Vail Resorts has officially named a beloved craft brewery out of a mountain town of about 3,000 residents as its ‘Official Beer Partner of Vail Resorts in Colorado,’ meaning that beers from the Summit County spot will now be available at Colorado resorts including Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Crested Butte. The local beer community is likely to be happy with the pick, too.

Per a March 4 press release, Frisco’s Outer Range Brewery is “stepping into its role as the ‘Official Aprés Beer of the Mountain.'” The press release describes their partnership with Vail Resorts as a “natural fit” – “a mountain-born brewery now fueling post-lap hangs and golden hour aprés at some of the state’s most iconic peaks.”

One aspect of the partnership that makes the moment special is that each Outer Range Brewery beer can will feature a limited-edition label that honors its home mountain, with the design of this label hand-illustrated by co-owner of the brewery Emily Cleghorn.

Outer Range Brewery is a spot that’s gotten plenty of love since it opened in late-2016 (listeners of the OutThere Colorado Podcast have heard it mentioned as a favorite mountain town beer spot many times). Not only was Outer Range dubbed the top small brewery in the United States by Craft Beer & Brewing in 2024, their Frisco taproom has a 4.7-star rating on Google reviews and the spot was also picked as the best aprés-ski bar in North America as part of USA Today’s 10Best program. It’s also worth noting that many people will swing by the taproom for the food, too, with Bird Craft Thai-ish Fried Chicken offered at the spot.

Outer Range Brewery’s location in Frisco also makes it noteworthy, found between four of the five resorts where the beer will be offered and close to I-70 – the route that many visitors use to access these resorts.

In a state where there are many craft beer companies that Vail Resorts could have chosen to partner with, it’s hard to argue with this pick.

Learn more about Outer Range here.

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