Would you care for some clay with your cocktail? Absolutely, if you’re at Santa Fe’s new Tumbleroot Pottery Pub, where you can sip craft beer and artisanal cocktails from handcrafted ceramic vessels, while making your own masterpiece out of clay.
Raise a Glass and Shape Some Clay at Tumbleroot Pottery Pub
This unique hands-on experience was concocted by Angela Kirkman, who owns Paseo Pottery. It is a ceramic studio and gallery founded in 1991 by Kirkman, and her husband Jason Kirkman. Her husband also co-owns Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery‘s master brewer and distiller.
“It’s actually an idea that’s been hatching for 30 years,” Angela says. “Jason and I met in college and I started making pottery and he started brewing. We always dreamed of having a place where we could work together. We drink everything at our house out of pottery so we thought about serving everything out of pottery.”
Tumbleroot stocks the pub’s bar with its award-winning craft beer and spirits. It blends with a community pottery studio filled with work tables, shelves of plates, vessels and other ceramics. All ceramics are handmade by local Santa Fe artists and are available to purchase.
Artisan Spirits, Handcrafted Vessels and Help Along the Way
Begin at the bar and order a beverage—maybe an Olmec Old Fashioned with mole bitters. Try a Mexican spice or a Bees Knees with flamed rosemary sprigs, served in beautiful vessels specifically designed for each beverage. Next, get your pound of clay (it’s self-drying so you can take your piece with you when you leave).
Have fun shaping your own creation, or take part in the monthly themed contests like their past iterations of Mad Hatter Tea Party, Ice Cream, and Sculpt a Person in the Room. At the end of each month, the bartenders compare photos of the clay contenders. Then, they choose the winner, who receives a set of ceramic whiskey sippers. Help is always at hand. “We walk around to see if people want any guidance or advice and teach them how to use the tools and slips,” says Angela.
Angela loves sharing her passion for clay with the pottery pub’s guests. She also wants to “watch other people touch clay for the first time, and see that spark in their eye,” she says. “Clay has been a passion throughout my life and it’s been really amazing to share it with people.”
Story by Lynn Cline
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