Nestled within the Rusty Parrot Lodge & Spa, the Wild Sage Bar stands out not only for its thoughtfully crafted cocktails but for the uniquely collaborative spirit of its small team. Hayley Knafel and Zack Vernon, bartenders at the Wild Sage, offer a glimpse into what makes this intimate space a vital part of the Rusty Parrot experience.
Unlike the bustling, impersonal settings of larger, more corporate operations, the Wild Sage Bar prides itself on its small, cohesive team. “Right now, it’s just the two of us on the bar staff,” Hayley notes. “It’s a small operation, but that helps a lot with our creativity. We all have a say in the direction we’re taking with the cocktail menu.”
Zack echoes this sentiment, drawing a contrast with his experiences in larger hotel chains. “There’d be all this turnover every, gosh, three months or so. With a staff like ours, everyone knows each other,” he says with a smile. “We love each other, we hang out, and we can cultivate that collaborative mentality. It’s really nice.”
Changing Seasons, Changing Menus
The Rusty Parrot Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Photographed by Lisa Romerein, styling by Helen Crowther, interior design by WRJ and architecture by Rowland and Broughton.
The time of year factors heavily in the Wild Sage’s cocktail menu. When coming up with new drinks, both bartenders start with the season. “Our summer menu was lighter, more refreshing, floral… summer flavors, you know,” Hayley recalls. “But now that Zack and I have been working on our winter menu, the flavor profiles change a lot.”
This shift in flavors mirrors the change in clientele. “In the winter… I get ten times more requests for big sipping whiskey cocktails,” Zack adds. “It’s a different crowd. You don’t get too many people coming in that want, like, an Aperol Spritz.”
When asked about his process for coming up with a new cocktail menu, Zack says he’s inspired by the classics. “I really like simple cocktails,” he says. “A Manhattan has three ingredients, and it’s a classic for a reason. So I’ll take as many ingredients away as I can while keeping the core of what I’m after. There are some rules in making a cocktail, but there are also times where it’s fun to break them, and I think that’s where cocktails become really interesting. You think to yourself, that shouldn’t work. But somehow it’s working.” From a simple beginning, Zack will add, subtract, and replace until he lands on something new but familiar. “It’s like playing with Mister Potato Head.”
For her part, Hayley isn’t afraid to get technical when creating new drinks. “I’m working on a cocktail that’s rather interesting,” she says. “We have duck on the menu cooked two different ways, and the chef saves that duck fat afterwards. So I’m experimenting with infusing some whiskeys with duck fat, adding some spiced cranberries, some simple syrup, a little lemon. Then I do a milk clarification on that complete cocktail. You strain it out, so there’s no milk in the finished product. It just softens some of the edges and leaves this really nice, buttery taste.”
But even when they flex their creative muscles, the staff are always careful to keep the menu approachable. “We don’t want to have people sucking vapor out of bubbles, like a supercraft mixology bar,” Zack says. “That’s not us. We just want to make something interesting and different, but still familiar and delicious.”
Once the ideas are all in place, the team gathers to finalize the upcoming menu. Zack emphasizes the importance of input from everyone. “We’ll do a lineup about a month prior to dropping the menu, and we’ll bring everybody… honestly whoever wants to join. We’ve even brought in a couple of friends just as objective tasters. We throw all our ideas out and get a bunch of notes, and that really helps hone the final recipes.”
Hayley says that the changing menu is important to the identity of the Wild Sage, and that having a static menu isn’t what they’re going for. “If people come in and they want their specific cocktail, we’re all capable of making it,” she says. “But it’s similar to the restaurant side, where the food changes seasonally when they get fresh shipments of new things. I think part of the Wild Sage is that people don’t come in to get the exact same thing every single time and get bored of it. They know what they’re going to get is quality, and it’s more exciting for the menu to be changing.”
A Place to Gather
The Rusty Parrot Lodge in Jackson Hole Wyoming, Photographed by Lisa Romerein, styling by Helen Crowther, interior design by WRJ, and architecture by Rowland and Broughton.
For Zack and Hayley, the true magic happens at the bar itself. “You don’t stay in food and beverage unless there’s something that brings you back,” Zack shares. “For me, that’s the guests. We have all kinds of people come in, but when they leave I want them to feel like they just had a really nice, genuine experience. That they could connect to someone without it being pretentious.”
Zack says the influx of luxury conglomerates into Jackson Hole has made it harder for visitors to find a place to simply relax and connect. As a result, the team works to make these personal connections central to the Wild Sage experience. Zack makes it a point to remember guests by name, creating a neighborhood bar vibe that’s rare in luxury settings. “Everything out here is just upscale, upscale, upscale, and I feel like we’re getting disconnected from that human element of good, neighborhood conversation. I would love for this to be a neighborhood spot that everyone can come to and chat. That’s what I love. Not pretentious, not corporate, just authentic.”
As a brand new addition to the Rusty Parrot, Wild Sage remains something of a secret. Hayley enjoys watching excitement build as the bar is discovered by locals. “It’s been really fun to watch people who have been coming in for years and years see our new cocktail program and get excited about it. Now they can sit and have a nice cocktail, not just come for dinner, and still get that feeling of being family.”
Born and raised in Jackson Hole, Wilden McIntosh-Round brings a deep-rooted love for the area into his work as a writer. In his versatile career as a content creator and copywriter, he has worked with brands like Samsung and Rolling Stone, but the best part of his job is partnering with local businesses to share their unique stories.
