Currently, the Beehive State limits beer on draft to 5% ABV. If you’re looking for a shot of spirit, your bartender won’t be allowed to pour you more than 1.5 ounces at a time. You’re technically required to order food with any alcohol order at restaurants, even at the bar. Maybe you’ll encounter the infamous ‘Zion Curtain’—a partition that prevents patrons from observing alcohol preparation altogether.

Despite the byzantine rules in Utah, the native spirits scene is booming, with local distilleries bottling some of the most exciting craft spirits in the country. The liquid enjoys an almost-obligatory presence during après-ski at the state’s world-class winter resorts. And talented mixologists are working that liquid into exciting and innovative preparations from Salt Lake City to points beyond. 

When founder Dave Perkins opened High West in 2006, it became the first legal distillery in Utah since 1870. Since then, over a dozen craft producers are making unique and exciting spirits all over the state. Here are some of the best.

High West helped kickstart the movement in 2006 when it opened at the foot of Park City Resort, the world’s first ski-in gastro distillery. And while they were sourcing much of that juice from outside the state—specifically MGP, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana—the blends and finishes they incorporated into a rye-centric portfolio were enough to turn heads. Because of its prominent placement amidst the annual melee of the Sundance Film Festival, bottles such as Rendezvous Rye and a limited edition, genre-blending Bourye, a bourbon and rye combo, instantly found a high-profile national audience.

Tours: Free Sensory Tour Experiences offered Thursday—Sunday by online reservation.

While there is something for everybody at Sugar House, whiskey fans will want this grain-to-glass operation on their radar. Lead Distiller Richard Malyn manifests his love-of-local in Sugar House’s unique bourbon and rye made with with proprietary yeast strains cultivated at the distillery. But locals will tell you Sugar House is best known for its American single malt, a 92-proof whiskey distilled from a combination of Pale, Vienna, and Honey malts.

Tours: Available via online reservation. $20.00 tour & tasting; $10.00 tour

Alpine Distilling set up shop not far from High West, then opened a second location right on Park City’s Main Street where you can drop in for tasting flights and cocktails. Owner and Master Distiller Rob Sergent is already gaining a following with some of his distinctively modified whiskey expressions, including a bourbon finished in IPA casks and Lafayette, a whiskey delicately spiced with apricot, primrose, and cinnamon. But Alpine also serves beautiful, multi-award-winning gin, vodka, and liqueurs.

Tours: Contact tyler@alpinedistilling.com for details and pricing.

Just south of Salt Lake City in Midvale is Outlaw Distillery. Head distiller Kirk Sedgwick distills only locally sourced gains, which is perhaps most evident in its White Whiskey. But whiskey lovers will sadle up for the bourbon, a mash of  corn, wheat, and barley that’s aged in American and French oak barrels. And don’t skip Outlaw Distillery Cold Brewed Coffee Rum, which is distilled with table quality, ‘fancy’ molasses in place of blackstrap.

Tours: Available via online reservation; $21

Devotees of white spirits will surely enjoy a trip to Holystone, located just south of Salt Lake City. Holystone prides itself on its luxury spirits made with difficult to source and expensive ingredients. This craft distillery is best known for its bold and potent Bosun’s Navy Strength Gin, but don’t overlook its Perla Vodka, Tsunami Sochu, and Apparition Absinthe while you’re there. Scheduled tours of the distillery conclude in Holystone’s 1920’s cruise ship-styled lounge, where visitors nosh on a charcuterie board while tasting through the lineup.

Tours: Tours and tasting available via online reservation; $10.