Ski cities are recognized for his or her “dwell exhausting, play exhausting” ethos, and from which have sprung a few of consuming tradition’s best-known—and generally most questionable—creations. To wit: the shotski, Vodka Pink Bull and gelände quaffing. The Flatliner, nevertheless, simply could also be the very best high-altitude cocktail you’ve by no means heard of.
Comprising vodka, Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream and a shot of espresso or cold-brew espresso, the Flatliner is broadly thought-about to be the signature drink of Telluride, Colorado. The tiny ski city, sequestered in a field canyon within the state’s San Juan Mountains, isn’t any slouch in terms of consuming, however the Flatliner has carved out a distinct segment because the uncommon cocktail that transcends time of day. “Right here, it’s fairly normal follow to ski all day, get together all evening, and get well the following morning with a Flatliner as a hair of the canine,” says Mark Rineer, a longtime native bartender and present maître d’ and common supervisor of La Marmotte, a French restaurant and bar housed in a Nineteenth-century icehouse.
“The Flatliner is the city’s signature drink as a result of folks have them for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner,” provides Luke LaFemina, common supervisor and beverage director at 221 South Oak. In line with LaFemina, the native favourite is taken into account “slightly increase of caffeine and alcohol to loosen you up, put you extra ahead in your ski boots or ease off the brakes of your mountain bike.”
It was bartender Steve Foster (whose son Lucas was on the 2022 U.S. Olympic Snowboard Crew) who first launched the Flatliner to Telluride. In the summertime of 1995, Foster was a bartender at The Peaks Resort & Spa. Whereas working a marriage, the bride and groom requested a Flatliner. “They had been from New Zealand and instructed me it was a well-liked drink within the South Pacific made with equal elements vodka, Kahlúa and Baileys, with a shot of espresso, shaken with ice and served up with a espresso bean garnish,” explains Foster.
Although the Flatliner bears an overt resemblance to the Espresso Martini and the Mudslide, it’s Foster’s impromptu creation that has endured as Telluride’s unofficial cocktail, with the bartender as its unwitting ambassador. “Foster is fairly humble, however he’s as a lot of a Telluride establishment because the drink,” says Rineer.
Foster, for his half, chalks up the Flatliner’s success to being in the precise place on the proper time. “I’m not a craft bartender, in any respect. I don’t go residence and dream up new cocktails, so it’s simply humorous to me that I occurred to be the one who heard about this drink,” he says. “Lots of people suppose that I invented it, and lots of people attempt to take credit score for it, and I discover myself debunking origin tales pretty usually.”
By the tip of the summer season of ’95, the Flatliner had grow to be The Peaks employees’s post-shift drink of selection. Quickly, different service business staff had been requesting it, too. “That inevitably led to company ordering it, which the employees hated, as a result of it was a ache within the ass to make,” Foster says. “Again then, we needed to pull a shot for each drink. It created an enormous bottleneck, each time.”
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Flatliners and Flatliner variations—the most well-liked of which requires vanilla vodka as the bottom—popped up round city. And when Foster moved on to grow to be founding bartender at Allred’s, a superb eating restaurant perched on the gondola’s Station St. Sophia, the Flatliner craze continued. “It’s such a foolish cocktail, however folks adore it,” he says. “And it is scrumptious—company admire a very good dessert drink.” After all, when consumed at Telluride’s base elevation of 8,750 toes, the drink can have profound penalties for these unaccustomed to the altitude. Foster cautions: “Some guests are available considering it’s a weak drink, and they are often sorely mistaken.”
Over the following a long time, as Colorado’s craft distilling scene expanded, regional spirits started to enter the Flatliner formulation. “We use Telluride Distilling Firm’s vodka, as a result of we love supporting all issues native,” says Megan Ossola, proprietor of The Butcher & The Baker, who additionally makes use of espresso liqueur and contemporary espresso from small Colorado companies. “We’re a well-liked breakfast and lunch spot, and I consider this as a breakfast-y cocktail,” says Ossola. “That’s why we use a double shot of espresso, to assist folks with the ‘rise up and go.’”
At La Marmotte, the bar group favors the mixture of chilly brew, Kahlúa, Spring44 vodka and The Irishman Irish Cream liqueur, which has “a cleaner and fewer synthetic taste than Baileys,” says Rineer, including, “personally, I feel I make the very best Flatliner on the town. Inform Foster I stated so.”
For LaFemina, the key to a flawless Flatliner lies in its froth. “It’s a must to use a contemporary shot of espresso,” he says, noting that others flip to chilly brew of their variations. “In the event you’ve ever had a shakerato, you realize what occurs whenever you shake the shit out of a shot of espresso with a touch of straightforward syrup. It provides you the frothiest head you’ve ever had,” he says. To complete, 221 South Oak provides a touch of cinnamon as a garnish to spherical out the flavour.
It’s been over 18 years since Foster left Allred’s to employees the elegant Victorian bar on the New Sheridan Lodge’s Chop Home Restaurant. The drink—and its legacy—adopted. “It’s not unusual to see the Chop Home bar stuffed with locals on a Sunday morning, all with a Flatliner in entrance of them,” says Rineer.
Whereas the true genesis of the Flatliner could stay a thriller, Telluride has gladly laid declare to this silky, frothy, craveable cocktail. No bar is full with out one. As LaFemina notes, “The primary rule of Flatliners is: Make additional Flatliner.”
