Introducing our new lobby bar & lounge

A Taste of Local History: Aprés, and Craft Cocktails Inspired by Nature

The billy barr is Elevation’s new cocktail bar and café, and serves as an homage to its namesake and his work as a naturalist and renowned researcher. Guests who stop by the billy barr get a small bite of local history and culture, thanks to photos of Barr adorning the walls, along with other memorabilia donated by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) and the Crested Butte Museum.

The breakfast menu at billy barr offers a selection of coffee drinks and grab & go food options like breakfast burritos, bagels, and croissants. Our aprés menu features snacks, shared plates, and craft cocktails with weather-themed names like Frost, Partly Cloudy, and Snowdrift. The Snowdrift, for example, is a libation made with Aviation gin, D.O.M. Bénédictine liqueur, spirulina, lime, and cedar simple syrup. The Frost is a variation of a Moscow Mule made with bourbon and mint. And the Partly Cloudy features cognac, a citrus liqueur, lemon, and orange.

Who is billy barr?

A reclusive mountain man, and who prefers having his name in lowercase letters, has become a legendary citizen scientist who has been collecting a trove of invaluable data from his remote home in Gothic, Colorado. For five decades, billy barr has lived in the remote town of Gothic, north of Crested Butte, where he’s spent the majority of his time interacting with the environment instead of other people. Barr prefers it that way and has become something of an accidental apostle for climate researchers in the process. Since the 1970s, Barr has spent the winters in the woods recording daily snowfall and snowpack measures, as well as animal sightings, that help scientists understand the impacts of global warming and climate change in the Rocky Mountains. But there are two things Barr doesn’t do: drink alcohol or socialize very much. This is why he thought it was amusing when a hotel in Crested Butte approached him about naming a bar after him. Heck, he’s never even skied at the resort. “The fact is it was nice of them to think of me and it’s kind of funny,” Barr said. “I’m glad my last name’s not like, privy, they would have named a toilet after me instead of a bar.”

Current Hours: 7 Days a Week | 7 - 11AM