March can be considered the ‘kick off’ to Colorado’s high country après season.
The sun is getting higher in the sky, the days are getting longer, costumes are being unboxed, and skiers and riders are making plans to break out their favorite alcoholic beverages slope side.
You can find such people, partake with them as well, at legendary locations like Arapahoe Basin’s “the Beach”, Purgatory’s “Purgy’s Slopeside” and Aspen Highland’s “Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro” all soaking up sun rays while enjoying libations among the spring corn snow.
Personally, not having aprèsed in Colorado recently since moving back home from Idaho in 2021, I wanted to know if the ‘drink of choice’ had changed from the days of domestic kegs on tailgates or bottles of craft beer being popped by lighters.
Drinking $6 pours of Colorado Native slopeside in April 2015 as Third Eye Blind played ‘How’s It Going to Be’ is what I recall après with a show to be. But I also recall après as being a full spread of lawn chairs down, with a Smokey Joe grill fired up and Phish playing through the AUX jack from the iPhone 3G inside the 2007 Subaru Impreza at the Utah Junction parking lot at Mary Jane.
Raw data suggests NO, the drink of choice hasn’t really changed over the last few years, even though as Colorado skiers and riders continue to drink above their age-bracket compared to fellow Americans.
According to a 2023 report from the Colorado State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW), Coloradans drink more standard drinks (a 12oz beer, 5oz wine or 1.5oz spirit drink) per capita than the national average; 645 drinks/year vs. 536 drinks/year. Plus a 2021 report from the Beer Institute concluded Colorado drinkers 21+ each chugged down 30 gallons of beer over the course of the year, ranking the Centennial State 24th in the nation for beer consumption.
However, alternative drinks like hard seltzers and ciders have seen continued growth, with hard seltzers making up 7% of the total alcohol market circa 2021. Then someone told me about this Finnish drink, Long Drink. Seemed novel, Sprite-like and sweet. So I tried one, then two.
I came to find out this company has been popping off at the Colorado après scene in recent years at places like Steamboat’s T-Bar.
Finland was preparing to host the 1952 Summer Olympics and wanted to welcome global visitors, but became concerned with how to serve them drinks fast enough. The government commissioned the creation of a refreshing and revolutionary new liquor drink, and thus the first long drinks were born.
Regardless, I have a sneaking suspicion, drinks like Long Drink haven’t fully replaced New Belgium, Coors Light and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, but they are worth the buy-crack-sip-repeat action, setting up a more fizzy way to listen to Bob Marley in the parking lot while your dog runs around.
Steamboat began selling Long Drink in the winter of 2021. For years, Arapahoe Basin has partnered with Long Drink during the ski area’s Enduro Challenge. In addition, Long Drink has also sponsored the Aspen Highlands Freestyle Fridays, which is returning from its glory days in the early 2000s.
Slopesliders enjoy a Long Drink alcoholic drink at a picnic table somewhere on the slopes in Colorado.
Founders Ere Partanen, Sakari Manninen, Mikael Taipale, and Evan Burns frequently travel to Colorado each season to ski the mountains where Long Drink is sold. Partanen says his favorite mountain is Arapahoe Basin because of its local appeal and expert skiing options.
Aspen Highlands was a notable trip with all the founders, they said in a statement about Long Drink in Colorado. It included hiking the Highlands Bowl and then visiting Merry-Go-Round for Long Drinks afterwards, making new friends with every sip.
If you hit up Steamboat, Arapahoe Basin or Aspen Highlands this spring, look for this new drink to après ski or ride after you’ve harvested spring corn snow or had enough of that local craft beer rubbish.
Check out the Whiteout page on the Denver Gazette’s website for great skiing, snowboarding, and snow news, plus weather forecasts and resort information at denvergazette.com/ outdoors/whiteout.
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