Local Beer Meets Mountain Air at Deer Valley Resort's Annual Beer Festival

While summer may mean sleep for ski resorts like Deer Valley Resort, the verdant green of the mountain is just as enjoyable. But besides mountain biking, what else could tempt you to spend an afternoon mid-mountain at the resort?

It’s a question that motivated Deer Valley beverage director Josh Hockman to create the Mountain Beer Festival three years ago.

Hockman, who personally enjoys wine, first came up with the idea of hosting a wine festival at the resort during the summer. He had a “manual” ready to present to the resort’s vice president, but a few local breweries stepped in with a different idea.

“They pitched the idea and said, ‘You know, there’s no beer festival in Park City, or even Summit County,’” Hockman said, so he changed course.

Hosting a beer festival also meant an opportunity to showcase local creators, rather than being limited by the state’s climate to sourcing from out-of-state wineries. After years of work, Hockman had built up many relationships with Utah breweries eager for the opportunity to promote their hard work.

“Our breweries here in the state, even though their hands are a little bit tied by having to produce 5.0% beer — which sometimes deviates from traditional recipes and such — they still do a fantastic job of putting together quality products,” Hockman said.

The goal was to allow these breweries to showcase their best creations. Rather than having Hockman choose which beers to feature at the event, it was important for the breweries to decide which drinks to bring, he said.

“I’m going to put the ball in your court, bring what you want to showcase, this is your time to shine,” he said.

And we have to bring the brewmasters with us, Hockman said. That’s the key.

“We want attendees to be able to come in and say, ‘You’re the guy who puts everything in the tank and you know all the recipes by heart. That’s super cool,’” he said. “We wanted to give breweries an opportunity to talk about their brands and their beers and their pride.”

Each brewery offers three to five different products to showcase the diversity of their work, Hockman said. In previous years, vendors have included Proper Brewing, UTOG Brewing, Bohemian Brewery, Shades Brewing, Kiitos Brewing, Talisman Brewing, Moab Brewery, Park City Brewing, TF Brewing, Squatter’s Wasatch Brewery, Uinta Brewing, Roosters Brewing Co., Salt Flats Brewing, Offset Bier and Mountain West Cider.

For this year’s event, they hope to add a few more from around the state, like Etta Place Cidery and Silver Reef Brewing Co.

For this event, keep an eye out for Proper Brewing’s new Deer Valley Pilsner, a completely unique beer created in collaboration with both teams, Hockman said.

“We knew they had some pilsners that we liked and they had some great recipes, but we wanted to mix them with some old-style pilsners. So we took some really old recipes and tried-and-true helles and lagers, broke those down and then came up with some new recipes,” he said. “It was really fun to sample their range.”

Although there are plenty of vendors, they don’t want the event to seem crowded, said Lindsay Arnold, Deer Valley’s events manager.

“We want to keep this event somewhat of a ‘boutique’ kind of event,” she said. “Because it’s smaller, it gives guests the opportunity to talk directly to the brewmaster or experience these beers in a little more personal way.”

Taking a cue from the Park City Food and Wine Festival, attendees ride the Silver Lake Express chairlift to the mid-mountain, where the open terrain is decorated with vendor tents and a stage for live music.

“It’s about feeling like you’re in the mountains,” Hockman said. “You’re immersed in the resort; you’re not just arriving and sitting in a parking lot under tents where it can get hot.”

And unlike most alcohol-based events, the Mountain Beer Festival is family-friendly.

“Being good neighbors and knowing that we have a lot of young families here in town who have kids and can’t always find a babysitter, or maybe they don’t want to spend the weekend without their kids, allowing kids to come … has really increased our attendance,” Hockman said. “Because, ‘Oh wow, we can actually go out there and enjoy this and make a memory together as a whole unit.’”

Their kids’ zone includes face painting and yard games, and the day will feature a live music lineup from Utah-based artists, curated by Mountain Town Music.

This year, the event will run from September 14 to 15 from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets start at $50 and are sold in tiers, and some include collectible beer mugs and t-shirts. Non-alcoholic tickets start at $15.

Each guest receives a certain number of tokens that can be redeemed for 4-ounce glasses at each vendor booth, Hockman said. This style of sampling allows people to pace themselves and find their favorite beers without committing to a 16-ounce beer.

Last year, they created a Best in Fest contest, where people could virtually vote for their favorite beer, to increase participation, Arnold said. They’ve also beefed up their retail salespeople over the past three years, she added.

Tickets for this year’s event can be purchased on the Deer Valley website at deervalley.com/things-to-do/events/mountain-beer-festivalCome prepared to talk beer and ask questions, Hockman and Arnold said.

“Let everyone have their say, let everyone taste everything and walk away with a better understanding of all the different beers that are being produced,” Hockman said.