A Whiskey Lover's Guide to North America's Ski Destinations

February 6, 2024 –––––– Larry Olmsted, , , ,

On June 24, 1889, on Main Street in Telluride, Colorado, Butch Cassidy robbed his very first bank. Skiing had not come to town yet, but whiskey certainly had, and the famed outlaw was known to partake. The story goes that he holed up in the tiny nearby mining hamlet of Dunton Hot Springs, where he carved his name into the bar of the town’s saloon. Dunton became a ghost town, but was purchased in 1994 and the entire town and its Old West buildings were transformed into one of the nation’s most luxurious all-inclusive boutique resorts. Today the saloon is the resort’s main bar, and Dunton Hot Springs has a nice selection of scotch and bourbon, and guests can sit at the bar etched with Cassidy’s signature for a dram. The house label is George Dickel, an old case of which was discovered beneath the floor during renovation. The owner took this as a sign and now leaves a bottle out in the library for guests to enjoy at their leisure. That’s taking après ski up a notch.

BRECKENRIDGE DISTILLERY • Breckenridge, Colorado LIAM DORAN
Ski towns are full of colorful historic saloons where whiskey has been popular since the old days, and not just in the Wild West. Canada’s most revered rye producers are close neighbors to top ski resorts, and most recently, craft distilleries have swept into ski country in a big way, from the Rockies to the Pacific Northwest to Vermont’s Green Mountains. There’s something alluring about taking the chill off after a long day on the slopes with a warming spirit—these are some of the top choices for whisky lovers on a ski vacation.

THE AMERICAN WEST

Utah’s Park City is legendary for its deep dry powder, and is home to America’s largest and most upscale ski resorts, Park City Mountain and Deer Valley respectively. But even more uniquely, it’s home to High West, the world’s first ski-in distillery. It opened here in 2006 and its saloon remains wildly popular, with a long waiting list almost every night for both après ski and dinner (lunch is easier to manage). Its bestsellers, High West Bourbon, Double Rye, and Rendezvous Rye are in quality bars nationwide, but many special editions are sold only here, along with specialty whiskey cocktails, samplers, excellent food, and Old West saloon ambiance. The operation has been so successful that in 2015 High West opened a much larger distillery, with an excellent restaurant and in-depth tour, at Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship, Utah, a resort development 20 minutes outside town. It’s also home to one of the fanciest lodging options in skiing, The Lodge at Blue Sky, an Auberge resort.

THE LODGE AT BLUE SKY • Wanship, Utah AUBERGE RESORTS COLLECTION Also in Park City is Alpine Distilling, a gin specialist that makes single malts, bourbons, and other whiskeys. They operate a separate bar and tasting room, Park City Social Aid and Pleasure Club, on historic Main Street.

But while High West put Park City on the skier’s whiskey map, no Western ski town takes the spirit as far as Colorado’s Breckenridge, home to a huge resort that is the second most-visited in the nation. It was such a wild mining town that when Prohibition came around, the owners of the raucous The Gold Pan Saloon simply kept pouring and dared the Feds to come out and shut them down. They did not, and whiskey has flowed here non-stop for 162 years. While no one knows for certain, The Gold Pan is a top contender for the oldest liquor license west of the Mississippi, and not surprisingly, its signature barrel-aged Manhattan uses bourbon from nearby Breckenridge.

THE TOWN OF BRECKENRIDGE • Breckenridge, Colorado BRECKENRIDGE TOURISM OFFICE Breckenridge is said to be the highest-altitude distillery in the world, and is known for its expansive visitor experiences that include multiple levels of free and paid tastings, an on-site restaurant featuring meat and produce from local farms, its Cocktail Lab bar, retail store, outdoor patio, and free shuttle service to and from town. The newest addition is the Blending Lab, a $1,400 (for up to four people) private class and custom blending session from aging barrels, with a full bottle to take home. There’s a separate tasting and cocktail room right on Main Street, not far from the gondola base. If there is one must-visit whiskey attraction in ski country, this is it.

Just 45 minutes away, Breckenridge’s sister resort Vail is the most popular mountain in the U.S., and was founded by veterans of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division returning from World War II who had been wowed by ski towns of the Alps like Zermatt and St. Moritz. Fittingly, Vail is home to the 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit Company’s tasting room, right in the heart of the pedestrianized village. 10th Mountain makes bourbon from Colorado-grown corn, single malt, and rye—all aged 2 years—and a 100% corn moonshine. The actual distillery is in Gypsum, half an hour west, and even closer to another major ski resort, Beaver Creek, and gives tours by reservation. 10th Mountain also offers a unique one-day private “Fantasy Whiskey Camp” that takes campers on a hands-on deep dive through the distilling process, including raw grains, mashbill, cooking, fermentation, distillation, barreling, and barrel tastings. You enjoy a catered lunch, post-camp cocktails, and go home with souvenir photos, hat, and whiskey you bottle yourself ($600 for one person, $1,050 for two participants, $1,350 for 3 people).

Given how prolific slow-smoked barbecue is in the West, you might expect it to be a staple of ski resorts, but the good stuff is surprisingly hard to find in the mountains. Telluride may not have a distillery, but it is home to the best authentic Southern barbecue restaurant in skiing, Oak BBQ, owned by Alabama transplant Robbie O’Dell, who is as emphatic about American whiskey as he is slow-smoked meats. To say it sits at the bottom of the mountain is an understatement— you can ski right to the door and walk a few steps back to the gondola after eating. The slogan has long been “Beer, Bourbon & BBQ,” and there is an extensive whiskey display that constantly changes, but O’Dell loves his Pappy and usually has multiple options along with hard-to-find labels such as barrel proof Thomas Handy Sazerac rye. Locals come for bacon shots, a grease-rimmed glass of bourbon with a piece of house-cured bacon.

SUN VALLEY RESORT • Sun Valley, Idaho HILLARY MAYBERY / SUN VALLEY RESORT Sun Valley, in Hemingway’s former home of Ketchum, Idaho, was the first destination ski resort in the nation, purpose built by the head of the Union Pacific Railroad—also robbed by Butch Cassidy—to bring the rich and famous to the mountains via luxury railcars. When it opened in 1936 it debuted the world’s first chairlifts; and prior to that, all skiing involved tow ropes or ascending on foot. This devotion to hospitality has never wavered, and Sun Valley was just voted the best ski resort in North America for the third straight year by “Ski” magazine. It has always been a great place for skiers, and now it’s great for whisky lovers too.

Warfield Distillery & Brewery occupies a charming old building in the middle of Ketchum, and between the quality of the food, whiskey, and beer, it is one of the best ski town dining and drinking establishments in the country. Since day one the Warfield has been staunchly chef-driven and focused on local and seasonal ingredients, and many residents consider it the best food in town. It also houses a 30-barrel brewhouse that makes excellent beers, and a squat 210-gallon Forsyths copper still. Founder Alex Buck uses only certified organic malt milled on-site, and explained that “Macallan talks about hav-ing the shortest stills in Scotland, and ours produces a more oily style of whiskey like theirs.” Warfield offers a 3 year old American malt finished in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, a 4 year old version that is available only at the distillery, Local American whiskey aged 6 months in charred new oak, and a limited madeira cask-finished version of the malt whiskey, all organic.

Some other notable opportunities to imbibe alongside world-class skiing out West include Grand Teton Distillery, which supplies legendary Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, a bucket list ski destination. The distillery is 34 miles away in Driggs, Idaho and offers 30-minute tours and tastings, but for those staying in Jackson, some of its five whiskeys (two bourbons, malt, single barrel, wheat, and small batch) can be found in famously colorful local watering holes like après ski icon the Mangy Moose, the classic Silver Dollar Bar & Grill, and Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, where the barstools are saddles. While the state’s most famous distillery, Wyoming Whiskey, sits hours from the slopes in Kirby, Wyoming (where they offer free tours and tastings), the company opened the Jackson Barrel House, a retail store and tasting room in 2022.

Fourteen ski resorts, including prodigious ones like Palisades Tahoe, Heavenly, and Northstar ring Lake Tahoe, and there are several distilleries in the region including Seven Troughs and High Mark. The most notable is Old Trestle in Truckee, that supplies area bars with its limited Sierra bourbon, and is expecting to release its first single malt, Trestle, in time for the 2023-24 ski season.

Bend, Oregon is another ski town synonymous with craft beer and spirits, and sits very close to one of the largest and snowiest resorts in the Pacific Northwest, Mt. Bachelor, as well as two smaller resorts, Hoodoo and Willamette Pass.

Tetherow Resort is one of the region’s top lodging options, and at its Solomon’s restaurant the après ski special is the “Smoke Show,” an array of whisky cocktails smoked at the bar with your choice of hickory, apple, cherry, or bourbon barrel wood chips and a laundry list of bourbons and single malts. The Dogwood Cocktail Cabin in the heart of downtown mixes an extensive slate of craft cocktails with Southern comfort food. There are several specialty whiskey drinks including the Southern Sidecar, with Maker’s Mark, bitters, blood orange, and a sumac rim.

There are a lot of whiskey distilleries around Bend, including Crater Lake Spirits, one of the oldest craft distillers in the Northwest. They operate a charming downtown tasting room and specialize in rye, including Estate, made from 100% legacy rye grown on its distillery farm and aged 5 years. Another specialty is its 5 year old Black Butte whiskey, a collaboration with the region’s best-known craft brewery, Deschutes, and its Black Butte porter. Oregon Spirit Distillers offers tours by reservation and has a tasting room in downtown Bend that offers flights, cocktails, and light bites, serving rye and wheat whiskeys, bourbon, and bottled in bond bourbon. Cascade Spirits is about 20 minutes away in the smaller ski town of Sisters, with a tasting room pouring its Broken Top Mountain bourbons and straight rye, and its other spirits.

THE AMERICAN WEST

Ski Resorts

Beaver Creek Beaver Creek, Colorado; beavercreek.com
Breckenridge Breckenridge, Colorado; breckenridge.com
Deer Valley Park City, Utah; deervalley.com
Heavenly South Lake Tahoe, California; skiheavenly.com
Hoodoo Sisters, Oregon; skihoodoo.com
Jackson Hole Teton Village, Wyoming; jacksonhole.com
Mt. Bachelor Bend, Oregon; mtbachelor.com
Northstar California Truckee, California; northstarcalifornia.com
Palisades Tahoe Olympic Valley, California; palisadestahoe.com
Park City Mountain Resort Park City, Utah; parkcitymountain.com
Sun Valley Sun Valley, Idaho; sunvalley.com
Telluride Ski & Golf Telluride, Colorado; tellurideskiresort.com
Vail Vail, Colorado; vail.com
Willamette Pass Crescent Lake Junction, Oregon; willamettepass.com

Bars and Restaurants

Breckenridge Distillery Tasting Room 137 S. Main St., Breckenridge, Colorado; breckenridgedistillery.com
Crater Lakes Spirits Tasting Room 1024 NW Bond St., Bend, Oregon; craterlakespirits.com
The Dogwood Cocktail Cabin 147 NW Minnesota Ave., Bend, Oregon; thedogwoodcocktailcabin.com
The Gold Pan Saloon 103 N. Main St., Breckenridge, Colorado; thegoldpansaloon.com
High West Saloon 703 Park Ave., Park City, Utah; highwest.com
Mangy Moose 3295 Village Dr., Teton Village, Wyoming; mangymoose.com
Million Dollar Cowboy Bar 25 N. Cache St., Jackson, Wyoming; milliondollarcowboybar.com
Oak BBQ 250 W. San Juan Ave., Telluride, Colorado; oakstelluride.com
Park City Social Aid and Pleasure Club 364 Main St., Park City, Utah; alpineparkcity.com
Silver Dollar Bar & Grill 50 Glenwood St., Jackson, Wyoming; worthotel.com
Solomon’s 61240 Skyline Ranch Rd., Bend, Oregon; tetherow.com
Wyoming Whiskey Jackson Barrel House 45 W. Broadway, Jackson, Wyoming; wyomingwhiskey.com

Distilleries

10th Mountain 500 Trail Gulch Rd., Gypsum, Colorado; 10thwhiskey.com
Alpine 7132 Silver Creek Rd., Park City, Utah; alpinedistilling.com
Breckenridge 1925 Airport Road, Breckenridge, Colorado; breckenridgedistillery.com
Cascade Spirits 261 W. Cascade Ave., Sisters, Oregon; brokentopwhiskey.com
Crater Lake 193330 Pinehurst Rd., Bend, Oregon; craterlakespirits.com
High West 27649 Old Lincoln Hwy., Wanship, Utah; highwest.com
Seven TroughsDistilling 115 Watson Way, Ste. 5, Sparks, Nevada; 7troughsdistilling.com
High Mark Distillery 4690 Longley Lane, Unit 28, Reno, Nevada; highmarkdistillery.com
Old Trestle 10434 Rover Park Place #2, Truckee, California; oldtrestle.com
Oregon Spirits 740 NE 1st St., Bend, Oregon; oregonspiritdistillers.com
Warfield 280 N. Main St., Ketchum, Idaho; drinkwarfield.com
Wyoming Whiskey 120 E. Main St., Kirby, Wyoming; wyomingwhiskey.com

Hotels

Dunton Hot Springs 8532 Road 38, Rico, Colorado; duntondestinations.com
The Lodge at Blue Sky 27649 Old Lincoln Hwy, Wanship, Utah; aubergeresorts.com
Tetherow Resort 61240 Skyline Ranch Rd., Bend, Oregon; tetherow.com

STOWE MOUNTAIN • Stowe, Vermont

NEW ENGLAND

In 1934, some creative skiers got tired of hiking up snow-covered hillsides to ski, so they rigged a rope and pulleys to a Model T Ford engine, creating America’s first motorized lift. Ever since, Vermont has been synonymous with skiing and local craftsmanship, especially in food, beer, and spirits.

WHISTLEPIG PAVILION • Stowe, Vermont The state’s most famous ski town is historic Stowe, and its most famous whiskey is WhistlePig. While the distillery in rural Shoreham is not open to the public, its first tasting room, WhistlePig Pavilion, is in the ski resort’s Spruce Peak base area. It sits immediately outside the resort’s only ski-in hotel, the Lodge at Spruce Peak. The Pavilion is an alpine fondue and raclette shack with private heated pergolas pouring standards and rarities, like 10, 12, 15, and 18 year old WhistlePig rye, and Farmstock, Piggyback, and Boss Hog annual limited releases. Rye cocktails include a barrel-aged Old Fashioned using WhistlePig’s barrel-aged Vermont maple syrup and maple bitters.

In nearby Waterbury, where you exit the interstate for Stowe, sits Prohibition Pig, a combination brewery and barbecue joint that is among the most popular restaurants in Vermont. They boast a large spirts library and specialize in three tasting flights of spirits including mezcal, rum, cognac, Armagnac, and even Fernet. There are 10 different flights of domestic whiskeys, by grain (rye, wheat, and corn), brand (Old Forester, Knob Creek), style (bottled in bond, Kentucky straight rye), and more. Another eight flights cover Scotland, Ireland, and Japan. Prohibition Pig also sits just 8 miles from Bolton Valley Ski Resort.

WhistlePig recently opened Whiskey Parlour, a second tasting location at the headquarters of famed glassblower Simon Pearce in Quechee, in all likelihood the only bar in the country where even the glassware is house-made. This location offers charcuterie, tastings, and lots of hard to find bottles like Double Malt 18 (4th edition), and several bottlings from its Sasquatch Sighting series. It sits very close to the historic marker for that first 1934 rope tow and the Woodstock Inn’s ski resort, Saskadena Six. It’s also directly on the route from the New York tri-state area to Killington, nicknamed the “Beast of the East” and easily the region’s most visited mountain.

In neighboring New Hampshire, there are several ski resorts in the White Mountains, along with Cathedral Ledge Distillery in charming North Conway, less than 10 minutes from two major mountains: Attitash and Cranmore. The state’s first certified organic distillery, it offers daily tours, along with a tasting room serving bar snacks, individual pours, flights, and craft cocktails made with its rye, white whiskey, straight bourbon, and wheated bourbon. North Conway is also home to Deacon Street Restaurant/Martini & Whiskey Bar, serving up bar food, live music, and the biggest whiskey focus in the White Mountains. There are more than 75 bourbons, ryes, other American, Canadian, Scotch, Irish, and Japanese whiskies to choose from.

TAMWORTH DISTILLING • Tamworth, New Hampshire About 20 miles aways sits Tamworth Distilling, quite possibly the nation’s oddest whiskey maker. The locavore ethos includes whiskeys made from corn, rye, and other grains grown within 150 miles and milled in-house. But beyond ingredients, Tamworth focuses on local history and New England traditions for unusual specialties such as apple cider-infused rye, local honey barrel-finished corn whiskey, and Old Tamworth Lodge, an ode to cross-border smuggling during Prohibition, blending imported Canadian whisky and house-made bourbon

That’s not the weird part. Besides small batch whiskeys including cabernet cask-aged bourbon, straight corn, bottled in bond bourbon and rye, and 100% rye, there are some real oddities, like Crab Trapper bourbon with low country crab boil spice mix, and Graverobber Unholy rye, which adds maple syrup from “malignant” trees grown in a colonial-era cemetery—on the distillery grounds. Bird of Courage Roasted Turkey whiskey promises “A Thanksgiving dinner in every bottle,” and infuses 5 year old bourbon with ingredients representing the first Thanksgiving four centuries ago: local chestnuts, apples, cranberries, celery, corn, parsley, and yes, roasted heritage breed New Hampshire turkeys. This meat-and-whiskey trend continues with Deerslayer, wheat whiskey infused with smoked venison meat, cranberries, juniper, mushrooms, and peppercorns. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre comes House of Tamworth Eau de Musc, made with an old-world flavoring technique using oil extracted from the castor gland of the North American beaver to flavor 2 year old bourbon.