DENVER — If you're going to eat oysters, might as well get them opened as fast as possible by one of the world's best.
At Forget Me Not in Denver, you can be served oysters by Ben Wolven, an internationally-competitive oyster shucker. He has won competitions in Colorado and Maine, and even placed 7th in the world twice at an international championship in China.
Originally from Maine, Wolven started shucking with his grandfather at 10 years old.
"My grandpa and I would sneak off and, like, just go crush oysters," he told Denver7 before opening his station at Forget Me Not. "And then we started... [buying] bags of ‘em. Just bring them home for family reunions, gatherings and cocktail parties — just any excuse to have a bag of oysters on hand."
He guesses he's served up 7 million oysters over the years, including recently to Stanley Cup champions Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Alex Newhook.
In the above video, you can learn more about Wolven's journey and see just how quickly this man can crack open an oyster!