The Resort at Paws Up
That’s what JG Blackbook President Jena Gardner called Paws Up in a recent article. She went on to list the Top 5 reasons to stay at The Resort at Paws Up:
1. Luxury Oasis
2. Camping in Style
3. High-Country Adventure
4. Family Fun
5. Gourmet Dining
She also made reference to our incredible June Rates, which are now 60% off July and August rates. Click Here to read the entire article.
“Glamping” at Paws Up was just featured in Kiwi Collection’s Jetsetter publication. Ashley Dufek wrote a wonderful article, including the following observation: “Resort at Paws Up is the Perfect Place to ‘Glamp.'” Click Here to read the entire article.
Come to The Bull Barn Chicken Coop and visit our roosters, Reginald (he’s a dandy) & Gus and our collection of hens – all named Hazel – since we can’t tell them apart. These hens are exceptional employees, producing an egg a day with only seed as payment. Your over-easy eggs at breakfast, likely came from one of the Hazels, so you may want to stop by and thank her. Right next to the hen house is our collection of chicks (or pullets or hens, depending on the dates of your stay); these egg-layers-in-training are closely watching their neighbors to learn the roost.
Alongside the Chicken Coop is the Paws Up Organic Garden. Recycled tractor tires serve as raised beds where we are organically growing vegetables, herbs and flowers to be used in our restaurants. Depending on the season, you may be able to sneak a sugar snap pea or a cherry tomato as you stroll by the garden – but be wary of Reginald, he may be watching you.
-Jim Nielsen
We’ve put together a “motion picture” that captures Wine & Bitch 2009! Enjoy!
Grace Lichtenstein just published a great article on suite101 about luxury senior travel in Montana. She mentioned The Resort at Paws Up as a destination for a “more upscale western vacation”. Click Here to read the article.
April 17 and 18, Jr. Dog hosted our 1st Annual Wine and Bitch event: a dog-themed weekend featuring Mutt Lynch Winery and their dog-themed wines, Kevin Salem, the Dog Prodigy and Nicholas Sveslosky, Editor in Chief from Fido Friendly Magazine.
The weekend kicked off with a Mutt Lynch wine social meet-n-greet for the humans, and a mutt mix-n-mingle (and at times, tangle) for the dogs. What fun it was to watch our guests become fast friends, and the dogs become pooch pals!
Guests came with their favorite canines from California to Canada, and there were 21 dogs representing 15 breeds – everything from U-Turn the Min Pin to Sadie the St. Bernard!
While the pooches were being entertained at Doggie Daycare, Chef Wes carried the dog theme out in creative style with a Mutt Lynch wine paring dinner in Pomp. There were Salmon Corn Dogs, Reconstituted French Onion Soup served in a stainless steel dog bowl; and the crowd favorite….. a “hotdog” for dessert which was made up of an almond “bun” with strawberry ice cream in the shape of a hot dog that was topped with pistachio “relish” all served up on a Frisbee! Chef even prepared deluxe, gourmet “doggie bags” for the pooches which contained a bit of cheese, a pig’s ear and a bone!
Saturday many guests enjoyed a dog-themed geo-cache hike with doggie treats hidden in the caches; hayrides, and nearly all the dogs were treated to a complimentary doggie massage at the spa!
Saturday night’s entertainment featured Missoulian Vicki Lee and her dogs demonstrating BASIC agility, rally-obedience, and free style, along with Laura McArthur of Smakwater and Sprezzatura Kennels with her sporting dogs demonstrating training techniques.
Following the demonstration, the pooches (and their dog parents) all posed for photos in a western themed photo booth complete with hay bales, saddle, steer head, bandanas, ropes and cowboy hats and also shopped for new treats and goodies at the retail booth set up by our favorite local pet shop, Go Fetch!
Chef treated all to a gourmet buffet with features Paw Paw Salad, Smoked Trout Bark-ettes, Chicken Paw-piettes, BBQ Ribs, Cattle Dog Stew, Elk Steamship, Catfish, Chihuahua Mac-n-Cheese, Hound Dog Hash, Coyote Squash and Peanut Butter Crème’ Caramel.
Kevin Salem, The Dog Prodigy was a weekend highlight and guests enjoyed his feedback and pointers on everything from doggie aggression…..and depression, to hyperactivity….. and humping!
Each night at turndown the pooches enjoyed surprise turn-down treats on their Paws Up beds from MaSnax and Grandma Lucy’s.
To Cinder, Simon, Sadie, Pepper Thomas, Winston, Sage, Dory, Tasha, U-Turn, Frankie, Johnnie, Marlee, Phoebe, Hannah, Sampson, Joey and Gobie, thanks for coming to “sip, stay and play” with us and we’ll look forward to hosting you all back next year!
-Tracie Mardock
We hosted our first annual Walla Walla in Montana event earlier this month and it was an amazing time. Representing the Walla Walla valley were Casey & Vicki McClellan, owners and winemaker for Seven Hills Winery. If you haven’t had an opportunity to try the wines from Seven Hills, do yourself a favor and pick some up at your favorite bottle shop. Casey makes fabulous wines that are extremely food friendly, a great value and are certainly worth seeking out. Here in western Montana we consider Walla Walla our “local” wine region and are big fans and supporters of their wines. Seven Hills was the 5th winery established in the Walla Walla valley which now boasts over 100.
Chef Coffel worked directly with Casey and the pairings for the dinner were amazing. We started with the Alaskan King Crab with a Green Apple Gelee, Compressed Celery, Cilantro Mint Butter which paired brilliantly with the 2007 Riesling, Columbia Valley, followed by a Marcona Almond Crusted Snook (my favorite course of the evening) with Toasted Cous Cous, Marcona Almond Butter, Jicama Salad paired with the 2007 Pinot Gris; Slow Roasted Goose Breast with Seared Foie Gras, Pomegranate Glaze, Chocolate, Candied Black Trumpet Mushrooms with the 2006 Merlot, Seven Hills Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley; Grilled Elk Loin with Red Currant Stuffing, Smoked Turnip, Kale, Black Pepper Demi Glace paired with Seven Hill’s flagship- 2005 Pentad Vintage Red Wine, Walla Walla Valley; Bison Prime Rib with Risotto, Midnight Moon Goat Cheese, Sautéed Ramps Crispy Fiddlehead Fern with the 2006 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Vintage Red Wine, Red Mountain and finally, Strawberry Clafouti with White Peach, Pistachio, Fennel Syrup paired with the 1st course wine, the 2007 Riesling, Columbia Valley.
In addition to the great dinner wines, we also got the opportunity to taste Seven Hills 2008 Talcott Vineyard Viognier at the Friday night reception. It was the first time it had been tasted outside of the winery and it was a big hit.
All in all, a great weekend – we welcomed back old friends, meet new friends and all of us had a great weekend of fine wine, gourmet food, wilderness adventures, and complete relaxation – not a bad way to open the season.
-Jim Nielsen
Our upcoming Wine & Bitch event has been featured on a couple of must-read dog blogs. Sue from PetTravel.com posted an outline of the event on their blog. Kari from mod-dog.com also posted the event details on their blog. The Wine & B*tch Weekend will take place April 17-19. Limited availability remains.
It is our great pleasure to announce this year’s lineup for Montana Master Chefs 2009 (10/8/09 – 10/10/09). We have an extremely strong lineup of chefs and winemakers this year and MMC ’09 promises to be the best ever. Thursday’s Dinner will be prepared by our very own Chef, Wes Coffel and will be paired with the fabulous wines of Frog’s Leap Winery. We are so excited to have the winners from the past two seasons of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Stephanie Izard (Season 4) and this year’s winner, Hosea Rosenberg that we are featuring the two of them as co-chefs for Friday Night’s dinner. Stephanie and Hosea will work together with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars to pair their culinary creations with the famous wines of this Napa Valley institution. On Saturday night we welcome Chef Kent Rathbun, Executive Chef/Proprietor of Abacus and Jasper Restaurants in Dallas who is pairing his menu with the wines of Joseph Phelps Vineyards.
In my post titled “Proud to Announce”, I talked about Chef Rathbun and Frog’s Leap Winery so I wanted to make sure I gave our latest additions to the lineup equal time.
Joseph Phelps Vineyards has been producing some of Napa Valley’s finest wines for over 30 years. They have been innovators and pioneers in the industry since the beginning – their 1974 Insignia was the first Bordeaux-style blend produced in California under a proprietary label. Their Insignia and Backus wines continue to be some of the highest rated, most sought-after and finest wines produced. I can’t wait to try them this year.
Chef Stephanie Izard, winner of Bravo’s hit show “Top Chef” season 4 and Executive Chef/Proprietor of The Drunken Goat in Chicago will join us again this year. We really enjoyed Stephanie’s company last year. For those of you that are fans of Top Chef or saw her in action at last year’s event; you know she is a fierce competitor, a great chef and a genuinely nice person. Stephanie is the defending champion of our Top Chef Cook-Off Chall
enge and this year will be challenged by Top Chef Season 5 winner, Chef Hosea Rosenberg. Hosea is the Executive Chef of Jax Fish House in Boulder and is looking to extend his competition winning streak in 2009. We are looking forward to a great battle between these two winning chefs in Saturday’s Top Chef Cook-Off Challenge as well as seeing them work as a team preparing Friday Night’s dinner.
Pairing with Stephanie and Hosea will be Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars wines are world-renowned and history making: On May 24, 1976, a wine tasting took place in Paris that changed the world’s view of California wines forever. The French wines were First and other classified-growth red Bordeaux and white Burgundies. They were matched against California Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays. The tasting was blind, with the identities of the wines concealed and the labels revealed only after the jury of nine tasters had voted its order of preference. The unthinkable happened. Warren Winiarski’s 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. Cabernet was judged the best. The Cabernet had bested four top-ranked Bordeaux, including first-growths Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Haut-Brion. The 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from California also bested its French counterparts (for those of you keeping score, Jim Barrett from Chateau Montelena joined us for Montana Master Chefs I). It will be a pleasure to partake in some of these historic wines, whether it is the S.L.V, Fay or Cask 23, I can hardly wait for October.
We have also partnered with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars on a live auction lot for this year’s Auction Napa Valley. Our lot is titled Big Bottles, Big Sky – The “Big Bottles, Big Sky” experience begins with a rare vertical of highly collectible CASK 23 Cabernet Sauvignon in bottles of extraordinary size and grandeur along with a five-night Big Sky adventure vacation with us here at The Resort at Paws Up. We are thrilled and excited to be a part of this wonderful charity event in the Napa Valley and to be paired with such a magnificent collection of wines from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.
Hope to see all of you at Montana Master Chefs 2009 as well as Auction Napa Valley 2009.
Cheers.
-Jim Nielsen, General Manager
Linden Travel just named Paws Up as a “Top Ten Family Getaway” on their blog. As they say, it’s time to start planning your family summer vacation. Our luxury tents, spacious homes, horses, ATVs, restaurants, and, of course, our staff are all ready for you. Are you and your family ready to have the experience of a lifetime?