The secret of Utah's famed abundant powder has been out since the 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City. But the fact that alcohol is just as widespread in the notoriously conservative state, however, is not as widely known. Utah locals may know that grabbing a post-powder drink is as common as carving fresh tracks after a storm, but visitors the Salt Lake-region resorts are often left puzzled in their efforts to imbibe.

Well, that's about to change. Your guide? A Park City local transplanted six years ago from New York City, where she'd nostalgically clung to what she believed would be her final cosmo before she left the city for the mountains.

First a few basics:

At both bars and restaurants you can order full-strength bottled beer (draft beer is 3.2 percent alcohol in Utah, as are most domestic bottled beers), and all mixed drinks and cocktails contain only 1.5 ounces of booze—on the mouths of each bottle you'll see the electronic volume regulator that records data and reports back to the state. But you can order a sidecar, another one-ounce shot that accompanies the drink, and pour it in (this is the Utah version of a double). Also, at restaurants you cannot have more than one drink in front of you at a time, and you must order a food item after three drinks (appetizers qualify)—but this latter rule isn't always strictly enforced; sometimes just the intention of ordering food qualifies.

Now, on to the good stuff...