I'm not a skier or a snowboarder. Despite having grown up in Vermont, I've always been more of a cozy-in-the-lodge person than a hurtling-down-the-slopes one. My idea of thrill seeking is finding the best snacks — you don't have to do the "ski" part to enjoy après-ski, right? Whether you find yourself on the lift or not, this winter's sure to be a tasty one in Vermont's mountain towns. We headed to new and newly reimagined restaurants near Stowe, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, Smugglers' Notch, Bolton Valley and Cochran's Ski Area to survey the scene. If you're hitting resort areas this winter — for whatever reason — be sure to stop for a bite. I'll probably be at the bar. — J.B. Night Moves Nocturnal, 140 Cottage Club Rd., Stowe, 760-6316, nocturnalstowe.com Opening beside the Alchemist could put a lot of pressure on a brewpub. But for the team behind Nocturnal — which has run Nocturnal Brewing in Hayesville, N.C., since 2018 — that proximity was one of the draws. "North Carolina and Vermont are two of the best beer states in the entire country," general manager and operator TC McNeill said. "We wanted to feature our beer against some of the best in Vermont, give the beer nerds something else to enjoy, and serve it with some southern comfort and hospitality." Proximity to the mountain was another plus; Nocturnal owner Mike Plummer has long spent winters at Smugglers' Notch, skiing and snowboarding with his family. After refreshing the longtime Sunset Grille & Tap Room space, his team opened Nocturnal's Stowe outpost in March with a smokin' hot barbecue menu befitting its North Carolina roots. All the beer comes from the brewery, which is 1,000 miles away near the North Carolina-Georgia border. There, head brewer David Grace uses a 10-barrel system — upgraded from a 3.5-barrel system to supply the Vermont expansion but still a nanobrewery — to make "classic styles with a modern twist," McNeill said. The lineup ranges from lagers to IPAs to imperial stouts, from flagship the Hayes (a hazy IPA) to Life on the Nautilus, a gose brewed with squid ink. The Nocturnal team make the 18-hour drive to deliver the beer themselves. "It's a very mom-and-pop operation," McNeill said. The 38-year-old Georgia native previously worked for Plummer at Southbound, a restaurant outside Atlanta. He quickly embraced the Vermont lifestyle and took up snowboarding…