Vengeance Is Bittersweet: Joshua-Peter Smith Is A Winner

Last night, the BSide hosted the Vengeance Cocktail Competition, an event organized by Breckenridge Distillery. Fourteen of Denver's talented bartenders participated in a challenge to create the drink called Vengeance.

Why Vengeance, you ask? The drink is named after the debut thriller Vengeance from author Bryan Koepke. The winning recipe gets the bartender's name and cocktail recipe written into a scene within the new Reece Culver thriller novel, Sabotage due in 2015.

The competitors were: James Vickers (Stoic & Genuine), Charles Oh (Salt), Andreas Pejovic (Oak at Fourteenth), Allison Widdecomb (William & Graham), Jake Novotny (Salt), William E. Golde III (Justice Snow, Aspen), Adam Douglas (the Arvada Tavern), Carly Raemer (Golden Moon Speak), Nathaniel Maston (Oak at Fourteenth), Dustin Hoeft (Modis, Breckenridge), Patrick Ruberto (Gaetano's), Mike Chary (Centro Latin Kitchen), Brandon Parker (the Arvada Tavern), and Joshua-Peter Smith (Justice Snow).

Smith, who spent time in Denver at TAG, created the winning drink. A panel of six judges critiqued the taste, the presentation, as well as the way it fit within the framework of the character. "Vengeance is sweet and bitter," said Smith, who mixed Breckenridge Distillery Vodka with Grand Marnier and Aperol, and served his drink in a bourbon-rinsed coupe with a lemon and orange peel garnish.

Smith, who now works in Aspen, will soon move to San Francisco and join the dining scene of the Bay Area.

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