One ring, two bars 🍽

Allusion Speakeasy reboots and expands Lord of the Rings theme

Cocktails under a Balrog: an experience unique to Allusion Speakeasy’s east location inside Wobbly Olive. Photos by Matthew Schniper.

When else will I get to kick off a writeup with a photo of a monster?

Or, perhaps a better question: When else will you be able to sip creative craft cocktails while seated next to one?

Allusion Speakeasy’s current theme is Lord of the Rings. At both locations for the first time. In 2021, they’d staged a LOTR theme downtown. Then, in early 2022, they converted roughly half their Wobbly Olive space to create a second Allusion location inside it — something for the Powers Boulevard crowd out east.

Owners of both businesses, Inez and Sean Fitzgerald, change their Allusion themes quarterly. [Transparency note: They also partnered with Brother Luck in March to launch Folkore and Tipperary Cocktail Parlor, and Side Dish has recently been working alongside them to judge and promote monthly Bar Battles at Tipperary, sponsored by liquor distributors.]

I confess I’ve missed most of Allusion’s past themes, like Star Wars and Harry Potter, but I’ve seen plenty of images online and the couple times I tried to walk-in without a reservation I’ve been turned away. (See: I get treated like a normie around town, experiencing places just like you.) The relatively small spaces book out and stay busy.

The Fitzgerald’s formula works to court disparate fan cultures and compel them to return and try each theme’s list of on-theme cocktails. It’s all about meticulously curated glassware — lots from artisans on Etsy and elsewhere online — and clever presentations that lean on mixology gadgets like bubble smoke guns and ample use of dry ice for moody vapors emanating from drinks. But of course the cocktail quality has to be there to send the creations across the finish line. The play must be balanced by expert drink-making because nobody wants to drink a shitty butterbeer riff or cloying glass of nonsense just to sit next to dining room decorations.

The Old Toby cocktail comes half in a glass pipe, from which you pour the second half of the drink yourself, as if emptying a neti pot — it's reminiscent of tea service. The Old Fashioned spinoff features rye whiskey and overproof bourbon, morning tea-infused Grand Marnier, demerara syrup and tobacco and lemon bitters. The citric, tannic elements counter the sugar but it still finishes with a sweet edge.

“Dining room decorations” is actually a borderline offensive oversimplification of how they appoint their bars for each theme. It’s more like stage and lighting design for the theater, at no small expense. (Relatedly: The Fitzgeralds remodeled Wobbly Olive, changed its menu and staged Allusion all inside of 10 days.)

I think the success with our cocktails comes from respecting the foundations while including fun and sometimes really unusual ingredients. — Inez Fitzgerald

Sean tells me they began working on LOTR in May for the August launch. “It’s the most we’ve ever put into a theme change,” he says. Perhaps most impressively, they commissioned Denver-based, multimedia prop and special-effect artist Kevon Ward to make impressive replicas of Gollum, an Orc and the Balrog.

Image from Kevon Ward’s Facebook.

Gollum watches over downtown drinkers, and in the entryway leading into Allusion from Kelley's Spiedie Shop, Gandalf effectively says "You Shall Pass."

I ask them both about their approach to theme resets, aside from the team effort between them and several of their bartenders to create the drink lists each time.

Inez explains:

 “Sean and I each have different approaches when we’re creating a menu. Really the only things we agree on is using our knowledge of classic cocktails — especially the forgotten ones — as templates for what we want to do. Sean is really great at creating the spirit-forward cocktails and he likes to use unique spices to infuse or make syrups and tinctures to set our cocktails apart. I’m really good at making the fruity, floral and lighter cocktails. I typically don’t like to drink them, but I’m great at creating them for the person who doesn’t want something too in-your-face. I hide spirits well though. I’m sneaky. I like to use really playful ingredients, like flowers, candies, herbs and vegetables to infuse into my spirits and cocktails. For example, I used bubblegum to infuse vodka for a cocktail on Harry Potter and this go-around I used Swedish fish infusions for the So Juicy Sweet. I think the success with our cocktails comes from respecting the foundations while including fun and sometimes really unusual ingredients. The glassware definitely doesn’t hurt either.”

The east location has a Doors of Durin/Mines of Moria entrance; the staff sport their elf ears like troopers; and the menu is a legit bound book with passages from Tolkien's text plus character illustrations next to cocktail descriptions.

The menu itself in Shire- and Lothlórien-appointed downtown is a map of Middle-earth that bartenders set out in front of you like a placemat. (Spill away, fools, it’s laminated.) Inside Wobbly Olive’s Mordor-cast location, the menu is a beautiful bound book with cool illustrations next to drink descriptions and Tolkien passages. (Don’t be an asshat, don’t spill — these are nice. Mind your damn manners in Mordor — or Shelob the spider, suspended from the ceiling, will have her way with you.)

Cocktails (a manageable 10 total at each) are uniformly $15, shots (a choice of four at each spot) are $10 and each Allusion has a somewhat ridiculous $100 drink (similar to the Elon Musk shtick at Brooklyn’s on Boulder) with an included keepsake. No I did not order one; but if someone wants to sponsor my sip, I will. (Wink-wink.)

Downtown, you can order-in from Chef Mark Henry’s adjacent Kelley’s Spiedie Shop (we didn’t as we ducked in quickly prior to dinner time) and on Powers Boulevard you can nab bites from Wobbly Olive’s latest menu via Kitchen Manager Tommy Graves. Everything we try (pictured below) from the eclectic selections is on-point and well prepared, satisfying in the setting.

Our dinner at Allusion east: guava mango glazed salmon with sticky coconut rice and Brussels sprouts; roasted garlic hummus with bell pepper gastrique, almond pesto, za'atar, grilled lemon and naan; dark chocolate chile torte with salted caramel (gluten-free).

We grab a couple drinks when downtown and spend time before a movie for four total drinks while out east. You’ve already seen the Old Toby pictured near the top of this story, but the other cocktail we try downtown is the Finest Southfarthing Leaf: Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, Dom Bénédictine, Cynar, Laphroiag, Angostura Bitters and an Absinthe sprintz. If you know your spirit profiles, picture the respective bitterness, herbaceous/botanic elements, light citrus, smokiness and mild astringency. It’s complex, and good.

That brings us to a whole other important element of Allusion: service. The Fitzgeralds place high emphasis on great service — which is one aspect of what the bartenders focus on when competing at the Bar Battles. Being personable, thorough, professional, etc.

When you receive your Finest Southfarthing Leaf downtown, you’re presented with a modified countertop cask, from which you lift a flap and reach in to grab your drink. Back at the east location, we sit at the bar and watch the Fitzgerald’s daughter Aaliyah shake out drink after drink while she casually chats with us. I’ve gotten to know her a bit during the Bar Battles (she’s finished in the runner-up spot twice, besting several of her colleagues with some fun touches). She’s sharp, but also blunt — as in serious, focused, direct, funny and ultimately charming.

She introduces me to a coworker who I hadn’t yet met, and who didn’t know me, by saying: “That’s Matthew Schniper. He goes around town eating and drinking a bunch of shit and talking to cool people and writes about it and takes photos.”

Succinct. Accurate. I like it. I should put it on business cards.

Our drinks, left to right. Sauron’s Reach: watermelon-infused gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, mint oil, flamed orange peel. Minas Tirith: pisco, Aperol, yuzu, lemon, egg white. You Shall Not Pass: blanco tequila, Dom Bénédictine, blood orange cordial, lime juice, habanero shrub, black lava salt. The One Ring: saffron-infused Japanese whiskey, maraschino liqueur, lemon-cardamom syrup, Peychaud’s Bitters.

Aaliyah’s also honest. She tells me half way through my Minas Tirith cocktail that she mistakenly garnished it with an amaranth leaf instead of the Kinome leaf it’s supposed to get. No matter, I’m happy. Again, if you know your spirit profiles, you can mentally glean a lot from the descriptors in the above photos. The One Ring’s on the more spirit-forward side, as is the You Shall Not Pass (black lava salt rim for the win), while the Sauron’s Reach (best serving vessel) strikes an obvious fruitier note, but not without bitter and botanic counterpoint. The Minas Tirith drinks light, easy and fresh.

We’re having fun. What the bars do well is truly make us want to try everything, especially after we watch the staff prep drinks we didn’t get. Watching them walk away from the bar makes me secretly sad. Only for a moment, I wish I had a higher tolerance — I’m actually a lightweight drinker. Aaliyah catches me yawning and comps me a coffee before the movie. That’s good looking out, especially in between making drinks. Impressive. Effective. (I make it all the way through Oppenheimer.)

I didn’t photograph many of the other drinks we missed, but conveniently Inez sends me a batch of photos shot by their go-to pro shooter. I’ll share some here as my outro and an encouragement for you to check out LOTR while it’s around. Allusion at Powers Boulevard flips to The Nightmare Before Christmas in late October while downtown transforms to Christmas Classics (films) in late November. Allusion regulars are already pumped for that: The Nightmare announcement on Facebook had 456 reactions, 260 comments and 74 shares one day after going live.

That’s a fan base. And it demonstrates the effectiveness of Allusion’s “revolving popup concept.” Some themes, like LOTR, will surely make a return (especially after the heavy investment in decor). But let’s say there’s no guarantees. So, if you like what you see, get it while you can. The drinks, at least, will turn over, even when Allusion returns to Middle-earth.

I'll let you discover what these drinks are on your own visit. Images courtesy Roberto Villena.