Peyton Manning Brings His Talents to Colorado (Again)

Sweetens Cove Bourbon is Not Your Average Celebrity Spirit

By Jay McKinney

When Peyton Manning announced he would be signing with the Broncos in 2012, it sent a wave of enthusiasm across the state and rejuvenated the team’s loyal fan base. But since his reign of excellence on the football field has ended, Manning has found a new way to dominate with his recent venture into the bourbon industry.

With the first release sold in only Tennessee and Georgia, Sweetens Cove bourbon is now available in Colorado, and it is more than just another trendy celebrity spirit. It’s won over Manning fans and bourbon aficionados alike, with renowned distiller Marianne Eaves appointed as the master blender. Aside from being a tasty libation, the interesting story of how the bourbon came to be sets it apart from Manning’s other mainstream endorsements.

It started at Sweetens Cove Golf Club, a dinky nine-hole public course outside of Chattanooga, Tenn. Despite lacking a lavish clubhouse or even a paved parking lot, the humble property has amassed a cult following and lured a notable team to purchase the course. The ownership group includes Manning and tennis great Andy Roddick, who both fell in love with this hidden gem. 

So, what makes this discrete golf course so legendary that it inspired a $200 bottle of bourbon? Tradition. One that even resonated with Manning, who is a self-proclaimed beer drinker and does not pretend to be a connoisseur of bourbon, despite this new partnership.  

“This tradition was kind of going on and it just sort of started organically. Before people were doing their first golf shot at Sweetens Cove, they were doing a shot of whiskey on the first tee and leaving the bottle,” Manning says. The bottles would be left for other groups to enjoy or even the maintenance staff, and they began to pile up quickly through this pay-it-forward tradition.

With this pre-shot routine, the idea was born to create a bourbon that paid homage to the golf course that so many have fallen in love with. And while the tradition will surely live on at the golf course, those who purchase a bottle of Sweetens Cove will likely want to keep it for their personal bars rather than gift it to someone else after a few shots.

Photo Credit: From the Hip Photo

The first release in 2020 was a limited edition of about 14,000 bottles sourced from 100 barrels in Kentucky, and blended by Eaves. The 2021 release will be more accessible as it makes its way into other states, but it is still a premium product blended from bourbons aged 4, 6 and 16 years.

“My hope for Sweetens Cove, the ultra, hyper-premium product is that it creates a new experience every time you taste it,” Eaves says. “It’s layered, you know lots of nuances and complexities and hopefully you’re getting a little bit of everything that we love about bourbon. A lot of people talk about the pieces of the pie, the sweet aromatics, the fruit and floral, the oak characteristics, the grain characteristics, so I want all of those to be present in the product that we present.”

The high-quality, limited quantity bourbon is different from typical spirits endorsed by celebrities, making it nearly impossible for critics to write off.

“I thought football critics were tough, but bourbon critics are really tough,” Manning jokes. “The people that really know it seem to like it.”

Despite his dedication to drinking beer, it is clear that Manning is proud of this product. The former Tennessee Volunteer loves the parallel between the hidden treasure of Sweetens Cove Golf Club and Sweetens Cove bourbon, which isn’t mass-produced and requires some diligent searching to acquire. 

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.

Ron Miles Stays on the Beat

Denver Jazz Icon Continues to Compose Music While Inspiring the Next Generation

By Jay McKinney

If you’re not well versed in contemporary jazz, it may come as a surprise to find out that Denver is home to one of the genre’s heavy hitters. Ron Miles is a cornetist, trumpeter and composer who is as modest as the day is long, despite his career achievements. He’s quick to give credit to his fellow bandmates and his kind, soft-spoken demeanor makes him seem like a character out of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Miles has lived in Denver since he moved from Indiana with his family when he was 11. Since then, he has established himself as a prominent figure in jazz, as well as the Denver community.

Miles developed an interest in jazz when he was in middle school and instrumental music was still a major part of the culture. In his youth, musicians like Maynard Ferguson and Chuck Mangione could be heard on the radio and helped foster his love of the genre. His parents also spoke of the monumental impact that legends such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald had on the culture and this laid the groundwork for him to become a jazz master.  

His preferred instrument is the often-overlooked cornet, which is related to the trumpet but provides a mellower tone. “The cornet lets me sit in the texture of the band,” Miles says. “The cornet originally was the jazz instrument. But when Louis (Armstrong) switched to trumpet, basically everyone switched as he is the most important figure in the music.” 

Miles says there have been some notable cornetists since Armstrong’s decision to switch, with some of his personal influences being Don Cherry, Olu Dara, Ruby Braff and Thad Jones. 

Listen to Miles’ latest album, “Rainbow Sign,” released in October 2020, and get a true sense of what the cornet can bring to a jazz ensemble. Recorded with fellow musicians Bill Frisell (guitar), Jason Moran (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Brian Blade (drums), the album has been critically successful and contains elements of pop and blues in addition to jazz. 

Miles admits he was an unabashed jazz and classical snob, but the influence of pop music found in Rainbow Sign has been profound. “In my heart there was always a love for pop music, and once I let that influence resonate, my music started to sing,” Miles says. Some of his pop music influences include artists such as Prince, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Bee Gees and Public Enemy. 

““It’s lucky for us to have someone who’s such a world-class, innovative musician like that here in Denver. Just the fact that he’s been able to build this international career from this home base in Denver has always been something really kind of unique and cool about Ron’s career.””

— jazz trumpeter Shane Endsley

When Miles isn’t composing and performing his own music, he shares his love of jazz with younger generations as a teacher at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where he has taught for nearly 30 years. 

One of his colleagues at Metro, fellow jazz trumpet player Shane Endsley, describes Miles as an incredibly important inspiration and mentor. 

Endsley has been at Metro for just five years but he has known Miles his entire life. Endsley’s father was a professional trumpet player, music publisher and instrument maker who would collaborate with Miles frequently.

When Endsley started falling in love with jazz in high school, he took advantage of the family connection and started informally studying under Miles by going over to his house whenever he could. In addition, Endsley would often check out his gigs, noting that he was more active playing live music in those days. 

Now that Endsley teaches jazz at the same university with Miles, one might say their relationship has come full circle. “I think a really thoughtful teacher is someone who is always looking to develop the personal voice of their student,” Endsley says. “I just always get the sense with him that he’s just really trying to open up creativity and inspiration for the person he’s working with, and also of course, imparting the important technical and fundamental information.”

As expected, Endsley is encouraged by Miles’ teaching style and implements that same approach in his own career as a teacher. And while his inspiration among Metro students is undeniable, Endsley says Miles is also an inspiration to Denver musicians in general. 

“It’s lucky for us to have someone who’s such a world-class, innovative musician like that here in Denver,” Endsley says. “Just the fact that he’s been able to build this international career from this home base in Denver has always been something really kind of unique and cool about Ron’s career.”

When asked about his own mentors as a young musician, Miles mentioned Jerry Noonan, Neil Bridge, Dave Caffey, Ron Jolly, Fred Hess, Bruno Carr, Bruce Odland and many others as people he met in Denver before turning 20 who helped shape his career.

“The biggest common denominator is they all saw potential in me and gave me a chance without expecting anything in return,” Miles says. “Beyond that I love and respect this art form and try my darnedest to get as good as I could. Outside of my biological family, the Lord has made music, musicians and music lovers the shepherds for my life.”

That potential guided him to the Duke Performance Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Village Vanguard in New York City, two of his favorite venues. Closer to home, he cites Old Main on the CU Boulder campus as his favorite venue in Colorado.

In a city like Denver, with no particular musical identity, it can be difficult for up-and-coming musicians to attain success. Miles has established himself as a prominent figure in jazz, but he acknowledges the challenges the city can pose. He says, “It’s really hard to make music in a vacuum here. You are going to be exposed to different styles and traditions and if you welcome and respect that variety, you can be happy. Fight it and you will be frustrated.” 

He says the greatest musicians from here embody that respect of musical variety with Bill Frisell and Rudy Royston immediately coming to mind.  

Given Miles’ prestigious career, one could envision him living somewhere like New Orleans, playing in esteemed nightclubs late into the night. But there’s no place like home, and Denver is home to Miles. “My family is here,” he says. “This is the community that has supported and guided me.”

Unfortunately, the restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic kept Miles from playing his latest music live, but as things return to normal, be on the lookout for one of his performances. 

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.

Peachy in Palisade — the history of Colorado's most alluring fruit

The famed Western Slope orchards have been growing for more than a century

By Steve Graham

It all started with a letter to an Iowa farmer. Talbott’s Farm grows some of Colorado’s most coveted fruit, and crafts plenty of hard cider and wine. And the whole operation began 114 years ago with a letter.

Before TV advertising and Facebook campaigns, land developers on the Western Slope tried to attract buyers by sending letters directly to Iowa farmers. Joseph Evan Yeager was one of those grain farmers, attracted by the promise of better weather and rich alluvial soils.

He was among a wave of rural Iowans who settled in the Grand Valley. Yeager’s 5th generation descendent Bruce Talbott said at least half of the Palisade population was originally from Iowa, inspiring an Iowa Street in town, and Iowa Day celebrations in Grand Junction in the early 1900s.

Yeager moved to Palisade and started growing peaches and other fruit in 1907. The Talbott family married into the Yeager family and more than a century later, the family now oversees a 550-acre operation that includes the Talbott’s Mountain Gold orchards and wine vineyards, as well as Talbott’s Cider Company, Centennial Cellars wines, and a popular line of sweet ciders and juices.

Talbott’s has the largest orchards in the area, and is known for supporting and helping other Mesa County businesses.

“The Talbott family are icons in the Palisade area,” said Julia Durmaj, acting director of the Palisade Chamber of Commerce. “Not only have they been farming here for over 100 years but they have been a predominant influence to so many other farmers in the area, always willing to give a ‘hand up’ to those who need advice about their crops.”

Yeager’s great great grandson Harry Talbott is credited with building both the family business and the larger Palisade peach industry. He died earlier this year, and his sons and grandsons now help run the business. 

The Grand Valley is known for an ideal combination of climate and soil conditions, resulting in large, sweet and flavorful fruit. Talbott’s Mountain Gold was once primarily an apple farm, but it is now best known for piles of peaches every August.

“The peach industry is our sweetheart,” Bruce said. “It’s what allows us to do the other things we do.”

In the mid-20th Century, Colorado peach farmers were mostly supplying a large population of home canners. 

“People back then had big gardens,” Bruce said. “They were already canning tomatoes and sweet corn and pickles and whatever else. Peaches were just one more thing that they canned.” 

He said home canning started to phase out in the 1970s, when Del Monte and other large companies started selling really cheap canned fruit. The Talbotts’ business took a hit, but by the 1980s, they started selling fresh peaches directly to supermarkets in the region.

Now, Talbott’s grows enough peaches to drive them over the Continental Divide every day and stock pop-up peach stands along the Front Range and in neighboring states.

“We try to keep an endless parade of peaches headed into the system,” Bruce said.

Talbott’s now grows 35 varieties, and sells ripe peaches from July 1 to Oct. 1. Last year, only 15 percent of the peach harvest survived a cold and late spring. Bruce expects about 80 percent of the peach harvest to make it to stores and farm stands this year. 

Talbott’s orchards used to be 90-percent apples, but consolidation and industry changes have moved nearly all domestic apple production to the Pacific Northwest. 

In 1983, Bruce started pressing apples and making sweet cider. 

“We were trying to find something to do with our off-grade (apples),” Bruce said.

Now Talbott’s grows no apples, but still makes plenty of cider — both sweet and hard.

Harry’s grandson Charles Talbott turned his interest in home brewing into a new Talbott’s venture in 2015. He is the director of operations for Talbott’s Cider Company. It is one of the state’s most recognizable hard cider brands, even though Washington and Oregon apples comprise most of the cider.

In 2019, the family launched the Centennial Cellars wine brand. Charles said it has been hard to compete on crowded bottled wine shelves, but he jumped on the canned wine bandwagon in May. 

Following in the footsteps of Denver trailblazer Infinite Monkey Theorem, the company is now focusing on a variety of 375 ml wine cans, and only bottling special reserve wines. He said he is hoping to help boost the reputation of Colorado wines.

“I’m starting to have a little more confidence that in the next 20 years, the Colorado wine industry is going to be pretty big. I think we are putting ourselves on the map,” Charles said.

The wine and cider is available in the Talbott’s taproom on a hill overlooking Palisade. The taproom also hosts guest wines and ciders, and has a small market that sells a wide variety of local produce and other Colorado products.

“We really focus on collaboration,” Charles said. “We want the entire industry working together, and that will raise everyone’s boat.”

Steve Graham is a freelance writer and former newspaper editor who takes his two boys biking, hiking and brewery-hopping in northern Colorado.