Ski Vermont Magazine

day. That is absolutely my favorite thing
about every après bar I’ve ever spent
time in: Friends, new and old, telling
stories with big smiles.”
Once you’ve found barstools for yourself
and your crew, the more important
question becomes what to drink. Do you
go with a fancy mixed cocktail? A glass
of whiskey—neat—that’ll warm your
gullet and loosen your mind? Perhaps
something delivered in a 12-ounce
aluminum vessel, brewed somewhere in
the greater Milwaukee area?
Although the Norwegians might have
started the tradition back in the 1800s
in Telemark, and the French affixed
the “après-ski” name sometime around
the first Winter Olympic Games
in Chamonix, it’s fair to argue that
Vermont lately has taken the experience
to new heights. No other place combines
the quality and quantity of skiing with
the quality and quantity of homegrown
adult beverages that Vermont now offers.
Vermont is on its way to becoming the
Napa Valley of beer, if it’s not already,
with craft brews that regularly rate
among the world’s best. A growing
number of cider makers and vineyards
now dot the land. And then there’s the
hard stuff. Today, Vermont has close
to 20 distillers of various sizes, creating
their own slants on vodka, whiskey, gin
and more. For a state with the secondsmallest
population, Vermont has an
outsized impact on the world of tipplers.
“There’s so much excitement around
alcohol in Vermont right now,” says
Ben Calvi, a cider maker at Woodchuck.
“Distilled spirits—we have great spirits
distilled locally. Our beer scene has been
awesome for 10 or 15 years, and every
year it seems like there’s a newer, better
microbrewery popping up. And we have
eight cideries here in Vermont. There
are only probably 100 in the U.S., so to
have almost 10 percent of them here in
the small state of Vermont is pretty cool.
Vermont’s a perfect place for hard cider.
We’ve been growing apples here since the
first colonists came. Everyone’s just really
excited about drinking when they come here.”
Seeking guidance, I asked folks from three of Vermont’s best
for their take on what makes a great drink when you come off
the hill.
THE DISTILLERY
“At the end of the day, people like to sit around together and
enjoy the afternoon air and talk about the day,” says Steve
Johnson. “You’ve been out doing something, you come back and
get together again, so there’s a time to talk and people will have
a cocktail.
“[What’s best is] something that’s not heavy, but I’m just going
to enjoy sipping while I’m talking to people,” Johnson says.
“Later in the evening, they might go for the Grand Marnier
drinks, but if you come off the hill at 4:00, you might want
the lighter spirits: vodka or gin.”
As the president of Vermont Spirits Distilling Co., Johnson
should know a thing or two about cocktails. The Quecheebased
distillery has grown steadily since its founding, churning
out a mix of products including vodka, bourbon, brandy,
whiskey and gin. The company takes a decidedly Vermont
approach to making spirits, using local agricultural products
as ingredients.
“Given that we have more breweries per capita than anywhere
else in the country, I don’t think it’s surprising to people that
we’re distilling spirits as well,” Johnson says.
“I think some of what we do is different—we don’t have a lot of
potatoes or grain, so we’re not making vodka out of that. We’re
using apples and whey and maple and things like those. That’s
probably what surprises people,” he adds, “and that it’s good.”
Good may be an understatement. Vermont Gold Vodka and
Vermont White Vodka remain leading sellers for the company,
and its No. 14 Bourbon (in reference to Vermont, the 14th
state) is clearly a hit, according to Johnson. “We can’t keep that
in stock, actually.”
(CONTINUED on PAGE 43)
40 SkiVermont.com