Whatever you look for in après skiing or riding, there’s a venue for it between the seven resorts just east of Salt Lake City. Whether you need rowdy live music, a burger, a raging fire or just a good beer to quiet your screaming muscles, this guide can help point you toward post-powder ecstasy.
I Just Need a Beer
Wasatch Brew Pub
250 S. Main, Park City,
435-649-0900, WasatchBeers.com
When it comes to beer, it’s always better at the source. Park City’s Wasatch Brew Pub is the closest Utahns get to a ski-in brewery. Once you finish shredding Park City Mountain Resort’s web of trails and parks, schuss into town and hike up Main Street to this multilevel brewpub. Within the comforting view of fermentation tanks, bartenders sling pitchers, growlers and pints of Wasatch’s signature sessionable selections like Evolution Amber, Polygamy Porter and Kolob Kolsch. Beer nerds can rejoice with bottles of the heavy stuff from Wasatch and Squatters thanks to the Utah Brewers Cooperative, while seasonal brews always keep your palate guessing. The brewpub is also a full-service restaurant and sells cold bottled beer to go.
Worthy Alternative: Porcupine Pub & Grille, 3698 Fort Union Blvd., Salt Lake City, 801-942-5555, PorcupinePub.com
Gimme Something Stronger
High West Distillery
703 Park Ave., Park City,
435-649-8300, HighWest.com
After the coldest ski days, when the snot-freezing winds rob your toes of all feeling, your only hope of recovery is good, honest whiskey. Thankfully, you can cruise down to the High West Distillery, the “world’s first and only ski-in gastro-distillery,” located just off Park City Mountain Resort’s Quit ’N Time run. Behind the saloon’s one-of-a-kind bar—made with reclaimed wood from the Great Salt Lake Trestle Bridge, built in 1904—you’ll find a long list of superb housemade whiskeys as well as dozens of domestic and imported scotch whiskeys to warm you from the inside out. High West’s warm seasonal cocktails could be your saving grace after a day of sub-zero storm skiing, or you can pick from the vast collection of liquors, wines and beer. Quit skiing early to beat the tourist crowd, and if you have a hot date, the distillery’s upscale dinner menu doesn’t disappoint.
Worthy Alternative: The Tram Club, First Floor, The Snowbird Center, Highway 210 (Little Cottonwood Canyon Road), Snowbird, 801-933-2222, Snowbird.com
Let Me Drink By Your Fire
The Eagle’s Nest Lounge at The
Rustler Lodge
10380 E. Little Cottonwood Canyon Road, Alta,
801-742-2200, RustlerLodge.com
An all-day immersion in Alta’s blower powder calls for a serious warm-up. Whether you’ve been riding lifts or lapping the backcountry across the street, the Rustler Lodge’s Eagles’ Nest Lounge has the crackling fireplace, warm bartenders and cold libations you need while you wait for the traffic to dissipate. Dominated by goggle-tanned locals and bathrobed lodge guests, the bar’s vibe is relaxed in every sense of the word, but feels just right as you grab a beverage and pull up a cushy chair to the 360-degree wood-burning fireplace. With a perfect view of Eagle’s Nest and Mount Superior through the bar’s tall windows, you’ll almost feel like you’ve ponied up the dough to stay at Alta’s finest lodge.
Worthy Alternative: Molly Green’s, 8302 South Brighton Loop Road, Brighton, 801-532-4731 ext. 206
Not Too Tired to Dance …
and Drink
Canyons Resort Village
4000 Canyons Resort Drive, Park City, 435-649-5400, CanyonsResort.com
If your après ski experience is not complete without a live band and a rollicking crowd, then the free Canyons spring concert series could be what’s missing in your mountainous life. Just point your boards toward the Canyons Resort Village, take the free Cabriolet gondola up and follow the music, which happens at 3 p.m. every Saturday starting in March. While the band lays down the tunes, grab a beer and a hotdog at the Umbrella Bar or visit one of the beer or food tents set up for the concert. Thanks to Mountain Town Music, the lineup is full of both national and regional bands that know how to get a party started, even if it’s dumping snow. Past concerts include North Mississippi Allstars, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and The Patwa Reggae Band.
Worthy Alternative: Tram Deck, The Snowbird Center, 9600 E. Little Cottonwood Canyon Road, 801-933-2222, Snowbird.com
Welcome to Nacho Mountain
Goldminer’s Saloon
10160 E. Little Cottonwood Canyon Road, Alta, 801-742-2300, GoldminersDaughterLodge.com
Once the lifts close and you can no longer satiate your appetite for powder and adrenaline, your entire being shifts to conquering a mountain of melted cheese. Climb the stairs inside the Goldminer’s Daughter to find the Goldminer’s Saloon at the end of a hallway covered in Alta lore. Order at the bar and find a table beneath the giant greenhouse-style windows revealing Alta’s marquee run, High Boy. As you contemplate the countless perfect turns of the day, wait for the bartender to call your name. The next few minutes become a blissful blur of cheesy chips with salsa, sour cream, beans, olives, jalapeños and chicken (if you know what’s good for you). Wash it down with a pitcher or two as the sun dives behind Mount Superior. The Goldminer’s Daughter also serves up other cheesy Mexican delights and is known for its big, meaty pizzas and calzones.
Worthy Alternative: Molly Green’s nachos, 8302 S. Brighton Loop Road, Brighton, 801-532-4731, ext. 206
Bring on the Burgers
Hoppers
890 E. Fort Union Blvd., Midvale,
801-566-0424, HoppersBrewing.com
After your last run, the energy boost from your pocket PB&J is long gone and the winding, crowded drive down the canyon road gives you an unsettling urge for beer. That’s why they built Hoppers, where you can park your stinking self to refuel and procrastinate before returning home to significant others, kids, work or whatever reason you ran up into the mountains in the first place. The house-favorite garlic burger is uniquely served on a toasted hoagie roll, and the half-pounder—served with fries, cucumber-feta pasta salad or fried green beans—tastes best after a bell-to-bell day on the mountain. You can share pitchers of Hoppers’ award-winning beers, brewed in-house, with ski buddies while you slowly wear off your sunburned smiles.
Worthy Alternative: Cotton Bottom Inn’s garlic burger, 2820 E. 6200 South, Holladay, 801-273-9830
