My latest travels took me to a conference in Denver. I was attending BMGI’s Global Summit focusing on change and innovative strategies to deal with change. Our one night had us choose: martini bar or “best wine list in Denver.” Tough one, for sure, but with a trip to Napa Valley looming for me, I decided a cool martini bar in Denver might be more intriguing.
I was right.
From the street, The Corner Office & Martini Bar appeared as expected, a typical after work pub. An unassuming entryway leads you into a cool, backlit bar, stretching to the ceiling, stacked (seemingly mile) high with any martini ingredient you could possibly imagine.
The extensive drink menu offered unique twists to each item. The martini menu was both clever and culturally relevant with drinks inspired by the latest trends. I had an Arnold Palmer, a favorite mixture of iced tea and lemonade in the hot summers of the south and popularized by Arizona teas. But mine was spiked with sweet tea infused vodka added to the lemonade. A few colleagues chose the Hawaii 5-0 – named for the newly remade hit on CBS . This was a concoction of vanilla vodka, triple sec, lime and pineapple juice. Others opted to join the Mile High Club, vodka with an olive and a pack of peanuts. There was lots more. Cocktails such as the Dirty Shirley (cherry vodka and lime juice) and the SpeedRacer (orange vodka and Red Bull).
All of this was fun and entertaining, and seemingly well suited to wrapping up a day of talks on innovation. But all this fun came to a screeching halt when we ordered the classic Hendricks Martini. The waitress returned to inform us that the martini bar was, well, out of gin. Rather like a Dunkin’ Donuts being out of doughnuts.
We returned to the comfort of our Four Seasons hotel bar.
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