Inside Denver’s ‘cheeky’ new bar, Peach Crease Club
Denver’s Peach Crease Club was born from home entertaining during Covid-19 lockdowns and has now gained a permanent foothold in the city.
*This feature was first published in the February issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
There’s no place like home – or at least that’s the philosophy behind the newly opened Peach Crease Club in Denver’s River North arts district. The bar was founded by husband-and-wife duo Stuart Jensen and Alex Jump, who have taken the concept – and the cheeky name – from their home bar during the pandemic.
“When Stuart and I moved in together, we started calling our home bar the Peach Crease Club,” explains Jump, who was named Best US Bar Mentor at the Spirited Awards in 2024. “We hosted a lot of friends for dinner parties during the pandemic. We really fell back in love with hosting people and cooking and making drinks in our own home. When you work in food and beverage, it can be hard to enjoy that.”
The couple tried to come up with a different name for the new bar, but nothing would stick. “We knew that it would feel like an extension of ourselves anyway,” says Jump. “So we decided to move forward with letting the Peach Crease Club have a real location.”
That sense of home carries through into the decor. “We pulled a lot of inspiration from our own house – a lot of the art, our record collection, pieces of furniture – it’s all in the bar now, probably forever,” says Jump. “In a lot of ways, it really does feel like our home.”
Jump’s background includes half a decade at Denver’s Death & Co, while Jensen is the co-owner of two other bars in the city: Curio and Roger’s Liquid Oasis. The venture is a first for the couple as partners. “We’ve done guest shifts, but this is our first time running a business together,” says Jump. Are they making an effort to keep the personal and professional separate? “I don’t have a personal life,” laughs Jensen. “It’s all pretty intertwined,” adds Jump. “We’re both very opinionated and passionate people, and there are certainly things we don’t see eye to eye on, but we’ve worked pretty well to communicate our own visions.”
This fusion is reflected in the drinks menu, which combines Jump’s penchant for savoury, technical serves and Jensen’s more straightforward approach. “Our palates are pretty similar, but we make pretty different drinks. I can over-complicate things,” Jump admits. “Stuart has a very simplistic but thoughtful approach to drinks, whereas sometimes I can get lost in the sauce.”
The drinks menu is also a collaboration, drawing on shared culinary memories and dishes the pair have enjoyed together over the years. Jump’s personal favourite is the Fattoush, a twist on a Gibson. To create the batched freezer Martini, the team use tomato water and cucumber juice instead of water for dilution, making it “super flavourful”. That base – which is bright green – is then clarified through labneh. “It’s one of those drinks that nailed the concept,” says Jump. “It tastes like it says it’s going to taste; it’s savoury and balanced. That’s the kind of drink I usually want to drink.”
Complex flavour
Jensen, meanwhile, is the brains behind the Banana Bread Old Fashioned, which is made with Finnish rye whisky, American single malt, and a housemade clarified banana cordial. “While the Fattoush tastes just like a fattoush, the Banana Bread is a good example of the other way we try to execute drinks,” says Jump. “It doesn’t need to taste exactly like banana bread, but it’s reminiscent of it. If we think about the complex flavour, a lot of those notes are there.”
Given the culinary angle of the menu, texture is also a big consideration. “We took the concept of ‘salt, fat, acid and heat’ to heart,” explains Jump. “That became a bit of a challenge because a lot of culinary items have dairy in them, and dairy is a great way to get texture. But you can’t have an entire menu with dairy in it.” That required some out-of-the-box thinking, with one drink featuring an oat-milk foam, and one clarified through a centrifuge instead of through milk.
The bar is just two months old, but the duo are already thinking about menu changes, with Jump estimating there will be a switch-up three times a year. “We’re really excited to work with Colorado summer and fall produce,” she explains, pointing to cherries and, of course, peaches. The team will work with more abundant produce when it’s in season, then use preservation techniques to ensure a supply for future winter menus.
The Peach Crease Club is about more than just the drinks, though – it would be difficult to create a sense of homeliness with cocktails alone. Music is a key pillar of the bar – another element carried over from the couple’s hosting days. Jensen spent two and a half years collecting and planning the audio setup, which includes seven main speakers and the ability to play vinyl, digital tracks, or even reel-to-reel tapes.
While there are ambitions to host vinyl DJs in the future, live music is out of the question given the size of the space (75 seats) – though neighbour Mission Ballroom certainly has that covered. The 4,000-capacity venue is “one of Denver’s best music venues”, according to Jump, and the two businesses are likely to have a symbiotic relationship. When we speak, Denver’s city council had just approved a common-consumption licence for the area, which will allow people to carry beverages between venues. “We’ll get to have activations and events in the plaza between Mission Ballroom and our building in the months and years to come, which we’re very excited about,” says Jump.
That collaborative approach focuses on Jump’s interest in being “a hub for multiple communities – the bar community, music, and arts – not just a place to drink”. That idea also shapes how the Peach Crease Club operates behind the scenes. Jump, who has long advocated for staff health – in particular in her role as co-founder of Focus on Health – was adamant about providing access to healthcare and 401(k) plans. “It’s something that sets us apart as an employer, and is definitely a part of our core values – just ensuring that our team are able to live healthy, fulfilled lives and continue to have a thriving career in this industry,” she says. “Being able to thrive in hospitality isn’t just about making a lot of money or having opportunities to advance. It’s also about the less sexy day-to-day stuff.”
“It is a very large expense in a business that has very small margins,” explains Jensen. Jump adds: “We’re hopeful in the long term it will be financially beneficial to us. While it is the right thing to do, it could also benefit our business in the long run, if we have less staff turnover and healthier employees.”
It’s early days, but the signs are positive. “It’s been a tricky time to open, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the reception has been really positive,” says Jump. “Our staff are amazing, the community has been supportive, and we’re excited for the future.”
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