There’s nothing like that first sip after a long day on the slopes—and if you’re ready to elevate your après-ski experience, Spark Plug’s award-winning nitro-infused espresso martini in a can is the drink you’ve been waiting for. Smooth, bold, and energizing, it’s the perfect way to toast to another epic day on the mountain.
Après-ski is its own kind of ritual. The word is French—literally “after ski”—and it grew up in the Alpine villages of the 1950s, where skiers pulled off their boots and gathered around a fire to trade the day’s near-misses and hero lines. The gear is heavier now and the lifts are faster, but the heart of it hasn’t changed: that golden window between the last run and dinner, when your legs are pleasantly wrecked, the light is going flat blue over the ridgeline, and what you want more than anything is something warm in the room and something good in your hand. That in-between moment is exactly where an espresso martini earns its keep—it’s the one cocktail built to wake you up and wind you down at the same time.
The Perfect Après-Ski Companion
When the gear comes off and the firepit starts roaring, Spark Plug delivers bar-quality luxury without the wait:
- Nitro-Infused Perfection – Spark Plug is infused with nitrogen rather than carbonated with CO2, and that single choice is why it drinks the way it does. Nitrogen bubbles are smaller and less soluble than carbonation, so instead of a sharp fizz you get a soft, cascading surge and a persistent crema—the same tan cap of micro-foam a barista pulls on a proper espresso. Pour it over ice and that head holds, giving you the velvety texture a good espresso martini is judged on.
- Premium Ingredients – Made with real Arabica coffee, six-times-distilled vodka, Madagascar vanilla, and pure cane sugar. No synthetic sweeteners—the 8g of sugar per serving is cane, not lab, which is why the finish stays clean instead of that cloying artificial aftertaste. It’s also gluten-free and dairy-free.
- Dairy-Free & Portable – Smooth, indulgent flavor in a 200ml can that fits right in a lodge cooler or a backpack pocket. No shaker, no jigger, no bottle of espresso liqueur to haul up the mountain—the whole cocktail travels in something the size of a slim soda.
- A Measured Lift – Each can carries roughly 80–100mg of caffeine, about what you’d get from a single strong cup of coffee—enough to shake off the drowsy warmth of the lodge without wiring you for the night.
At 20% ABV—40 proof—a can lands right in the pocket of a classic espresso martini: assertive enough to feel like a real cocktail, not so hot that it flattens the coffee. The judges have noticed. Spark Plug took Best in Show RTD at the 2024 TAG Global Spirits Awards, Double Gold at the PR%F Awards, and Gold at both the San Diego Spirits Festival and the 2025 Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards, among others—the kind of run that tends to follow a drink that gets the fundamentals right.
Where to Find Spark Plug This Ski Season
Hit the slopes, then stock up. Spark Plug 4-packs are on retail shelves in a handful of states, and shipped direct to most of the country:
- California – From Mammoth to Big Bear and Tahoe’s west shore, retail 4-packs are on the ground.
- Nevada – For winter runs near Lake Tahoe or a quick Vegas getaway—and the home turf where Spark Plug was born in 2023.
- New York – Après scenes in the Adirondacks and Catskills just got an upgrade.
- New Jersey – Stocked and ready for the drive north or west.
Not near a shelf? Spark Plug ships direct-to-consumer to 44 states through licensed retailers, with an adult signature and ID required on delivery. Online orders go out in 4-packs (a two-pack delivery minimum), and if you’re provisioning a whole cabin, the Party Pack bundles four 4-packs—sixteen cans, enough to keep a full chalet in espresso martinis through a long weekend.
Prefer to prep ahead? Order online and have Spark Plug delivered to your cabin, hotel, or doorstep before your next trip—just build in a few days for shipping so it beats you to the mountain.
How to Enjoy Spark Plug in the Mountains
The single most important step happens before you open the can: get it cold and keep it cold. Espresso martinis live or die on temperature—a lukewarm one tastes flabby and over-sweet, while a properly chilled one is crisp and the coffee reads sharp. Bury the cans in the lodge cooler under the ice, or set them in fresh snow off the deck for fifteen minutes. Then pour slowly over a glass of ice and give the nitro a beat to build its crema before you drink.
🎿 Post-Run Wind-Down – Pour over ice and dust the crema with cocoa powder or a fine grating of dark chocolate. The cocoa’s bitterness echoes the roast and the foam carries it, so the aroma hits before the first sip—the mountain equivalent of a café corretto after a cold morning.
🏂 Lodge Lounge – If you packed stemware (or the cabin has it), pour it neat into a chilled coupe for the full ceremony—the wide bowl shows off the crema and keeps the coffee aromatics up near your nose. A twist of orange peel over the top is the one garnish worth the effort: the citrus oil lifts the whole thing and cuts the sweetness.
🔥 Back at the Cabin – This is where pairing gets fun. Coffee and toasted marshmallow are natural partners, so s’mores are the obvious move—the char and the vanilla in the drink meet in the middle. For something less sweet, lean savory: a sharp aged cheddar or a nutty Gruyère on a charcuterie board plays beautifully against the coffee’s bitterness, and salty cured meats make the whole thing taste richer. Dark chocolate over 70% is the desert-island pairing—bitter meets bitter, and both come out smoother for it.
Why the Espresso Martini Belongs on the Mountain
There’s a reason this particular cocktail feels made for après. Ski days start early and burn through you—altitude, cold, and hours of effort leave you running on fumes by mid-afternoon, right when the fire and the couch start pulling you toward a nap you don’t actually want. The espresso martini threads that needle. The coffee gives you a clean second wind; the cocktail makes it a celebration instead of a caffeine errand. It’s the drink that carries you from the last chair through dinner and into the part of the night where the best stories get told.
What Spark Plug removes is the friction. A real espresso martini is one of the fussier drinks a bar can make—you need a shot pulled fresh, coffee liqueur, vodka, simple syrup, and a hard shake to build the foam, which is a lot to ask of a lodge kitchen or a cabin with two mismatched glasses. Spark Plug is that whole build, already done, waiting in a can that survived the drive up. Poured over from a Las Vegas hospitality background and now on the pour list at rooms like LIV, Hakkasan, OMNIA, and Marquee, it brings that same standard to a place where the nearest craft bar is an hour of switchbacks away.
The Energy of Adventure, the Ease of Spark Plug
Whether you’re carving through powder or thawing out by the fire, Spark Plug’s nitro-infused espresso martini is your go-to for après moments that feel effortless and elevated. Please enjoy it responsibly—it’s a full-strength cocktail, and cold, altitude, and a big day on the hill all sneak up on you.
Pack it, pour it, and make your next mountain trip unforgettable with Spark Plug.