Rocky Mountain Dining, With Japanese Whisky Front and Center

Japanese whisky has a distinctly Scottish pedigree, having long been inspired and influenced by scotch whisky-making. But in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, Wood Ear Whiskey Lounge & Noodle Bar is putting a uniquely Western spin on the genre.

Telluride is one of the country’s top ski destinations, but also one of the few ski towns that stays busy and vibrant year-round, with extensive hiking and biking, plus a nonstop series of high-profile music, arts, and film festivals. Wood Ear sits right on the town’s main street, Colorado Avenue, in a historic former 19^th-century tavern that still showcases the original 1860 Brunswick bar, carved from mahogany, oak, and white tiger pine, with 12-foot French mirrors. In this Old West ambiance, owner Matthew Arnold has created a fun mashup of all things Japan, Texas, and Colorado. He spent years in the restaurant and bar trade in his native Texas before moving to Telluride in 2018 to open Wood Ear. He imports post oak from the Lone Star State to fire his large offset smoker, where he makes classic slow-smoked Texas beef brisket and pulled pork shoulders. These make up some of the most popular dishes on the menu, including the bestseller, Pork on Pork Ramen, a combo of barbecued pulled pork and braised Japanese-style pork belly (chasu), with ramen noodles, roasted corn, cabbage, soft egg, and the namesake wood ear mushrooms in a chicken and pork broth. Another can’t-miss dish is the smoked brisket nigiri: sliced strips of brisket atop vinegared rice in the form of traditional nigiri sushi, a brilliantly delicious idea that pairs very well with whiskey and seems long overdue (there’s also a beef brisket ramen).

This same multicultural approach carries over to the bar, where an impressive display of Japanese whisky sits on shelves alongside several dozen bourbons and a healthy slate of Texan whiskeys, including bottlings from Balcones and Garrison Brothers. There's also a curated list of about 20 mezcals, including several Del Maguey offerings. All spirits are offered in 1 and 2-ounce pours with a 50% discount for the larger size, so for instance, hyper-local Telluride Whiskey is $12/$18, and Del Maguey Chichicapa is $18/$27. The selection also offers several other Colorado whiskeys, including 291 Distillery from Colorado Springs and Peach Street from Palisade. The 40-plus domestic whiskeys start with Sazerac Rye ($10/$15) and run up to WhistlePig The Boss Hog VII, XI and XII, each $140/$210. It also carries a dozen Japanese and about 10 scotch and Irish expressions.

But a big focus of Wood Ear is tasting flights, especially for Japanese whiskies, some of which are highly allocated in Colorado. “When we opened, I wanted to get every Japanese whisky I could, and our spirits list got up to about 300, but we decided to stock only what we could display behind the bar, and based on what was selling, we are now down to about 200,” explains Arnold. “We also focus on cocktails and opened with over 80 house cocktails; now we are down to about 60.” His Japanese introductory flight features 3/4 ounce pours of Mars Iwai, Suntory Toki, and Nikka Coffee Malt for $34; a Nikka flight of Taketsuru, Yoichi, and Miyagikyo is $58; Suntory with Yamazaki Reserve, Hakushu Reserve, and Hibiki Harmony is $96. The top-of-the-line offering is the “High Roller Flight,” with Nikka 21, Hakushu 21, and Yamazaki 18 for $300. There are also flights of Colorado’s 291, Michter’s, Balcones, and Jefferson.

Despite a multi-page cocktail list, the bestseller is the Wood Ear Old Fashioned ($18), accounting for about 15% of all drink orders. It uses Basil Hayden bourbon, house-smoked orange bitters, brown sugar, and a grind of black pepper, topped with a cherry, for an experience Arnold describes as evocative of a “wood-burning stove in a cabin in the woods.” Other interesting whiskey cocktails include the Samurai Sword, their take on a Penicillin (Mars Iwai 45 whisky, lemon, honey, and ginger, $22), and the Palisade Sour (Peach Street bourbon, egg white, lemon, simple syrup, and red wine, $22). The offbeat fusion approach is a refreshing change from Telluride’s many Old West saloons, but Wood Ear’s ultra-creative cuisine and interesting bar menu would stand out in just about any location.