When you hear the word “catering,” cocktails may not be the first thing you think of, but we’d argue that you’re not assigning nearly enough importance to the perfect Manhattan.
Enter Peak Beverage, the specialty beverage catering company that believes what you’re drinking is just as important as what you’re eating.
Andrew Klosterman worked at a similar concept in San Diego and was surprised to find that dedicated special event beverage caterers didn’t really exist anywhere else. He had a hankering for both entrepreneurship and the mountains, and so he, along with co-owner Steve Nosov and his then-fiancée, packed up and moved to Denver to start Peak Beverage. (Co-owner Adam Douglas joined in 2015.)
The idea’s catching on — since its launch in 2012, Peak has brought their top-notch bartenders and beverages all over the state, to private parties for a handful of people, to the Five Points Jazz Festival for tens of thousands. They cater weddings, corporate meetings, dinner parties; heck, they even tended bar for John Elway and a few of his execs for the NFL draft. [Because you know Elway isn’t mixing his own martini during the draft.]
Behind the traveling master mixology program is a new Peak Beverage liquor store in RiNo, stocking high-quality, lesser-known products that you won’t find anywhere else. Those are the wines and spirits that they bring to their catered events: the perfect tequila base for a tart margarita, the best sauvignon blanc at your price point, the ideal whiskey for an old fashioned. And you can get those same premium beverages seven days a week at the new store.
“We don’t care about the big-name brands,” Klosterman says. “We focus purely on quality. We have a blind tasting process for all of the products we sell, so we ensure we’re only selling the best of the best.”
Having the store also means that Peak is a one-stop shop for everything you need to quench your crowd’s thirst. They’re unlike typical liquor stores, though, in that they’re solely focused on special events.
They’ve got all the drinks, supplies, staff, and décor to set up and pour anywhere, and everything is fully customizable. Whether an event calls for a basic black linen bar, a custom sign, or bartenders outfitted as flight attendants and pilots (that last one was for a United Airlines event), Peak has it covered.
“What really sets us apart is the staff that we have,” Klosterman says, referring to the bartenders’ expertise [not their willingness to dress as flight attendants and pilots]. “We have an in-depth training program that lasts for days. We train for bartenders, and then for masters of wine and mixologists if they desire to go that far…Let’s just say that every one of our staff can make a proper Manhattan and martini.”
About those proper Manhattans and martinis: Now when you think catering, think drinks too. After all, the perfect cocktail matters at least as much as the perfect canapé.
