9 Best Ski Resort Breweries And Distilleries
As any snow sport enthusiast knows, the right and proper end to a day on the slopes is best spent sipping a few drinks, boasting about the day that passed, and finding a bit of liquid courage to head out the next day. In the past, this après pastime was typically isolated to imbibing whatever was served at the nearest mountain base bar. But with the surging popularity of microbreweries and craft distilleries in the States, the options for a post-ski beverage at the place where the beer and spirits are made has never been more plentiful. We found nine you should try to hit this season, from ski-in whiskey distilleries to coveted beer producers located at the epicenter of some of the East Coast’s best ski resorts.
Crux Fermentation Project, Bend, Ore.
You may ski all day at Bachelor Resort, but chances are you’ll bed down in Bend, Oregon, a sleepy postcard-perfect town a short drive from the resort. And with more than a dozen high-quality microbreweries throughout the city, this is a decidedly good thing. Crux is one of the more recent players to enter the crowded beer scene here, but it’s the one you shouldn’t miss. Brewmaster Larry Sidor came from Deschutes (also located in Bend), so you know the brews (like the barrel-aged Freakcake Oud Bruin and the imperial Half Hitch IPA) are top-quality. It’s all housed in an open-environment brewery with spectacular sunset views of the surrounding peaks, inventive cuisine, and a convivial atmosphere.
Breckenridge Distillery, Breckenridge, Colo.
This house of micro-spirits fully embraces its mountainous locale by using Colorado snowmelt for the proofing of its award-winning bourbon whiskey and vodka. You can tour the 4,000-square-foot distillery should you want to forego a day on the slopes (tours end at 6 p.m.), or just hit their tasting room in downtown Breckenridge, just under two miles from the resort of the same name. And the house-made bitters assure that any cocktail you order will have a perfectly flavorful, alchemical twist.
Avery Brewing, Boulder, Colo.
The mountain town of Boulder isn’t anchored to a particular resort, but it makes a killer base camp to hit a handful of the Colorado Front Range ski spots like Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and Loveland. Better still, Boulder has some of the best beer and spirit options in the state. Of them all, Avery may reign supreme. They’ve been producing beer since 1993, boasting both barrel-aged beers and other eccentric ales as well as lagers and a host of more mainstream styles. Expect to find 20 beers on offer at their tap room, and the kitchen stays open till 10 p.m., so you can get some grub to soak up all that hoppy goodness.
High West Distillery, Park City, Utah
Considering Park City’s High West is the only whiskey ski-in distillery in the country, it has to be included on this round-up. But location—sitting at the base of the aptly-named Quittin’ Time lift—is only part of the draw. The distillery offers a wide variety of high-quality spirits, from the smooth and spicy character of Rendezvous Rye to a peach-infused vodka to Campfire, a heady mixture of bourbon accented with smoky, peated scotch. The saloon typically hosts live music, and the “western-inspired” menu is just as accomplished as their list of cocktails and spirits, particularly the house-made charcuterie.