Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey teams up with Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail for a private sipping experience

If you like whiskey, you’ll love to new whiskey tastings being offered in a life-sized whiskey barrel. Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail have teamed up to bring you a private après ski dining and sipping experience throughout the winter.

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey is Colorado’s oldest distillery and was the first legal whiskey distillery to be established after Prohibition. This award-winning Rocky Mountain single malt is handcrafted from grain to glass in Denver and is made simply with 100% malted barley, yeast, El Dorado Spring water and time in the barrel.

The Four Seasons Vail is housing the barrel lounge, named the Diamond Peak Lounge after one of Stranahan’s own labels, in an alcove in the lobby near Remedy Bar. It’s the perfect setting for a private getaway and seats up to four people. Once you enter, you are treated to several tastings of Stranahan’s finest selections along with curated nibbles that go with the qualities and nuances of each whiskey in the flight.

I got a chance to try this experience out myself and it was so cozy in the barrel and there is a window that faces out toward the front of the Four Seasons Vail where we could view snowflakes coming down outside and then a glass door at the entrance of the barrel where you could see the hustle and bustle of the lobby activities at Four Seasons Vail. Cody Veros was our server from the Four Seasons and was very knowledgeable about the whiskeys and we were also joined by Jennifer Fruzzetti, senior public relations manager for Stranahan’s and the distillery’s head blender, Justin Aden.

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“I like to say that my job starts with what goes into the barrel and what comes out of the barrel,” Aden said. “You do everything you possibly can to control all the variables. You’re always juggling two things at once: Mother Nature and Father Time. But, the cool thing about whiskey is that if it is not necessarily where you want it to be that day, you wait a little longer or blend it with something that will get it there. Consistency is key and that’s where I think the really good distilleries separate themselves.”

The first whiskey we tried was Stranahan’s Original with scents of caramel and butterscotch, hints of vanilla and a touch of leather on the nose, while the palate tends to notice the clean malt character with a little black pepper, clove, vanilla and caramel.

This tasting was paired with a small dish of house-smoked nuts with sea salt to blend with the smokiness and sweetness of the whiskey.

The second whiskey in the flight was Stranahan’s Diamond Peak which is a marriage between the 5- to 8-year Stranahan’s Whiskey and Reserva de la Familia from Jose Cuervo. It’s first stored in the whiskey barrel and then it’s stored in a cask that previously housed the tequila.

“So, as you smell this, it is definitely a bit more peppery and floral on the nose. I like to describe it as a tequila drinker’s whiskey. People who don’t typically drink whiskey but drink tequila, they love this product,” Veros said.

The second food pairing was a house-made wasabi pea mixture which blended the pepper from the tequila-aged whiskey and the peppery and smokey flavors from the snacks.

The third tasting was Stranahan’s Sherry Cask, which is double-distilled 100% malted barley, aged in virgin American white oak barrels; then it’s transferred to Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso Sherry barrels from southern Spain. On the nose, our group picked up the scents of figs, dates, raisins and a little bit of honey. Our food pairing consisted of chocolate truffles from Four Seasons Resort Vail’s pastry chef, and the sweetness of the chocolate played off the flavors of the whiskey.  

Our fourth pairing was a cocktail utilizing Stranahan’s Blue Peak whiskey.

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“The reason we use the Blue Peak in the cocktail is because it is a very neat, mellow, whiskey without a bunch of complicated flavor profiles so it is perfect for mixing,” Veros said.

We had a choice of two cocktails, the first one was called the Penicillin which mixed Stranahan’s Blue Peak Whiskey with house-made ginger syrup, lemon juice and a scotch float over a big rock of ice. The second cocktail choice was called a Bourbon Smash with house-made blackberry thyme syrup and lemon juice. We also had a nice charcuterie board with artisanal meats, cheeses and other treats.

This private après ski dining and sipping experience in the life-sized whiskey barrel will be hosted at the Four Seasons Resort Vail through the end of the ski season. There is another life-sized barrel slopeside at Steamboat Mountain and Resort and last season The Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa hosted the barrels in Avon.

“We love taking these whiskey barrels around Colorado. Colorado is our home state and although we’re based in Denver, we feel like the ski towns are our home, too,” Fruzzetti said.

Bookings can be made by calling the resort at 970-477-8600.