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As Utah’s secluded The Lodge at Blue Sky is announced as the inaugural winner of the Lavazza One To Watch Award for The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023, food and travel writer Kat Odell dives into what makes the property truly one-of-a-kind
Check into The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts Collection, at sunset when cotton candy clouds hug the distant Wasatch mountain range and magic hour has set in. It’s utterly impossible not to be transfixed by the natural beauty of Wanship – population: 400 – a tiny town located a quick 35-minute drive from Salt Lake City in Utah.
Just four years in, the stunning, sustainably-minded, modern mountain retreat the town hosts – a dream come true for founding couple Mike and Barb Phillips – is turning heads with not only its drop-dead rustic beauty, but also its meticulous attention to detail: from an award-winning chef cooking with ingredients grown on site to unique nature-inspired programming and a highly personalised guest experience.
“We treat every guest as a guest in our home,” proclaims Mike, speaking of the home-away-from-home feel he and his wife strive to offer at their minimalist-designed resort. On arrival, guests are welcomed with a seasonal drink, such as rosemary-infused lemonade, and presented with what he calls a ‘field notes’ journal, intended to inspire introspection and serve as place to capture memories. Across the 46 rooms and suites dotted along the creek and hillside, a seasonal crudité assortment – coming straight from The Lodge’s on-site, female-led Gracie’s Farm – awaits.
The Lodge at Blue Sky works in tandem with nature, adapting its guest experience to match each changing season
He explains that Blue Sky was an outgrowth of “our love of the land”. With a background in clothing retail, the long-time Utah residents purchased the rolling, wild elk-dotted, 3,500-acre terrain that encompasses the property in 2004. The pair operated it for many years as a working ranch, raising purebred Hereford cows. Out of their love for whiskey, in 2015 they helped Park City’s popular High West Distillery open a second, more spacious plant on Blue Sky land. And perhaps thanks in part to this expansion – and their ability to increase distillate production – today High West is a brand known from California to New York, especially prized for its brown spirits.
Meanwhile, the Phillips had long considered building a luxury nature retreat onsite and finally decided to move forward in 2019. “We both felt we wanted to share the peace of the land at Blue Sky with guests,” explains Mike, noting that cows and horses (the property doubles as a rehabilitation space for neglected horses rescued by Barb) still call the land home. “But instead of solely being a working ranch, we decided to include our guests in the adventure.”
In a region rife with ski resorts, The Lodge embraces an unsung approach. Tucked into the earthy-toned greens, auburns and cream colours that hue the rugged Utah terrain, it features an organic, low-slung design that seamlessly blends into its majestic landscape, further defined through an array of natural materials like stone, wood and leather. It’s the kind of place you’d expect to see Robert Redford cruising by on horseback.
Mike and Barb Phillips, owners of The Lodge at Blue Sky, transformed their 3,500-acre ranch into a luxury retreat and hotel in 2019
And in fact, horseback riding is on the menu, alongside fly fishing, mountain-top yoga and hiking with a nature biologist. Notice a trend? Mother nature is The Lodge’s muse, from activities to wellness and dinner.
One could sign up for a chakra-clearing tea ceremony at cliffside wellness sanctuary Edge Spa, whose rooms overlook the softly gurgling Alexander Creek, and whose treatments include natural and foraged ingredients like the wild sage that gets applied to tame inflammation during the ‘Back in the Saddle’ deep tissue massage.
The ranch’s 17-acre organic farm provides guests with seasonal ingredients, like purple heirloom carrots and squash blossoms, which executive chef Jason Franey – the 2011 winner of Food & Wine’s Best New Chef title and an alumnus of New York’s Eleven Madison Park (No.1 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 and now a member of the Best of the Best group) – folds into New American-style dishes at Yuta, The Lodge’s signature restaurant.
The menu ranges from locally minded to luxe, with standouts like ricotta gnudi enriched with white squash, zucchini and purple basil from the farm, alongside koji cream and Ossetra caviar-topped hash browns. Try them alongside an array of small-production California wines or those highlighting up-and-coming regions like Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe. Indeed, just earlier this year, Yuta’s 650-bottle list was awarded Wine Spectator’s highly respected Award of Excellence.
In addition to its main restaurant offerings, The Lodge also hosts unforgettable private dining experiences at its yurt, located atop a nearby mountain
For those who want to remain immersed in nature, The Lodge offers experiential meals, like dining in a mountaintop yurt where a private chef will prepare fresh dishes – such as newly-caught Utah trout cooked in a wood-burning oven – while guests sip a seasonal elixir, like Gracie’s Boulevardier, made from High West bourbon, Campari, fresh strawberries, cucumber, sweet vermouth and rhubarb from the garden.
Food is a hot topic here. Not only are ingredients organic, but the land is cared for regeneratively, with farmers working by hand and alongside animals who graze on weeds, helping to clean the terrain naturally in order to preserve soil health. Guests can a take farm school class to learn about thoughtful land stewardship, which concludes with a garden lunch comprising the ingredients harvested by the group.
With its breath-taking beauty, understated elegance and commitment to the guest experience, The Lodge at Blue Sky takes home the Lavazza One To Watch Award 2023 as part of the inaugural edition of The World’s 50 Best Hotels, which singles out a property with the potential to rise to the highest level and break into the ranking in future years.
And as a hotel that has proved to be a breakout hit, led by a team inspired to innovate, there are expansion plans already underway. Stay tuned for an additional complex, currently under construction about a five-minute drive away. En route: larger suites, a zero-entry pool for families, another restaurant with a coffee shop and juice bar, and much more. Truly one to watch.
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The first-ever list of The World’s 50 Best Hotels will be revealed on 19th September – set a reminder and watch the livestream here. Bookmark theworlds50best.com/hotels and follow the Instagram channel: @50Best_Hotels, our Facebook page and Twitter account.
