All Photos Credit: Park City Brewery
I'm a pretty simple guy. In the winter, many of my weekends revolve around skiing and the rest of the year, they are occupied with my friends congregating in my backyard for endless afternoons of cornhole. Either way, both activities go hand in hand with beer. Let's get serious, have you ever played cornhole without a beer in one hand and a bean bag in another? Um...no. And, who doesn't enjoy a refreshing, tasty craft brew at apres ski to help you remember those, oh-so-specific, details to your epic day on the mountain? Duh, no one. Yes, beer is the perfect elixir for these two activities and so many more. However, I am recently discovering that many craft beers of the higher ABV nature are becoming increasingly hard to drink over the prolonged periods of time that coincide with pastimes such as these. That is, unless I want to be asleep by 8. I know...I'm getting old. Perhaps one or two heavy hitters will do but over the long hole, you need something sessionable. Beers that will allow you to enhance details of your day, not forget them. I found these exact qualities when I was recently introduced to and sampled beers from Park City Brewery.
Founded by Scott Ray, Jeremy Ray, Brian Ray, Hud Knight and Jeff Petway in 2015, Park City Brewery brews a variety of super approachable beers that are perfect for quenching your thirst following outdoor activities. It says right on their site, "We wanted to make beers that we could drink all day while playing corn hole in the backyard or all day floating on the river." Located right in the heart of Park City, minutes from Park City Mountain Resort, you'd be hard pressed to find a more ideal beer for my situation. These guys are true to their roots, with Knight, Petway and Scott Ray all working at Backcountry together, they have a fond affinity for the outdoors. While Jeremy Ray, began his brewing career in his garage, a characteristic that holds to this day at the current brewery which is a converted auto body garage with a roll up garage door leading right to the tap room.
The tap room is exactly what you would expect from these guys, a gathering spot with a laid back vibe that is perfect for après everything. Inside they serve four flagship beers in conjunction with their two rotating taps. Although there is no kitchen at the brewery, you can eat free popcorn to your heart's content or dine on delicious food from any one of the tasty food trucks that are often parked right outside. To top it off, they regularly offer live music to pump up the scene and keep the party going all night long. It's really hard to go wrong with an atmosphere that is this fun and inviting, and with their easy drinking, great beers, you can tell that the guys at Park City Brewery just get that at the end of the day it's about having a good time with good people.
While at Park City Brewery, I suggest ordering up a flight and forming your own opinion on which one of their beers is your favorite however, here are two of mine:
A Czech Pilsner but not in the traditional sense. This one is a big stronger at 7.7% ABV. Bold pine and citrus flavors make it quite tasty though and a worthy beer to start or finish your day.
Not nearly as hoppy as I expected, this pale ale went down smoothly. The taste was a little sweeter than I expected, similar to a marzen. Surprising as this was, it didn't bother me since the beer is very smooth and well balanced sticking true to their roots of approachable beers.
