For more than eight years, Montanya Distillers has been juicing up a variety of incredibly fresh fruits, citrus and ginger for our cocktail program. We bottle and sell these ingredients for our customers to take home, so they can enjoy what we offer at home. So it only makes sense that we would launch a morning Juice Bar, especially since we can use what we make in fresh cocktails each day.

This idea came to be because Karen Hoskin, Owner and President of Montanya Distillers, was spending a lot of time on the road selling Montanya Rum all over the country. It was hard to get enough fresh organic and local vegetables in restaurants and hotel kitchens. So Karen began searching out the juice bars that had started to crop up on corners in cities like Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta. The habit became part of her daily travel regimen to stay healthy, boost her immune system while traveling, and keep her energy up for long days of work with sales reps.

When back at her home town in Crested Butte, Hoskin couldn't escape the craving for the juices she'd found on the road. Since Montanya Distillers has a commercial kitchen, a retail food license, a wholesale food supplier, and all the necessary permits for operating a small business, all she needed to add was a commercial juicer, loads and loads of fresh organic produce, some staff time and some bottles. Hoskin partnered with local smoothie maven Katie Franzman, who was already well known in Crested Butte for her amazing coffees, smoothies, and general commitment to making everything with exceptional care.

JUICED FRESH makes your juice fresh to order Monday - Friday from 8-11 am on the patio at Montanya Distillers. We offer a rotating selection of organic and local produce such as kale, spinach, fennel, green apple, mint, turmeric, ginger, citrus, beet and beet greens, jalapeño, cucumber, carrot, and more. Bottled juices will be available while supplies last at Montanya Distillers until 9pm daily, in our retail fridge. lf you bring your own cup or enjoy it one of our glasses, you get $1 off. If you take a bottled juice and bring the bottle back next time, we'll give you $1 back.

We will be bottling these juices with rum to create our own custom bottled cocktails. This week's creation is called The Fresh Squeeze - green apple, lemon, ginger and Montanya Platino Rum. It is incredibly delicious. Bottled cocktails will only be available to consume at our Tasting Room in Crested Butte. But any day of the week, you can buy a bottle of rum and a fresh bottled juice and make your own combo here or at home!

Fresh organic juices are not cheap. We offer 4 oz. for $5.50, 8 oz. for $7.50, 16 oz. for $10.50, and 32 oz. for $18.50. Each juice has a big bowl full of vegetables and fruits in it. Make these juices with all organic and local ingredients, add in the cost of a bottle, a person to fresh juice it for you, and that's just what it costs. We don't have any desire to skimp on ingredients or cut our juice with a lot of water, and we know our customers appreciate the quality. We also know it costs a lot to make these juices at home, so hopefully we are making it easier. It is kind of like our cocktail approach. When you buy something cheap, you often get what you pay for. We like the idea of making something delicious for you, so you can relax a little longer.

The health benefits of fresh juice are incredible and immediate. Getting all the vegetables you need in your diet, especially when you are busy, is really hard to do. Juicing makes it easier for your body to extract the nutrition from vegetables and fruits. Here is a link to an article about all the many health benefits of juicing, including cancer prevention and treatment, inflammation reduction, immune system boosting, recovery after athletics, skin improvements, and even (although we don't care much about this) weight loss. We have worked hard to learn all of the many different veggies and fruits, in which combinations, provide the best health benefits, and we pair them up for you.

Come by and check it out!