Party Time

Downtown Happy Hour Sampler Angling for some après? There’s no shortage of the big HHs in town. The only problem: finishing your day’s adventure in time.

8th Street Steakhouse

4:30 to 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to close daily; 8thstreetsteakhouse.com

Aurum Food & Wine

4:30 to 6 p.m. daily; aurumsteamboat.com

Back Door Grill

3:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily, all day Sundays upstairs at the bar; thebackdoorgrill.com

The BARley Tap & Tavern

5 to 7 p.m. daily; thebarleycolorado.com

Bésame

4 to 5:30 p.m. daily; besamesteamboat.com

Carl’s Tavern

2 to 6 p.m. daily; carlstavern.com

The Corner Slice

3:35 to 5 p.m. daily; thecornerslice.com

E3 Chophouse

3:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily; e3chophouse.com

Harwigs L’Apogees

5 to 6:30 p.m. daily; harwigs.com

How Ya Doin’ Pizza & Eats

4 to 5:30 p.m. daily, howyadoinpizzaneatz.com

Johnny B Goods Diner

3 to 5 p.m. daily, www.johnnybgoodsdiner.com

Laundry Kitchen & Cocktails

4:30 to 6 p.m. daily; thelaundryrestaurant.com

Johnny B Goods Diner

3 to 5 p.m. daily, www.johnnybgoodsdiner.com

Mahogany Ridge

4 to 5 p.m.; mahoganyridgesteamboat.com

Mai Thai

3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; maithaimenu.com

Mambo Italiano

4 to 5:30 p.m. daily; mambos.com

Mazzola’s Italian Diner

5 to 6 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. at the bar; mazzolas.com

Ocean Dragon

5 to 6 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; oceandragonchinesesushi.com

Off The Beaten Path

4 to 6 p.m. Monday - Saturday, 4 to 5 p.m. Sundays; steamboatbooks.com

Old Town Pub & Restaurant

3 to 6 p.m. daily; theoldtownpub.com

O’Neil’s Tavern & Grill

4 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight daily; oneilstavernandgrill.com Otto Pint

4:30 to 5:30 p.m.; ottopintsteamboat.com

Primrose

4-6 p.m.; primrosesteamboat.com

Salt & Lime

3:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily; suckalime.com

Schmiggity’s

7 to 8:30 p.m. daily; schmiggitys.com

Seedz

3 to 5 p.m. weekends; seedz-café.com

Sunpie’s Bistro

3 to 6 p.m. daily

Table 79 Foodbar

4:30 to 6 p.m. daily; table79steamboat.com

Tahk Omakase Sushi

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wed.- Sun. Taco Cabo

4 to 6 p.m. daily; tacocabo.com

The Press

3 to 7 p.m. daily; thepresssteamboat.com

Vaqueros

2 to 6 p.m. daily; vaquerosmexican.net

West End Sports Grill

4 to 6 p.m. mon. - fri.; westendsportsgrill.com

Yampa Valley Ice House

3:30-5:30 p.m. daily; yampaice.com

Don’t see your restaurant on this list? Email eugeneb@swillinandchillin.com.

Swillin’ Happy Hour Sampler

Aurum (4:30-6pm daily):

Sample Drinks: 50% off apps; $8 margs, mules and other cocktails; $6 wines; half-price drafts. Sample Food: half-price app’s, including Latin street tacos, pork carnitas, crispy duck wings, Angus burger and more. Back Door Grill (3:305:30pm daily): Sample

Drinks: $5 house wines, $3.5 draft beers, $5 Jameson’s, $4 wells. Sample Food: $3.5 fish tacos, $6 burgers/ wings/large basket o’ fries, $7 cream cheese jalapeno poppers. Carl’s (3-6pm daily):

Sample Drinks: $5 house margs, half-price glass wines, $5 mules, $2 Sessions, $4 well drinks/shots. Sample Food: half-price wings, the business, deviled eggs and more; $12/three pulled pork sliders.

E3 Chophouse (3:305:30pm daily): Sample

Drinks: $7 house margs, $6-$8 glass wines, $6 sangria slush, $5 drafts/ microbrews, $4 domestic/imports, $5 well drinks. Sample Food: $7 truffle fries, $16 lobster mac ($9 bisque), 412 ceviche, $9 French dip. Los Locos (3-6pm daily):

Sample Drinks: $1 off margs, beers. Sample Food: $1 off tacos. (Bonus: Margarita Mondays: 5 buck margs; and Taco Cat Tuesdays: discounted tacos).

Mahogany Ridge (4-5pm

daily): Sample Drinks: All drinks half price. Sample Food: $1 tapas menu (try the brie and mango filo cups, carne asada taco and pork belly lollipop).

O’Neil’s (3:30-5:30pm

daily): Sample Drinks: $5 house wines, $2 off beers, $6 car bombs, $5 cocktail of the day. Sample Food: $6 pretzels, $6 pub salad, $8 potato skins, $7 Irish mac n’ cheese/fish n’ chips. Primrose (4-6pm): Sample

Drinks: $3 off signature cocktails and drafts, $5 premium well cocktails. Sample Food: seasonal specials (hopefully the crispy, apple cider vinegar/parmesan Brussels sprouts). Slopeside Grill (3-6pm):

Try the Sunday Brunch with live music from 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

West End Sports Grill

(4-6pm): Sample Drinks: $3.99 any draft beer, 4.99 any house well. Sample Food: chicken wings, Yellow Belly Burger.

Photo courtesy of Backdoor Grill The upstairs bar at Back Door Grill is a great place to grab happy hour.

On-Mountain Après

Hoo boy, the après scene on the mountain just got a whole lot more hopping, with the resort adding a new après ski plaza, ski beach, ice rink, music stage and more at the base—including The Range Food & Drink Hall, featuring Sunshine Bowl Ramen, Pioneer Pie and Twister Tacos on the first floor and a full bar on the second, with outdoor seating overlooking the mountain. And as well as new additions, the base also has its triedand-true places to après embibe. Behold a Swillin’ sampler:

T-bar

This venerable locals’ favorite is known more for its downhome, grassroots vibe than its social stature. It lets you ski right in — even allowing you to try a little freestyle move in front of the adoring crowd — and click out of your bindings tableside. With an old school vibe just like its namesake, archaic lift, it serves up cold brewha’s on tap, wines and bomber margs, as well as town’s best game of drunken hammerschlagen. Bonus: It’s located at the former ski patrol shack, a good omen if you smash your pinkie.

Slopeside

A longtime local’s fave, Slopeside is known for its homespun, wood-fired ‘za’s, ice cold brews, live music outside come spring, and straight-from-the-Arctic, ski-up ice bar. Ski or board right up to your chair (poaching a nacho from another table in route) before buying a round for the masses. Hint: A “locals” pint pass gets you happy hour pricing on beer.

Los Locos

In the mood for margs? Los Locos has you covered, with some of the best salt-rimmed libations in town. Order inside, grab a number, and they’ll bring it outside to your table. For grub, saddle up to chips and salsa, nachos, and green chili-smothered burritos. Bonus: Heaters keep your tootsie’s warm if you stay into the evening.

Paramount

Head to Paramount for some of the cheapest beers at the base (including pitchers), as well as covered outdoor seating that lets you wave to friends walking by to their poached parking space at Ski Times Square. And their food is—well, paramount as well—including Pesto Chicken, Pulled Pork with Brie and Cubano sandwiches, and handcut fries with mango-chipotle ketchup. Bonus: overhead heaters that actually work, keeping you toasty as you get toasted.

Truffle Pig

Bar none, one of the cheapest post-schralp-sesh beer accolades go to Truffle Pig, where you can saddle up to $3 draft brewha’s, chal Sessions and other deals (so go ahead and buy a round for your friends). While fitting inside can be tough along the narrow-corridor bar, you can always head outside by a large gas fireplace, banging your boots together to get warm. And, oh yeah, gotta’ try the Truffle fries.

Timber & Torch

With a new, expansive view thanks to this summer’s rehab of the base, Timber & Torch boasts the mountain’s largest party area, with umbrella bars on the patio and an expansive bar inside with a live music dance floor (please, please, not in your ski boots). Come spring, its multi-tiered deck connects inside via giant roll-up doors. For grub, try bistro-inspired food like the Ski Town USA Burger, washed down with 24 beers on tap. Bonus: Happy Hour at a tired-legs-friendly 3-5 p.m.

Routtie’s

Replacing Last Tracks (which many locals didn’t even know was there), Routtie’s, on the corner near Paramount in Torian Plaza, is the resort’s newest BBQ hang-out, featuring Texas-style vittles and beer and a deck where you can catch all the action.

Gondola Pub & Grill

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Gondola Pub & Grill is the second-longest, same-owneroperated restaurant in Steamboat, behind Harwig’s downtown. It features a triedand-true happy hour and family friendly, American-style cuisine designed to get you back out on the hill. Bonus: an outdoor upper deck, upper-level bar, and fire pit on the lower patio.

Fleischer Sports

What…a ski shop in a mountain aprés listing? Yep. Two-time Olympian Chad Fleisher has a bar in his ski shop at the base, whose three taps let you sit directly in front of the CSA tuning machine’s window and two 55-inch televisions — while waiting for your skis to get waxed or hanging out with friends. “As far as I know, this concept has never been done anywhere, even in Europe,” says Fleischer, known for his crash in the Hahnenkamm World Cup Downhill in Kitzbuehel.

Brick

We dare you not to sing “She’s a brick…house!” by the Commodores when walking through the doors of The Brick, located at the base of the Wildhorse Gondola. The closest grub and bevvies to the Meadows parking lot, inside you’ll find homespun pizzas, beer, wine and more — as well as the gondola as your personal valet service. Trivia: The term “brick house” means “a curvaceous, attractive female.”

Party Time Tidbits

Courtesy T Bar

Best Place to Dance in Ski Boots

Not that you should ever, ever, do this, but in the rare chance you do dance in your ski boots, at least do it outside at Slopeside, where snow serves as a dance floor (and everyone will be spared your clop-clopping around). Please, no stepping on other revelers’ toes, even if you’re doing the two-step. And if you have boots with a walk mode, so much the better—especially for those switch/moonwalk moves.

Yelp Help for the T-bar

Apparently, some Yelp reviewers don’t see eye-to-eye with our venerable slopeside T-bar, a favorite aprés spot at the base the mountain known more for its good times than chic ambiance. Consider the above slogan that longtime T-bar aficionado and local ER doc Dave Wilkinson found on a Yelp review and decided to make into a T-shirt. And they say even bad press is good press.

Winter Wondergrass Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Yep, it’s been a decade since Winter Wondergrass first set its foot-stomping feet in Steamboat, and the three-day bluegrass festival is celebrating big time with its show this year, to be held March 3-5 in the Upper Knoll parking lot and other venues around town and the mountain. This year’s line-up is all-star as usual, featuring performances by the likes of Leftover Salmon, the Infamous Stringdusters, Big Richard, Greensky Bluegrass and more, as well as such local heroes as Buffalo Commons and Old Town Pickers. So come get your freakazoid on and share the love of bluegrass in the ‘Boat. “We aim to cultivate and nurture the relationship between nature, authentic music and communal family, creating a vehicle for inspiration,” says ringleader Scotty Stoughton. “Our intention is to create a platform for artists, vendors, attendees, and our planet to unite as one – connecting the community.” Info: www.winterwondergrass.com