BEST GIFTS FOR A COLORADO FOODIE

Check out the top 10 presents that you can get for a foodie this holiday season and support local businesses at the same time.

So you didn’t get any Palisade peach jam or sour cherry chutney made last summer. No biggie: You can still delight the foodies on your holiday gift list and support your favorite square state. Here’s a quick list of our favorite boozy, sweet, salty, decadent and delicious ways to show someone your love.

CopperMuse Amaretto liqueur

(about $20; stores at coppermuse.com). This Fort Collins microdistillery has a dining room and short tours of its small operation. Enjoy a decadent cocktail, a tour and dinner or a few flights. CopperMuse specializes in infused vodka, but it’s the amaretto that would be our first pick to wrap and put under the tree. But if amaretto and vodka aren’t your passion, there are dozens of other micro- distilleries in Colorado. Many offer tours that include a cocktail, tasting flights, bottles to take home or some combination. Check out their websites or Groupon.com before your visit to score a deal. (If you’re seeking something for the designated driver or non-imbiber on your list, try Rocky Mountain Soda. Choose between Colorado flavors such as Pikes Peak Prickly Pear and Buena Vista Black Cherry — or pick up an assorted 12-pack for $18. We’re particularly partial to the Golden Ginger Beer’s earthy sting. Rockymountain-

soda.com) Pappardelle’s pasta (pappardellespasta.com). This mainstay of many Denver-area farmers’ markets rolls out 86 different flavors of dried pasta as well as olive oil and balsamic vinegars plus frozen stuffed pasta and pasta sauces. The company also makes some of the best-tasting, best-texture gluten-free pasta I have ever boiled. Try the lemon pepper spirals (9 ounces, $7.25 for 9 ounces) or the porcini mushroom trumpets ($7.50). Flavored salt from Savory Spice Shop (savoryspiceshop.com). In its seven Colorado stores up and down the Front Range, Savory lets you smell and taste until all the scents and tastes are a delicious, confusing swirl. Once that happens, refocus on the can’t-miss gift: flavored salt. The alderwood smoked version packs the smoke wallop you need for potatocheese soup or heirloom tomatoes; there’s a salt smoked over old chardonnay wine barrels that’s more subtle. For the people you really like, drop $24.99 for a jar of Italian black truffle salt — super tasty on popcorn, potatoes or deviled eggs. If you have a movie lover on your list, throw in a jar of powdered cheese as well. (Should your giftee be into curry or baking or mole or barbecue, you’re also in the right place.)

MouCo Cheese (mouco.com). These divine, creamy little rounds of cheese are just the thing for an afternoon open house, or for sitting in a sunny window with a book and a glass of red wine, the fire roaring nearby and all the pesky houseguests gone. MouCo’s new Pepbert, spiked with citrusy green peppercorns, just won a silver award at the 2017 United States Cheese Championships. Truffello is what you’d expect, a truffleflavored creamy delight; and Fetish is a brined and salty cheese. Available at King Soopers, Whole Foods and other grocers; $6 to $8. Dinner at Frasca Food and Wine (frascafoodandwine.com). The Boulder restaurant that Za- gat calls “sublime in every way” is a national institution. With 200 wines on the menu, and fixed-price meals ranging from $55 (for a recent Monday night tasting menu) to $115 for a fourcourse extravaganza (add a wine flight to that list for $98), this gift will be a true celebration. Just a peek at the dessert menu tells you the level of attention and innovation you’ll find. Gift cards available, and needless to say, make reservations. (1738 Pearl St., Boulder; 303-442-6966; reserve online) Breakfast at Racine’s (racinesrestaurant.com). Send that horde of houseguests on their way with breakfast at a big booth here, where the menu can please everyone from cranky kids to the crazy aunt you just had that political argument with.

For the really cranky, there’s the pepper vodka Bloody Mary. Warning: You might find out you actually like them again. (650 Sherman St.; 303-595-0418)

Lunch at the Berkshire in Stapleton (theberkshirerestaurant.com). This is where you take the bacon fanatic in your life — and we all have one. I mean, honestly, there’s a dish called Bacon Wrapped Bacon. There’s a Bacon Flight. And there’s a Hangover Special that consists of a plate of bacon and a Pabst’s Blue Ribbon Beer. Ham and pork chops soothe not just savage football losers, but anyone who got dumped over the holidays. (7352 E. 29th Ave.; 303-321-4010; reserve for dinner, but not needed for lunch) Afternoon tea at the Brown Palace (brownpalace.com). You’ll definitely need reservations for this one, and you might have to push the schedule back to Valentine’s Day. But one indulgence will make you want to create a tradition. The Brown makes afternoon tea special with not just the décor, but your choice of black or green tea along with scones, Devonshire cream flown in from England, finger sandwiches and pastries. The basic version sets you back $40 and it goes up from there; you can add a tour of the historic Denver hotel for $15 (unless you’re staying there, which means the tour is free. Custom tours can be booked for up to 20 people for $60). Hatch green chiles in the can. Seriously. Benighted Colorado ex-pats in places like North Carolina or Rhode Island don’t have chile roasters firing up on every other street corner from midsummer through October, and they often can’t find these signature yellow and green cans in their own local grocers. So help them at least approximate the taste of home. We remain convinced that Hatch green chiles ward off the common cold; they certainly ward off the common bland. At many local grocers; prices vary. Buckner Family Farms (bucknerfamilyfarm.com). Take it from one of their neighbors who watches the family’s sheep, cattle and Berkshire hogs being raised: This is Colorado-proud meat. The shorthorn cattle are 100 percent grass-fed and all the animals are raised on pasture right off Nelson Road in Boulder County. Clint and Mary Kay Buckner have been selling to Boulder chefs for years; products from ground meat to chops and racks to sausages to a whole hog are available. Like the man in my favorite liquor store, your giftee will be able boast that they had Szechuan lamb for their holiday dinner instead of turkey or ham. (720-474-5398)

CopperMuse’s Amaretto liqueur could unleash your loved one’s inner mixologist — or you could just sip it yourself in the quiet after you wrestle with those decorations.

Photos by Susan Clotfelter, Special to The Denver Post Dried pasta may not seem luxurious, but that’s because you haven’t tasted Pappardelle’s gluten-free versions.

MouCo’s luxurious edible-rind cheeses, including the Ashley and Truffello varieties, easily star in a gift basket.

Truffle salt and cheese powders from Savory Spice — perhaps plus a selected Blu-Ray disc or two — will keep the movie lover on your gift list happy.

Daily Camera file With 200 wines on the menu, and fixed-price meals ranging from $55 (for a recent Monday night tasting menu) to $115 for a four-course extravaganza (add a wine flight to that list for $98), dinner at Frasca in Boulder will be a true celebration.

Denver Post file The Brown Palace makes afternoon tea special with not just the décor, but also your choice of black or green tea along with scones, Devonshire cream flown in from England, finger sandwiches and pastries.

Provided by Steve Crecelius, Racines Send that horde of houseguests on their way with breakfast at a big booth at Racine’s, where the menu can please everyone.