I first met Shae about a year ago. Luke and I were en route back to Montana after a wedding weekend and stuck in the Sunday night rat race to Denver. I was eager to detour and recalled DRAM Apothecary as we passed a road sign reminder for Silver Plume. Anxious for a cocktail, we crossed our fingers in hope shop doors were open on a quite Sunday evening in a ghost like Colorado town.
Shae is the perfect combination of modern and vintage and her style is deeply reflected in her work at the Bread Bar, home of DRAM Apothecary. If not at shop, Shae is foraging for wild Colorado herbs for her craft bitters, syrups and teas.
Shae’s bitters are crafted using wild or organic botanical ingredients such as herbs, bark, roots, and/or fruit sought after for their flavor and medicinal properties. Bitters are known to help alleviate environmental and food allergies, upset stomachs, chronic IBS, skin problems, sooth and repair essential organs, and the list goes on. The simple and timeless labels for DRAM bitters include the ailments the bitters are said to cure. The Chamomile bitters are really good for allergies; and the Hair of a Dog is known to ease the ailments caused by an overindulgence of a good time. She has worked hard to bridge the gap between the earth and what we put in our bodies while maintaining a pure taste equally pleasing to tea and cocktail drinkers alike. Healthy living and tasty cocktails are equally important to Shae. It’s common for Shae to start her day with a cup of tea and end the day with a cocktail in hand, all enhanced with DRAM bitters!
Her organic handcrafted products can be found here for purchase if you are not lucky enough to win one of the five giveaways throughout the month.
This week we are giving away your choice of a syrup (Pine) or bitters (Black, Citrus Medica, Wild Mountain Sage, or Hair of the Dog). To enter the giveaway, tell us in the comments: What is your secret ingredient to healthy living? We’ll pick a winner by Monday October 13th.
1. What’s your story and your training?
I have a degree in Food Science, Ecological Agriculture and Botany from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. I’m completely self-trained in the making of bitters and I come up with all of the recipes myself, the most important part of this process is the understanding of flavor and palate.
2. What is your earliest memory of foraging?
My aunt had a Wild Rose bush in her front yard when I was a child. I spent a lot of time at her home and I would gather the flowers in the summer and stuff them into a little juice bottle, cover it with water and call it perfume.
3. DRAM, how did the name and imaging derive?
A Dram is a measurement used in the ancient apothecaries system. It is an 1/8 of an ounce which is roughly how much bitters you add to a drink. All of the imaging and design was done by me and my partner, Brady Becker.
4. Why Silver Plume?
Brady and I are both natives to Colorado but had blown past the Silver Plume exit at least 100 times in our lives. One winter day we decided to pull over and we were completely enchanted by the quaint and spooky historic town. We were both really surprised that it sits so close to Denver, yet seems completely untouched by time and we just fell in love with the place.
5. What is the history behind the Bread Bar?
In the late 1800’s it housed the Sopp and Truscott Mining Supply store which was then transformed into a bakery in the 1970’s. When we bought the place it was still a functioning (barely) bakery and we decided to make it the headquarters for DRAM.
6. How can you best describe your style?
Modern with a touch of antique whimsy.
7. Where do you shop?
Shopping is not something I enjoy, that being said I do most of my shopping online. For clothing I’ll frequent vintage and secondhand stores. The only time I enjoy shopping is when I’m out of town, and then it’s more like exploring.
8. What’s playing in the Bread Bar?
Hank Williams, Lee Hazelwood, The Grateful Dead, Kurt Vile, Diane Cluck, it really depends on the day.
9. Where is your favorite place in Colorado?
I love Pine, Ouray, Central City (minus casinos), Creede.
Where is your favorite place outside of Colorado?
I’m a really big fan of the PNW and would probably move back there if my business wasn’t heavily Colorado based.
10. What is your favorite season to forage?
Summer.
11. What are your essentials for foraging?
Mineral sunscreen from Eminence, bug repellant from R.L. Linden, foraging knife, handkerchief, *good* boots, my foraging basket backpack and my mushroom ID guide.
12. What plant is the hardest to find? Identify? Or how about the rarest and most plentiful?
It depends on the season. For our concoctions that we sell we try to work with plants that can be found in great abundance almost anywhere in the Rockies like mountain sage, juniper, rose, pine, chamomile, nettles. We are both avid mushroom hunters and that can be much more challenging, spending the whole day looking for Chanterelles and coming home empty handed can really break you down!
13. Have you ever had a bad foraging experience? Allergic, Poisonous, Animals, Etc.
I’m severely allergic to the sage that we make our bitters out of, especially when the flowers are full of pollen. I have to wear long sleeves and pants, gloves and a mask. Sometimes I think I’ll be okay and I just tromp out to get some sage and it’s always a terrible rest of the day for me.
Outside of Boulder we’ve come across a few underground beehives which is rare but real! Brady is deathly allergic to bees and it’s always been scary to realize we’re standing on top of their home.
14. What is your advice to a novice forager?
Invest in a guide that’s specific to your area and read the entire thing before heading out. Don’t pick anything questionable and stay away from Wild Carrot as it’s a common lookalike of deadly Hemlock.
15. What is your favorite type of flower?
I love mountain poppies, roses and sego lilies.
16. What is your favorite DRAM product?
Black Bitters or Pine Syrup.
17. What inspires you and your cocktail combinations?
People, places, memories, songs, movies, food recipes.
18. What is your favorite DRAM cocktail and will you share the recipe?
I love the Citrine, I’m a big tequila fan and I also love spicy foods so it’s right up my alley.
The Citrine
1 1/2 oz good tequila
1 oz chokecherry juice, or tart black cherry juice (pure with no flavors or crap)
1/2 oz The Decc Citrus Clove Liqueur (made in CO)
1/4 oz grapefruit juice
pinch of cayenne pepper
few shakes Citrus Medica Bitters
19. Can you think of a fruit, spice, bitters, liqueur, (you get the picture) that seems to reappear in your cocktails? An essential ingredient for crafting cocktails, per se.
Grapefruit juice- I really appreciate the balance it offers between bitter and sour
Roses- I always have a bottle of Rose Hydrosol around, it makes the most drab things magical
Pine Syrup- the flavor profile works with any alcohol base or it can be used as a general sweetener without compromising the flavors of the dish or drink.
Black Walnut Liqueur (Nocino) lends a bit a sweetness without overpowering.
I hate St. Germain, we don’t use it in the bar. It’s synthetically flavored and colored and I think it’s complete trash.
