Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Contest

And just like that…our 2025 Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Contest comes to a close. This year, the public has been casting their votes in droves—tallying a grand total of 25,850 votes! The surge in community support is a direct reflection of Utah’s evolving mixology industry, and we’re so glad our incredible bartenders are receiving the recognition they deserve. This year’s competition saw a range of high-concept concoctions and fresh takes on the “Farm-to-Glass” prompt. Some bartenders looked to their roots for nostalgic flavors and feelings, and others organized community-wide collaborations that took the idea of a cocktail and transformed it into a performance art piece.

Our judges are still deliberating awards, but rest assured there is a lot of love to go around. Keep an eye out for our big reveal on October 21st after our invite-only awards ceremony.

Cheers, until next year!

Water Witch— 8,767 votes

Dawson Jenkins • Sack Lunch

About the Bartender: Dawson is a local boy who has been tending bar since he turned 21. It’s no wonder that his cocktail was inspired by a sack lunch like your momma used to make for you. Think recess vibes.

Don’t mistake youth for a lack of maturity though. With Waterpocket Snow Angel Aquavit, fino sherry, homemade peach burrata and locally produced bitters, this is not your kindergarten juice box.

Dawson loves whipping up egg white cocktails, as befits a guy who is always thinking about the chemistry of what he’s stirring and the idea of understanding what flavors exist
in Utah’s biome. 

Palomino— 6,825 Votes

Mariano Agustin Forza • Smoked Orchard
About the Bartender: Mariano is from a place where food, fire and gathering are a way of life—Argentina. The keyword is asado, the social ritual that comes with grilling meat over an open fire. It’s a barbeque with the soul of a tango. That spirit is what Mariano wanted to bring to his cocktail, the “Smoked Orchard,” which uses local pears smoked over oak with local bourbon and a dash of ginger bitters

Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club — 6,537 Votes

Leo Rosas • Garden Bliss
About the Cocktail: Garden Bliss is a fresh celebration of Utah’s local farms and natural beauty. It features crisp Alpine Gin and bright, floral notes from St-Germain and Angel Vert, perfectly balanced with a house-made strawberry, basil, and honey syrup crafted from ingredients sourced right here in Utah’s mountains and fields. This cocktail captures the vibrant flavors of the region in every sip, a true farm-to-glass experience that honors our local growers and brings the spirit of the land to your glass.

See the Final Leaderboard Below

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Find all our Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Contest stories, and enjoy more Food and Drink coverage. And while you’re here, subscribe to Salt Lake magazine to receive six beautiful print issues a year!

Establishment: Mar | Muntanya — 170 S. West Temple St., SLC
Bartender: Keslee Smith
Cocktail Name: Raspberry Days Gimlet

Keslee Smith has been behind the bar for close to two decades in Utah and she loves to bring the local flavor. That’s why she uses raspberries from the Salt Lake farmer’s market for her cocktail that pays homage to Bear Lake’s Raspberry Days festival. Mixed with gin from Alpine Distillery, it’s Utah’s mountains in a glass. 

Keslee has worked extensively with the chef Tyson Peterson at Mar | Muntanya to craft drinks that complement the food coming out of the kitchen.”I just love creating and finding the flavors that work together—sweet, savory, bitter, citrus, etc.”

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

Her favorite thing about bartending in Utah? Using those clicker devices that measure out alcohol, which bartenders call “bergs” after the company that makes them. “I’m explaining the laws more than I’m making drinks sometimes.” With all her experience, what was the worst drink she was asked to make? “A virgin mojito. Just get a Sprite.”

Keslee’s after-shift drink is a glass of wine and a shot of tequila. “Quality tequila. I’ve had enough bad tequila. I have my standards now.” And for the next morning? A cheeseburger and a mimosa. 

Raspberry Days Gimlet

1.5​ oz​ Alpine Collab Spruce Tip Infused Gin
.75 ​oz​ Alpine Preserve Cordial
.25 ​oz​ Empress Rose Gin
1 ​oz​  Acid Adjusted Raspberry Juice
1​ oz Cox Honey Syrup

Garnish:

1​ oz  Raspberry Leaf Espuma
1 ​Fresh Raspberry Leaf
1 ​Freeze-dried local raspberry
1​ Freeze-dried spruce tip

Shake with ice and strain into Nick & Nora. Top with chilled espuma. Place a large, clean raspberry leaf on top of the foam. Stuff a freeze-dried raspberry with a freeze-dried spruce tip and place on top of the raspberry leaf. 

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.

Establishment: Copper Common — 111 E. Broadway, SLC
Bartender: Spencer Jensen
Cocktail Name: Tomato Boiii

Spencer Jensen wins the award for the most Utah name in our contest! He first got into bartending so that he could have his days free to hit the slopes during the winter, but soon became passionate about classic cocktails. He’s stuck with it because of the community.

“Making someone a cocktail and watching their face light up when they first taste it makes me immensely happy.” His cocktail is called the “Tomato Boiii.” The “yeah” is optional.

Tomato Boiii

1 oz lemon
.75 oz Beehive Decade Dry Gin
.75 oz Wahaka Espadín Mezcal
.75 oz Heirloom tomato & parsley simple
.5 oz Fino Sherry
Combine ingredients in a shaker tin, shake, strain into a stemmed wine glass. Add ice, top with tomato soda.

Garnish with a parsley bouquet and a dehydrated heirloom tomato slice.

Heirloom tomato & parsley simple:
Chop heirloom tomatoes, and add equal parts by weight of white sugar. (I.E. 500 g tomatoes + 500 g sugar.) Add parsley leaves (roughly 6 or so leaves per tomato) as well as a pinch of salt, and blend well until all of the sugar has dissolved. Strain through cheesecloth, and store refrigerated.

Tomato soda:
Chop and blend Roma tomatoes with a little water and a little salt until the tomatoes are good and broken apart. Fine strain through cheesecloth. Add tomato water to an ISI canister and charge once with CO2. Shake a bit, then add a second CO2 charge, and refrigerate for several hours until very cold. The soda should be very very bubbly and form a foam that layers on top of the cocktail.

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.

Establishment: Flanker — 6 N. Rio Grande St., SLC
Bartender: Leo Rosas
Cocktail Name: Garden Bliss

Leo stumbled into bartending in 2015 and never looked back. “That first cocktail I made lit a fire in me; it wasn’t just a drink, it was an experience.” For more than 10 years, he’s been crafting cocktails with purpose and flair, specializing in fine dining and craft bars. 

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

Farm to glass means something personal to him—he’s lived in some of Utah’s most rural areas. “For someone like me who actually grew up in the countryside, it means home and my heritage.” Not that he hasn’t also enjoyed city life—his experiences in Vegas and LA inform his work. He wants to bring some of the showmanship of those places home to Salt Lake. Bartending for him is part craft, part theater and all heart.

Like all good bartenders, Leo understands why people sometimes order bad drinks. He’ll serve you a Jack and Coke with a smile, but he’d much prefer to take that whiskey, make it into something beautiful and then talk about what’s going on in your life. “What are you going to do with your day?” he might ask a guest. “Talk to me and then I’ll recommend something.” The ethic of care is at the core of his work

Garden Bliss

1 oz Alpine Gin
1 oz Angel Vert Apéritif
.5 oz St-Germain Liqueur
1 oz Verjus Blanc
.5 oz house-made syrup with local strawberries basil-honey

Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain over a large ice cube in a footed glass 

Garnish:
One small dollop of locally sourced plain yogurt flavored with local mint leaves sitting on the ice cube surface (use a pastry bag). Add pea shoots and edible flowers to the yogurt.

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.

Establishment: Matteo — 77 W. 200 South, SLC
Bartender: Joel Aoyagi
Cocktail Name: The Acquaprese

Many Salt Lakers likely first met Joel Aoyagi behind the bar at Stoneground Italian Kitchen, where he elevated the bar program at an already elevated mainstay of SLC dining. This 20-year veteran of the service industry has worn many hats but is most at home behind the bar. He’s now at home running the bar program at Matteo. 

Joel likes to play with his food. “One of the things that I love about the industry is food and beverage pairing,” he says. “What I’m drinking is definitely determined by what I’m eating.” To that end, his cocktail, the Acquaprese, is a moonshot: a liquid Caprese salad.

“Caprese is a really simple dish,” he says. “There are only three ingredients. Tomatoes are abundant in the summer and I’m utilizing multiple varieties to make a tomato water. For the mozzarella element, I’m using the whey liquid from our imported Italian burrata cheese. The whey adds an awesome creamy flavor and texture. White balsamic vinegar of Modena (Matteo’s family is from Modena) gives you the perfect amount of acidic balance. Lastly, local basil brings a sweet herbaceous note to play with the spices and botanicals in Madam Pattrini Gin from Ogden’s Own Distillery

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

The Acquapres

1 oz Madame Pattrini Gin
1.5 oz tomato water (see below) 
.25 oz whey
.25 oz white balsamic vinegar
.25 oz simple syrup
3-5 basil leaves (give the leaves a firm clap in your hand before adding to the shaker) 

Combine and shake with ice, strain into a glass. Garnish with a fresh sprig of basil or basil leaves. 

Tomato water:
Cut desired tomatoes into smaller pieces. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste. Blend tomatoes to a puree with minimal chunks and push through a fine mesh strainer. 

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.

Establishment: Franklin Ave — 231 S. Edison St., SLC
Bartender: Hannah Trosclair & Katie Patrick
Cocktail Name: The Sundance Kid

Franklin Avenue’s Hannah Trosclair and Katie Patrick are a unique combo of Southern charm (Hannah, New Orleans) and Northern big city energy (Katie, Chicago). Their cocktail shows off their combined love of the Beehive State, inspired by collaboration with Alan Scott from Waterpocket Distillery.

“Alan has a lot of stories about the history of outlaws in Utah,” Katie says. “We wanted to make the most Utah cocktail we could conceive. His stories inspired me, so I used his amaro (Notom).”

Fittingly, their cocktail is called “The Sundance Kid,” after Utah’s most famous outlaw. It doesn’t get more Utah than that, but Katie went further, using local peaches, honey and tea and Alpine Distillery’s Lafayette Bourbon.

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

“I thought of everything that was Utah and put it into one drink,” Katie says. “We turn it into a highball, add soda water and then top it with a chamomile vanilla honey foam. Honestly, it’s like a dirty soda.”

So it is possible to get more Utah.

“Moving here from the Midwest and the South, we experienced Utah culture shock,” Hannah adds. “Soda shops on every corner, mysterious Mormon history, native peaches (aren’t those only in Georgia?), a rebellious counterculture, an alien desert landscape. We found all of it strange and wonderful. Our appreciation for these things has shifted from an unusual delight to a familiar comfort.”

The Sundance Kid

1.25 oz Alpine Lafayette
.75 oz Waterpocket Notom
2 oz grilled peach syrup
Topped with soda and a chamomile, honey and vanilla cocktail foam

Grilled Peach Syrup:
Blend grilled peaches with sugar and water, strain. Add lactic acid to taste.

Cocktail Foam:
Add chamomile tea, honey, vanilla, egg white, lemon and a pinch of cream of tartar into a whip cream canister, shake, charge and chill.

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.

Establishment: Harbor Seafood + Steak Co — 2302 E. Parley’s Way, SLC
Bartender: Haden Bromley & Devin Kaufusi
Cocktail Name: Birdie

Randall Curtis, the affable owner and all-around great guy you’ll find nearly every night working at Harbor Seafood + Steak, likes to do the talking, but “I brought two better-looking guys to the shoot.” The eye candy, Haden Bromley and Devin Kaufusi, are seasoned veterans at Harbor. 

“These guys know a good drink should go with food and is not going to overpower anything,” Randall says. “We want to serve something that has a punch but is also easy to drink. Our servers make the drinks for a table, so they’re interacting and learning about patrons’ tastes.”

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

To that end, behold, “Birdie.” A smooth swing into late summer, the Birdie blends Sugar House Vodka with Wasatch Blossom Utah Tart Cherry Liqueur, cherry schnapps, Utah Cherry-Sambal-Brown Sugar Syrup—shaken and crowned with a Disaronno amaretto foam. 

“It’s super tart,”  he says. “We really, really leaned into using Utah cherries. But it’s got a nice spice on the end to balance it out.”

Birdie

1.5 oz Sugar House Vodka
1 oz Wasatch Blossom Tart Cherry Liquor
.75 oz birdie syrup
Juiced lemon
Top with Disarrono cold foam

Birdie Syrup:
Cherry schnapps, muddled Utah cherries, sambal and brown sugar, strained

Disarrono Amaretto Cold Foam:
Heavy whipping cream, 2% milk, Disarrono Amaretto and a pinch of sea salt

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.

Establishment: Palomino
Bartender: Mariano Agustin Forza
Cocktail Name: Smoked Orchard

Mariano is from a place where food, fire and gathering are a way of life—Argentina. The keyword is asado, the social ritual that comes with grilling meat over an open fire. It’s a barbeque with the soul of a tango. That spirit is what Mariano wanted to bring to his cocktail, the “Smoked Orchard,” which uses local pears smoked over oak with local bourbon and a dash of ginger bitters.

Mariano is the only bartender I’ve ever met who enjoys making an espresso martini. He loves to get the foam exactly right. When you get it right, it shows and he appreciates the chance to show his work.

He also loves the creativity he has experienced since he moved to the States. “Here in America,” he ruminates, “you guys love to drink in a way that you can do whatever you can to make the customer satisfied.” Utah’s unique liquor laws have only amped up that artistry. “You are limited with alcohol and it’s making you more creative. It’s a challenge to me.”

His after-shift drink? A glass of Argentinian Malbec. And the next morning? A bowl of mate, of course.

Smoked Orchard

1.5 oz. High West bourbon
.5 oz. Amaro Nonino
1 oz. smoked pear & honey clarified cordial
.5 oz. clarified lemon juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
3 dashes of ginger bitters

Serve in a rocks glass, garnished with a dried pear slice and a piece of flash paper

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.

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.

Establishment: Melancholy — 556 Gale St., SLC
Bartender: Tay Dixon
Cocktail Name: Goat in the Garden

Tay Dixon got into bartending because when he was younger, he struggled talking to people. He figured if there was one job that would help him get over that, it would be bartending. 

That “just jump in” attitude continues to inform his work, with a cocktail that uses exotic ingredients that might give others pause—goat cheese whey, black pepper, lemon zest honey. He’s not afraid
to swing for the fences. Tay’s favorite drink to make is a sazerac, the ur-cocktail that started it all down in New Orleans. It speaks to his deep immersion into cocktail history and tradition—even though he’s only been behind the bar for two years, he’s gone into the deep end of cocktail culture, finding those old things that can be made new again. “Whatever you are doing, you should take pride in it.”

Photography by Natalie Simpson, Beehive Photography.

He takes pride in being a bartender in Utah. “We kind of have a chip on our shoulder, in a good way.” Tay’s motivated by the idea that we have something to prove. “I like that angst.”

Goat in the Garden

1.5 oz water pocket temple of the moon gin 
1 oz Fino sherry
.25 oz Cappelletti
1 oz blackberry lemon zest honey syrup
.5 oz lemon juice
Goat cheese whey
2 dashes black pepper tincture 
Shaken, double-strained, served up 

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.