Wash Park is all a buzz over a brand new tasting room moving in at 1080 S. Gaylord Street. The space will include a lounge area and 20ft bar you can belly up to and order a Manhattan, Negroni, Old Fasthioned or more. We sat down with owners Tim Felkner and Patrick Stern to get a taste of what’s to come.

Let’s start in the beginning, going way back to 2008. Can you tell us how the two of you began this journey leading to Uncle Tim’s Cocktails? And, what were your lives like before taking this leap?

Wow. 2008, what a year that was… Still in the throws of the housing financial crisis, Tim and I found ourselves in San Francisco, where the iPhone had just been launched and the tech world was about to be changed forever. In the city we found ourselves amidst a renaissance in wine, food, and cocktails. Tim was opening the third restaurant in his career, and we happened to move into the same apartment building, not even meeting each other until one day we walked out at the same time and decided to climb. Fast forward from there we and an eclectic group of friends built a community around salon dinners, listening sessions, brunches, and uniquely themed parties… where we began to blend our first cocktails that were inspired from the menus of the many restaurants Tim opened, and many others around San Francisco.

We always made our cocktails as a play on the classics, and those unique variations came to inspire the sets that we have released in each of our series.

These cocktails, with a twist, is how we continue to bring people together and hope to continue in our new tasting room!

Your high-quality, bottled craft cocktails are delicious and remove the guess work and task of combining multiple ingredients together. Can you tell us about your craft and process?

Our bottled cocktails are crafted intentionally with the highest quality ingredients and spirits the great state of Colorado can offer. We’ve partnered with a variety of local businesses to procure the finest ingredients, sometimes working through 20 variations as we adjust our recipes based on how they arrive on the palette when we move to larger batches. Those batches then get hand bottled, labeled, and sealed for your enjoyment later! You’ll note that each bottle of Uncle Tim’s Cocktails has a handwritten batch number on it as well. Each of these batches are made with love here in Denver and it is our way of saying, we’re proud of this product and the individual care we’ve put into perfecting it.

We first fell in love with your vintage trailer. Is the Uncle Tim’s trailer available for events?

    Absolutely! Our mobile bar, which we affectionately call Dio after the Greek god of festivities and wine-making Dionysis, is available for all kinds of events. For those unfamiliar, we renovated a former-horse trailer and converted it into a mobile-bar, which can be seen at the Firefly Handmade festivals here in Wash Park, as well as at events all over the state. The mobile bar is also available to rent for your next neighborhood block party of private shindig! More information can be found on our website at www.uncletimscocktails.com/events.

The neighborhood is beyond thrilled in anticipation for you to move in to a brick and mortar on Old South Gaylord Street just next door to Wash Park Grille. Can you give us an idea of what we can expect?

We are humbled at the reception we have had so far and are beyond excited to join a neighborhood with such a storied history. Our goal with the tasting room, is to provide Wash Park and Denver residents with an alternative space, a place between work and home, or home and a meal. The tasting room is a space for you to make your own, with a 20 ft. bar for you to pop in or grab and go, but also lounge and table spaces to bring your favorite person for one of our many events we plan to host, or a quiet place to read a book. We hope you join us in putting down roots at 1080 S. Gaylord.

We are an impatient bunch. What does your timeline look like?

Well, we are excited to update you on the renovations. So far, we’ve gotten cross-departmental approvals from several city agencies and have demolition and painting. We recently re-finished the floors, keeping the integrity of the original wood intact. We also just began the buildout on a second bathroom in the space. All of that to say, the cogs are turning. We are hoping to have the space ready for your enjoyment by the holiday season. Each day changes, so stop by our Pop-up if you want to hear more. We hope to keep folks as informed as possible as we make progress.

Have you had an opportunity to collaborate with other local makers?

Yes, we actually prioritize collaborating with local businesses, it’s important that we all support each other in this community. We work most closely with a few business in specific. Take Sati Coffee Company out of the Sloan’s Lake neighborhood for example! We worked with owners Brandon and Daniel to create a proprietary espresso blend for our Espresso Martini cocktail. We also work closely with the Boozy Botanist, our sister brand who is geared more towards health and wellness. Additionally, she created the bitters blend for our Gin Old Fashioned. In the future, we’ll be working even more with her in our space to craft many non-alcoholic options on our season menu.

What can we expect from you in the future?

We have a lot that we are bringing from our speakeasy, but plan to go deeper and further with this new space. This is our canvas, and we hope that everyone in the community sees it that way as well. Think comedy nights, live music, unique events… but what does the Wash Park community see here? We want to welcome everyone into our space and see it the way we do, a place to gather and create memories with your community.

Thank you both for taking the time to offer a peek into your history, process and future plans for your new tasting room. We look forward to seeing you both more frequently around the neighborhood. If you would like to learn more about Uncle Tim’s and help them kickstart their new tasting room, visit uncletimscocktails.com for information.