The Mountain Beer Festival in Park City returns for another round in 2023
Enjoy tastings from Utah's best breweries Sept. 16-17
Summer 2023
Written By: Brooke Constance White | Images: Courtesy Deer Valley Resort
If tasting beer from Utah’s best breweries isn’t enough to entice you to the Mountain Beer Festival on September 16 and 17, perhaps the fact that the event is accessed by chairlift will be.
For the second year, Mountain Beer Festival participants will hop on Deer Valley Resort’s Silver Lake Express to be whisked up the mountain to the event. At the top, guests can enjoy an array of brews paired with beautiful views over Jordanelle Reservoir, Mount Timpanogos and the Wasatch Range.
In addition to the views, Josh Hockman, the director of beverage at Deer Valley Resort and the event organizer, says the best thing about the Mountain Beer Festival is that attendees can talk face-to-face with the brew masters and get to know the brains and passion behind some of the state’s best beers.
“We have great relationships with brewers around the state and we see the passion every day and really want to promote them as much as we can, which is really why we decided to curate this event for our friends in the brewing world,” Josh says, adding that while there are other food- and drink-focused events in the area, there hasn’t been much for beer lovers and brewers. “I couldn’t find anyone doing anything for Utah’s local beer manufacturers and breweries here in Park City,” he says.
The event will again feature live music, various eats in the cafeteria-style Silver Lake Restaurant, lawn games and a full slate of activities for the whole family. That’s right, there’s no need to find a babysitter. Like last year, the festival will be open to people of all ages and feature a kids’ zone with things like face painting and bubble machines.
The event, which sold out last year, was a massive success for everyone involved. Josh says that he expects this year to be no different.
“We wanted this to be beneficial to guests, the breweries and Deer Valley — and at the post-event last year, we had guests and breweries thanking us for putting it on, so I’d say it was a huge success,” he says. “We don’t want it to grow too big too fast, but instead to grow incrementally so we can do good by the breweries we have a great track record with. So there will be a few more breweries this year, and the kids’ zone will have even more fun activities.”
Like last year, general admission tickets include three beer tokens that you can turn in for 4-ounce tasters. The higher-tiered tickets include perks like a commemorative beer mug, more taster tokens and access to the VIP barbecue event.
Jazmin Comley, the sales and marketing manager at UTOG Brewing Company, says beer festivals like the Mountain Beer Festival are really important to newer breweries like theirs.
“Josh has done a lot for our industry in the last couple of years, and this festival is just another example of that,” she says, adding that they really appreciated that the festival included only Utah breweries. “We’ve really been focused on getting to beer festivals to get our brand and beer out there, and this was by far one of the best we have ever participated in.”
Interested in high-point beers or non-alcoholic options? No problem. The Mountain Beer Festival event permit allows participating breweries to serve beers beyond 5 percent ABV, and the festival partner, Athletic Brewing Company, will have quality non-alcoholic beers on tap.
