The Park City Area Restaurant Association announced a limited edition Mountain Mixer cocktail book that showcases the bartenders, local businesses and recipes from the 2025 cocktail showdown. “We are thrilled to unveil our 2025 Mountain Mixer recipe book to celebrate our local mixologists and their cocktails from this summer’s contest,” said Park City Area Restaurant Association Executive Director Ginger Wicks. The book recaps the 2025 Mountain Mixer Cocktail Contest, which culminated on stage in front of a panel of judges and a local audience. It also spotlights the top winners, finalists and honorable pours, along with the Park City spirits featured in this year’s cocktails.  Held in August, the Mountain Mixer event was the return-to-in-person rendition of the restaurant association’s former Savor the Cocktail Contest traditionally ran the month of July. Following the 2024 contest’s inconclusive result due to a hack of the online voting platform, the restaurant association reconsidered the contest’s format. “We felt like even if we went out and found a more secure online system for maintaining the contest, there would always be skepticism within the participants and probably even within people that were casting their votes,” Wicks told The Park Record. So, back in person, the rebranded contest was held at Deer Valley Resort’s Silver Lake Lodge on Aug. 21, with 10 finalists performing their drinks for a panel including Michelin-starred chef Giancarlo Morelli, James Beard Award-winning cocktail consultant Jim Meehan and beverage entrepreneur of Installation Coffee Ben Usen. That night, HANDLE mixologist AJ Anderson took first for his cocktail, Melt, a whiskey and rum drink served with a juice ice cube. Katelyn Fraser with Butcher’s Chop House Bar incorporated Earl Grey into a London Fog-like cocktail that finished in second place, and Charles Vincent Franco with Grub Steak Park City won third with his cocktail Ube Halo. Only the judges could sample the drinks at the live event due to Utah liquor laws — one loss from previous formats where anyone in the community could help in selecting a winner by visiting the participating bars. Plus, the turnout was small. But with the release of the cocktail book, those same drinks can be tried by anyone and sampled from the comfort of home. “Readers will have a chance to craft award-winning recipes in their own kitchens, enjoy conversations with each participating bartender and gain a deeper appreciation for the immense talent we have brimming right here in the Park City community,” Wicks said. Copies are available at parkcityrestaurants.com or in person at The Collective Park City (675 Main Street) and Park City Desserts (401 Main Street). The post Mountain Mixer recipe book showcases competition’s 2025 cocktails appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less