Colorado cool stuff.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: [small biz] - Joka Vodka - Rocky Mountain News - Durango Soda Co. Inc.

JOKA VODKA

After a career in real estate development, native New Yorker Joe Nedlin relocated to Aspen in 2004 and wanted to create a self-sustaining business that would give its profits to American veterans. Inspired by Paul Newman's business model, he started with high-end golf clubs and skin care, but sales dropped with the onset of the recession, so he moved into a more recession-proof category: alcohol.

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More specifically, Joka Vodka, named for his "Joker" nickname when he served in the Army in the 1960. Joka is distilled from sweet corn in Bend, Ore., and filtered through lava and charcoal five times. "That's what gives it the flavor," Nedlin says. "That and the quality of the water."

Priced at the low end of the premium category, Joka gives all profits--"$3 a bottle, minimum," Nedlin says--to veterans via the Blue Star Mothers chapter in Grand Junction. "The whole thing is designed to help veterans. $25 to $35 retail.

Made by Aspen Black Diamond LLC, Aspen, (970) 618-0062, www.jokavodka.com. Available at numerous bars and liquor stores throughout Colorado.

HEROES, VILLAINS, DAMES & DISASTERS

As the Rocky Mountain News entered its final months, Michael Madigan, a retired longtime editor at the paper, began contributing a 150-issue series of historic front pages from the Rocky over its century and a half in print. But the February shutdown of the paper quashed the series 50 installments short of the paper's 150th birthday, so Madigan set out to publish the collection in one oversized, 192-page soft-cover book.

"Choosing the first 75 covers was pretty easy," Madigan says. After that, he turned to colleagues for advice and made sure to include iconic Colorado characters like Alferd Packer and Baby Doe Tabor. Madigan says his favorite spreads in the book showcase the Rocky's front pages during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis ("It was the first moment in history that resonated with me personally") and that of the April 13, 1942 edition, the first to feature a tabloid format. Bookending the tome are "the very first and the very last" front pages from the paper in 1859 and 2009, respectively. $29.95 retail.

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By Michael Madigan (published by Mad Ideas LLC), Arvada, www.michaelmadiganauthor.com. Available at Tattered Cover stores, Amazon.com, and most chain bookstores in metro Denver.

ZUBERFIZZ SODA

Almost a decade ago, aspiring microbrewers Banden Zuber and Dan Aggeler found themselves with the...