Establishment: Felt — 341 S. Main St., SLC
Bartender: Josh Van Gorden
Cocktail Name: The Cafe Racer
For Josh Van Gorden, after a long shift, his preferred taste is a traditional pint of Guinness, because sometimes the old ways are the best.
Josh loves to surprise his customers by going back to the roots. His traditional daiquiris are tart and bracing, not the usual sugar bomb from a blender that most folks are used to. Trendy celebrity-endorsed liquors, made without the quality that comes with time and good practice, are what make him cringe. “You’re paying so much more for an inferior product. I like to make anybody what they order, I just like to avoid certain spirits that aren’t ethical or made correctly.”
Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.
Farm-to-glass is how Josh thinks we should always be making cocktails. “It’s a way to explore and champion local spirits and products, whether it’s foraging, which is really abundant in Salt Lake, or buying from the farmers’ market, it’s a great way to reduce the amount of waste that is so inherent in bars.”
Josh’s rigor in how he works extends to how he cures a hangover—with a cold plunge, or as he puts it, “diving into the hurt locker.” With that kind of discipline, you know that he’s never going to put a drink in front of you that doesn’t meet his standards.
The Cafe Racer
1 oz Beehive Decade Dry Gin
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth
.5 oz Campari
.25 oz Notom Amaro
.5 oz Five Spice Syrup
2 oz Peach Cordial (below)
Garnished with Five Spice Foam, lemon zest and sage
Peach Cordial:
Get yourself a hearty basket of yellow peaches from the Farmer’s Market. Set aside half for juicing and half for a syrup. For the syrup, combine equal weight peach slices and white sugar. Let it sit for 24 hours and strain. Once you have your syrup and fresh peach juice, blend them at a ratio of 3:1 juice to sugar.
Explore the cocktail trail and vote for your favorite cocktail in the 2025 Salt Lake Magazine Farm-To-Glass Cocktail Contest.
About the 2025 Salt Lake Magazine Farm-To-Glass Cocktail Contest
23 bars from across the state present delicious cocktail creations and compete for the best in Utah. This year’s contest cocktails shine with all Utah has to offer, embodying the farm-to-glass ethos by incorporating the bountiful range of Utah’s native herbs, homegrown produce and locally distilled spirits. Celebrate the bartenders’ hard work throughout from Sept. 1–Oct. 1 by visiting participating bars, trying their unique cocktail concoctions and voting for your favorite on saltlakemagazine.com.
