The Mad Rose brings craft cocktails to downtown

Article originally published as “The Mad Rose brings craft cocktails to downtown Rutland” by Janelle Faignant

July 25, 2023

Rutland Herald

Last Friday, Brooke Lipman, 43, of Rutland, was working on getting outdoor seating set up, signing off on a delivery and offering samples of some of the unique nonalcoholic spirits her new craft cocktail lounge specializes in.

Lipman’s day is twice as busy now, going back and forth between Center Street Alley, which she’s owned for the past 10 years, and her new cocktail lounge, The Mad Rose, just a few doors away at 42 Center St. The prime Center Street space has played host to several bars through the years, including Griffin’s Publick House, Downtown Tavern and, most recently, Medusa Lounge.

“My LLC has been Mad Rose for 12 years, and I was going to use it at the Alley but felt like I should keep the name there because it changed so many times over the years,” she said. “(But) my name for my dream business was Mad Rose, for Madeline.”

Named for her teenage daughter who is not quite old enough to drink, “She does like to come in and have a mocktail,” Lipman said. “I make her something she really likes, this strawberry-honey-lemon juice soda water.”

Draft beer, cans and bottles, a big wine list and champagne are on the menu, as well as specially crafted cocktails that can be made with or without spirits.

“A lot of it is mocktails that I made myself at home that I knew I could add alcohol to,” Lipman said.

Made with freshly squeezed juice made daily in house, Lipman also makes all the dehydrated fruit, bitters and syrups.

“From here I need to go back to the grocery store because I forgot stuff, like I do,” she laughed. “And then I have to make blackberry-thyme syrup and juice a bunch of fruit. A lot, a lot of fruit. The other day, I went through like 25 pounds of lemons.”

She hired a craft bar consultant who had created drink menus for reputable restaurants, including one in Woodstock.

“One thing he’s working on right now is a milk punch,” Lipman said, “which is with apple brandy, Ancho Reyes Chile liqueur, raspberry simple syrup and lemon juice, and what you do is put it all together, add milk, and then let it sit. The milk separates and then you strain it and do another separation and strain it again, so it’s smooth, it doesn’t taste strong. That’s going to be on special this weekend.”

“The big thing is embracing the spirit and not masking it with a bunch of sugar,” she said.

The nonalcoholic spirit she uses is called Seedlip, in two flavors, Garden, which is cucumber and ginger flavored, and Grove, a citrus flavor.

“It’s as expensive as a bottle of Jameson, but it’s worth it,” she says. “Instead of being distilled, the flavors are extracted. There’s no alcohol and it doesn’t taste like alcohol but it enhances the flavor of the drinks.”

“That one would go in something like a margarita-type drink,” she says about the citrus. “This one goes in my favorite, which is the Unencumbered, it’s cucumber and ginger. I like things that taste like a garden in a glass.”

The Diligent Gnome, which sells for $16, starts with vodka or gin, and adds dill and snap pea vermouth, tomato water and dirty brine. The Bramble Rose ($14) takes blackberries drizzled with in-house honey syrup, muddled with mint and lemon and mixes with Espolon blanco tequila. Everything on the cocktail menu with a mortar and pestle symbol can be made nonalcoholic, but most of the menu is adaptable to that as well.

“The drinks do take longer here,” Lipman says. “They’re not quick, like a rum and coke. There’s different steps to how they build it and how long they have to stir or shake something. So the drinks do take longer, but the quality’s there.”

“If you were to come in here on a Tuesday and get a drink from somebody, I want it to taste the exact same if you were to come back that Saturday and get it from a different person,” she said. “My main thing here is consistency. Every single thing has measurements so when you walk in you know what you’re going to get.”

The walls inside the bar are a rich, dark green with damask wallpaper, accented with fun black-and-white prohibition-type photos Lipman found on Etsy. Low 1950s-style music and a leather and marble bar round out the atmosphere, with fresh ice water in a spa-style water dispenser at one corner, facing patrons.

“I want it so you come in, and it’s warm, it’s welcoming,” Lipman said. “I want this to be a place where people come after work, have a drink with a friend, music’s never going to be too loud, people aren’t rowdy, it’s not that kind of a space. Or before you go to dinner, or after you go to dinner. And if you’re the designated driver, you can come in with your friends and they can have a drink and you’re offered something in a beautiful glass.”

Trivia night is every Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m., and future plans include an espresso machine, a Roaring ’20s party, and food.

“I am still looking for somebody in the kitchen,” she said. “There’s a great kitchen.”

“Small plates, I don’t want to deep-fry stuff,” Lipman said. “The cocktail menu’s going to be seasonal so I do want the kitchen to be seasonal as well. I’m thinking whipped feta with fresh vegetables. Maybe meat at some point, but cheese plates and fresh, clean food. I like things that are slightly larger so if you’re with a friend you can get a couple different things and try it all.”

“At the Alley, I have a DJ and people dance and have a good time, but for in here, I want to attract that 30-plus that doesn’t have a place to go,” she said. “Remember, everybody would go to Sabby’s? There hasn’t been anything like that since they closed. So hopefully people will come in here and experience it.”

The Mad Rose is open Wednesday and Thursday 4-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4 p.m.-midnight, and Sunday 4-10 p.m.