curmudgeon into a comedy club and looking for the funniest comic.
So it was a great surprise when at my very first event of the weekend, the ACRA luncheon on Thursday, I encountered the Aplos chili margarita.
A functional beverage is a drink that offers health benefits, and often contains added ingredients like vitamins, minerals, or other bioactive components.
Aplos refers to itself as a "functional nonalcoholic spirit." It is a hemp based product, has no sugar, is low calorie and non-GMO. It is a CBD product but they use a broad spectrum hemp that strips out the THC so there are no psychoactive properties.
According to their literature, their proprietary blend of adaptogens "was formulated to elevate mood, stimulate brain function and boost energy."
They had a few offerings at the luncheon, their mandora negroni and their chili margarita. I did not like the former, served in a wine glass at room temperature, but their chili margarita, served on ice, was the best nonalcoholic beverage I've ever tried.
There were 12 people at my table at the luncheon, nine women and three men, and it was a consensus palette pleaser. "Refreshing" was the most common word that was used by the unofficial taste panel, who were all dressed to the nines.
The Aplos chili margarita won "Best Nonalcoholic Spirit" at the 2025 Aspen Food & Wine Classic.
I tried another functional THC spirit drink at the Grand Tasting, Squire's specialty elixirs. It does have psychoactive properties — 5 mg of THC and 10 mg of THC — so I tried just a tiny bit to get a sense of the taste. Since it is intended to get you buzzed, I didn't really experience the drink as it was meant to be used and can't really judge its efficacy as a product but all the flavors I sampled were delicious, particularly the mandarin mango.
Another NA product at the grand tasting was Gua Lupo from New Orleans. It is a bitters nonalcoholic spirit which eliminates me completely from giving a reliable review because I've never been a bitters guy. I tried it and it did have a nice refreshing feel but the bitters taste didn't do it for me but I can't fault the product for that, it's just not my bag.
Moving out of nonalcoholic spirits and into sodas and juices at the Grand Tasting, I experienced the brand new prebiotic soda Popwell, made by Talking Rain Beverage Company in Walla Walla, Washington, makers of Sparkling Ice, the leading brand in the flavored sparkling water category.
Popwell is only three months old. Its main benefit is that it aids "gut health." The product has 6 mg of fiber, 40 mg of caffeine, vitamins that help with immunity and only 1 gm of sugar.
Popwell had six flavors on display — tropical mango, cream soda, cherry citrus, lemon lime, blackberry lime and orange cream.
The drinks taste like familiar soda brands, but less sugary. Their lemon lime tasted like Sprite, but less sweet, which to me tasted better. Their orange cream went down like a milder Fanta, before leaving a slight creamsicle taste and their cream soda was one of the best cream sodas I've ever had.
The drinks only have 1g of sugar but taste great and don't have that chemical taste you get with a lot of low cal, low sugar drinks.
According to Alison Olson, director of marketing for Popwell, the brand uses a cold crafted process that keeps the taste more natural and maintains better flavor.
Popwell is going to be huge. They've got Albertsons, Kroger and several other big box partners carrying their product and it's already featured on Amazon.
I've tried some boutique, next generation, smart, functional drinks and Popwell blows them all away in terms of taste. As far as its effect on digestion, I don't have anything to add there, only having tried a few of the drinks one time.
Popwell was the winner for "Best Functional Beverage" at the 2025 Aspen Food & Wine Classic.
The final NA beverage that was featured at Food & Wine was Jus Aspen.
This one isn't even fair. My favorite beverage of all time is Jus' watermelon mojito. I treat myself to it on rare occasions when I feel like I deserve a $14 juice. It is the ultimate refreshing beverage and if you freeze it, it makes the best popsicle ever. I probably did 30 drive bys to grab a Watermelon Mojito over the three days at the grand tasting.
Jus Aspen was the winner of "Best Colorado Beverage" at the 2025 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
There you have it. Another Food & Wine Festival, come and gone and I'm still sober.
— Geoff Hanson/geoff@aspendailynews.com
Take a food-only lap, chat up vintners when there isn't a line, find the liquor vendors who have a cocktail prepped to help pace yourself, make sure to visit the Best New Chef corner every single grand tasting.
I chatted with a wine distributor about the funny verbiage sommeliers use to describe wine — we laughed at the outrageousness of "athletic" wine that could suit almost all food pairings, we agreed that a bright, fruity Pinot Noir could be accurately described as "crunchy" because of its similarity to a ripe, firm apple.
I saw some familiar faces representing some favorite local spots. Heather from Gravity Haus/Boat Tow and I used to work for the same locally-owned restaurants in Vail (though at vastly different levels … I was a host at Mountain Standard and she was the GM of Sweet Basil). The Little Nell came through with a classic at the Classic: blinis with caviar. The culinary arts program from Colorado Mountain College served a delicious watermelon gazpacho. It's cold soup summer, y'all!
For me, the standouts were Colorado Grain Chain and Roaring Fork Mill, which showcased Colorado grain growers and their final products, from graham crackers to a biting whiskey.
Colorado Grain Chain is a nonprofit that promotes the state's grain economy and Roaring Fork Mill is one of their members, a Roaring Fork Valley mill that produces flour from state-grown grain in a traditional stone grist mill.
The Classic is such a global event, with hospitality industry giants from all over the world. It was exciting to chat with players invested in the hyperlocal industry.
My dad is from Chile and I still have lots of family there. I visit as often as I can and a staple of Chilean food culture is pan con palta, or bread with avocado and black tea. It's not avocado toast, but a Chilean breakfast classic.
My favorite of all the different types of bread popular in Chile is hallulas, a layered round bread similar to a biscuit but much more dense and less buttery. Once, I read in an NPR story that Chileans eat more bread per capita than any other nationality — so my love for bread comes naturally. I can't wait to bake some hallullas with Roaring Fork Mill flour.
It's the best of the Classic: connecting someone else's passion for eating with your own culture. Next year, I hope to see some Chilean wineries represented!
Also — Aspen's own Mawa McQueen won her breakfast sandwich showdown on Sunday morning against Seattle's Shota Nakajima. She cooked an egg sandwich on a baguette with peppers and shallots sauteed with brie, plantains and arugula — plus an assist from a special lamb sauce from chef Ayesha Nurdjaja. Nakajima's Japanese-inspired breakfast sando with tamagoyaki made with the same lamb sauce, cheese, rice vinegar and arugula also looked heavenly.
But we love when the home team wins.
— Josie Taris/josie@aspendailynews.com