Top of the Town 2012

The Steuben’s cocktail menu may look old school, but the list is actually an incubator for the very modern concoctions floating around in bar manager Randy Layman’s head. Working behind the dark-wood bar, Layman takes old ideas and makes them new. To wit: He’ll barrel-age a cocktail, much like you’d do with whiskey, to achieve a smoky taste. Layman has spent most of his career slinging drinks in the Uptown neighborhood (he was a server at the Avenue Grill until a manager stuck him behind the bar for a shift in 2004). He is trained in traditional spirit-mixing (his martini is one of the best in town), but we strongly suggest sitting at a barstool and asking him to make whatever he’s digging that day; you’d be surprised how he can morph an old-fashioned cocktail into something that is oh-so-right for today. 523 E. 17th Ave., 303-830-1001, steubens.com