Every June, Aspen makes a credible case for being the best food city in America for four days. Hotel Jerome, Auberge Collection has been at the center of that argument for six years running, and the Epicurean Passport Weekend returns June 18 through 21 alongside the Aspen Food & Wine Classic with its strongest lineup yet.
The hotel itself earns a sentence. Hotel Jerome opened in 1889 — 137 years ago — and has been the social hub of Aspen ever since, the kind of property that outlasts trends because it predates all of them. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits at the center of town in a way that is both literal and figurative. The Epicurean Passport Weekend was built around it six years ago as an extension of what the hotel has always done: bring serious people together around serious food and drink in a setting that makes both feel more worthwhile.
The headline this year is The Winner’s Table — a one-night-only dinner on Saturday, June 20 hosted by Rhoda Magbitang, the newly crowned winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 23. The menu draws from her winning dishes and represents one of the earliest opportunities anywhere to experience her cooking following the victory. For anyone following the season, the chance to sit down to a meal built around what actually won is a different kind of experience than a conventional celebrity chef dinner.
Night of SHE is the other anchor event — a celebration of women in food and wine that brings together Sofia Cortina, named Latin America’s Best Pastry Chef in 2020, James Beard Awards finalist Daisy Ryan of Bell’s in Los Alamos, Melissa Perello of Frances and Octavia in San Francisco, and Suzanne Tracht of Jar in Los Angeles. The collective résumé in that room is significant.
Death & Co. — the New York cocktail institution that changed how American bars think about craft drinking — takes over Hotel Jerome’s subterranean Bad Harriet lounge for the weekend. Brand programming runs across all four days with tastings and masterclasses from Felix Roasting Co., Judgment of Paris, Petrossian, Laurent-Perrier, and Casa Dragones. The weekend closes with a garden-side Recovery Brunch featuring PopUp Bagels, Petrossian caviar, and glassware by Waterford.
Ten percent of weekend ticket sales benefit the Aspen Institute, the global nonprofit founded in Aspen in 1949 that has been a cornerstone of the community for more than 75 years. It is the kind of detail that reflects how the weekend is positioned — not as a standalone event but as something genuinely woven into the fabric of what Aspen is.
Epicurean Passport Weekend is June 18 through 21 at Hotel Jerome, 330 E. Main Street, Aspen. Tickets and full programming at auberge.com/hotel-jerome.
