Spirits and hemlines are still rising, the impending Stock Market Crash still months away.
You're a dapper young thing, dressed to the nines in sophisticated fashions of the day, shoes shined and eyes aglow. Walking down a sidewalk in Golden, Colorado, a sweetheart on your arm, you're in top form. But then there's prohibition. The pent-up energy of you and your ragtime doll has no outlet in a dry state in the middle of an even drier country.
Suddenly, you come across a sign. "Golden Moon Speakeasy" – and its own distillery to boot! The name conjures up images of the mysterious, the dangerous, the exciting. Winking a silent agreement to your partner, you throw caution to the wind and follow where the sign points.
(Except, if it were truly 1929, and not 2014, there'd be no sign, just a narrow, unassuming, ordinary, wooden door. But for the moment, let's just indulge in a little poetic license and pretend that "Babyface" is still on the top 40 and bathtub gin is still a thing.)
(If this were 2014, the physical address of the Speakeasy would be 1111 Miner's Alley; but accessing it through a random doorway on Washington Ave. is so much cooler.)
Back to 1929. You knock, the door opens a crack, and you whisper the secret password before you're let inside to the base of a steep, narrow staircase, the light of the sinking sun still visible above you. (No password in 2014; this secret club is open to all.)
Lured by promises of Golden Moons, you trip up the staircase.
(Today is in fact Monday, so keep in mind that if we were in 2014, the Speakeasy wouldn't be open today. They are, however, open from 2-11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, from 2 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and from 2-9 p.m. on Sunday.)
You seat yourself as an attentive waiter offers a list of delicious cocktails for sale, all made with house alcohols like absinthe, gin, whiskey and apple jack.
The extensive menu of cocktails, along with any specials they're offering (they have a lot of options), cater to all tastes, whether you like fruity or dry, crisp and refreshing or heady and powerful. Even the non-cocktail drinkers will no doubt find a favorite among the wide selection of drinks (which include vintage concoctions as well as modern favorites).
If you find you need something in your stomach to keep the alcohol company, you're in luck. You can nibble imported caviar from mother-of-pearl spoons off of a traditional caviar service, which includes creme fraiche and water crackers; or you can sample a selection of meats and cheeses of your choosing.
Times have changed since speakeasies served as escapes from the country-wide prohibition laws, but the allure of the past, the glamour of long-ago styles and fashions realized in modern ways, the novelty of a hush-hush establishment where only those in the know on the very forefront of high society gather – all that is still very much alive at Golden Moon Speakeasy.
For some completely factual information and a little less poetic license, visit www.goldenmoonspeak.com.
– M