Craft Brewery Recaps

~Walnut Brewery, Boulder

            Our favorite from our May 2011 visit, so it was going to be our first restaurant stop after the big move west.  I was looking forward to the White Ale that I had on both previous occasions.  And, of course, the yummy big soft pretzels with dip!!!  My friend, Nikki, surprised me with a gift card, that arrived at our Ogden Dunes place right before we left!  What an even better way to enjoy our much-anticipated and well-deserved craft beers, right?! 

            After returning the Penske moving truck in Boulder, we headed immediately to Walnut Brewery.  It was a pretty rainy day, but that wasn’t going to stop us!  No way!  The White Ale I had been desiring wasn’t on the beer menu, however.  Hmmm…what to drink instead?  Chris got the seasonal wheat, which was a pomegranate, and I got the St. James Irish Red Ale (I think…I am having a really hard time recalling b/c I don’t think I was that impressed with my first choice).  We also ordered the soft pretzels.  On top of our gift certificate, we were able to get Happy Hour pricing for our 2^nd round of ales and food.  Chris tried an IPA this time and I got the Brown Ale, which would turn out to be my newest favorite.  We ordered some Happy Hour appetizers, too: pulled pork sliders and fried calamari. 

            Walnut Brewery did NOT disappoint!  Even tho I wasn’t able to get the craft beer I had been looking forward to for over 2 years, I found that I liked the amber ale even more.  Who would have thought?!?  And our bill was covered by our gift card!  Chalk that up as a win-win! 

            We made a 2^nd trip to Walnut not too long after …. um, it was Happy Hour!  Do we need any other reason?  We ordered a margherita pizza off the Happy Hour menu, which was fantastic, and the perfect amount of food for the late lunch/early dinner!!  I had 2 Brown Ales, while Chris went again with the seasonal wheat, this time being blueberry, and the IPA.

 

West Flanders, Boulder

            We decided to start working our way thru the local breweries and landed on West Flanders one afternoon while strolling Pearl Street Mall.  Happy Hour, of course!!!  We gave their pizza and pretzel bites a try!  (Yep, food & ale comparisons!!)  Both delicious, but I still think Walnut Brewery’s offerings are more to my liking.   

            I started with the Canniption Pale Ale (http://wfbrews.com/mainsite/beer/canniption-pale-ale), which was good, but a little too bitter for me.  My second choice, St. Mark’s Dubbel (http://wfbrews.com/mainsite/beer/st-mark-s-dubbel) has to be the best beer I have tasted! (Or one of the best ~ It is neck & neck with the hefeweizen we had at Flagstaff Brewing Company in Flagstaff, Arizona, back in September 2008!!).  It is a beautiful color, comes in one of the short snifter-style glasses and goes down easy.  It must be considered a dessert beer!  Seriously!  Alone, or matched with the perfect sweet fare, it is the after-dinner drink for those who don’t want hard liquor, like brandy or cognac, but rather prefer a hearty ale.  

            I don’t remember what Chris’s first beer was, but he thinks it might have been the Third Kingdom IPA (http://wfbrews.com/mainsite/beer/third-kingdom-india-pale-ale).  His second choice, tho, the Woodshed Smoked Porter (http://wfbrews.com/mainsite/beer?start=10) started our love of dark ales!  So smooth, full of body and deep flavor!

            We have a coupon for a free beer at West Flanders (that we were given at The Sink) and I can’t wait to get back for another Dubbel!  I don’t know if Chris will go with the Porter or will give a 3^rd style a try.  I think we will go for Happy Hour (maybe this week after his job interview at CU-Boulder!!!) and we’ll both get two beers at the discounted prices.  If so, I MIGHT give another draught a whirl!  In the wise words of my sister, Shannon Leigh, “You never know til you find out!” 

Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids, Longmont

            This gem was a recommendation from my cousin, Matt.  He, his girlfriend, Emily, and their new baby girl, Audrey, visited us about a week & a half after we arrived in Colorado.  This place is NOT to be missed!  The food, the beers, the atmosphere are all amazing!  They go for a New Orleans-style menu, food we love, love, love!  I tried the pulled pork with hushpuppies and cheesy grits.  Delish ~ I thought I would take home leftovers, but couldn’t stop eating until my plate was clean!  Chris got the muffaletto ~ a real N’awlins Sammie.  I had 2 beers here, too, and really like both.  Since our visit to Flagstaff Brewing in 2008, I have had a love of hefeweizen.  Oskar Blues offers one that is great!  (I just checked their website to see what they have on tap and the hefeweizen is not…total bummer!)  My second beer was their “60 in a 40”.  Chris didn’t play along this time!  HA!  He had Goose Island Matilda (a Chicago brewery).

            The 2 of us went back one afternoon for lunch, where we sat outside!  Chris got the boudin & jambalaya po’ boy, made with the most flavorful meat balls, and I went with the Catfish John, which came with crawfish etouffee and dirty rice.We also both got a side of fries and I must say they are the best fried potatoes I have ever consumed!  Unfortunately, the portion size was "wee" b/c I really would have loved to eat & eat & eat some more of those pieces of sweet & savory heaven!!  We washed these gastronomical treats down with just iced tea this visit! 

            This is a place that reminds us of House of Blues and somewhere we can see ourselves sitting outside all summer long, sipping craft brews & eating scrumptious food, while listening to live music!!  Can’t wait!!  It will also have to be a regular visit once we move to Boulder next year!  Good thing it’s a very short drive! 

Left Hand Brewing, Longmont

            Our first taste of a Left Hand brew was at The Sink, on “The Hill” in Boulder.  We wanted to visit the CU campus the day of a home football game, but didn’t want to spend the money on tickets to the game.  We figured we would hit up one of the campus bars, where we could watch the game and be around other Buff fans who didn’t have game tickets.  We stumbled upon The Sink, which we found out was visited by President Obama and Guy Fieri of The Food Network!  Score!!!  We ordered a specialty pizza, the Slaughterhouse Five, that was chockfull of meaty goodness, to include Cajun chicken!  I can’t recall my first beer.  I wanted the hefeweizen, but they were out.  BOO!!  Chris ordered a Left Hand Milk Stout (http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/beers/milk-stout), which I tried.  So, for our 2^nd rounds, we both ordered Milk Stout.  Full of creamy, toffee flavors!  It is described as having milk with your coffee and I can somewhat see the resemblance.  Since I have been enjoying dark roast coffees more, especially since starting my Starbucks gig and doing lots of coffee tastings, I can appreciate and enjoy the deep, rich flavors of this brew.

            We have learned of a process where nitrogen is infused into the beer and it is supposed to add a creaminess.  The Milk Stout is available as a Nitro (http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/beers/milk-stout-nitro).  We knew we wanted to give this a try straight from the source!  Yesterday evening, after accidentally passing Left Hand Brewing on our way to the grocery store, Chris suggested we head back for a quick drink!  What a great idea!  The weather was neither too warm nor too cold and we were able to sit outside with the sun peeking thru the red-leaves of a nearby tree, plus there was live music inside that wafted out toward us & around the cacophony of the chatter all around us.  I can’t say that I noticed the Nitro to be much creamier than the original.  I think I would like to be able to try a sample of each side-by-side to know for sure.  I do like it! 

Left Hand doesn’t offer food, but you can bring your own.  Sometimes, tho, and last nite was one of those times, there are food trucks.  We decided to give The Orange Crunch a try because their bison empanada sounded interesting.  It was pretty good…it reminded us a bit of fair food b/c it was a bit pricey for the small amount of bison in the fried dough pocket. 

We really liked this place, too, and can see ourselves going back and bringing our own food!  I want to try their Dunkelweiss, with flavors of banana & clove, which are important flavors in a hefeweizen.  (We may have to return soon as I would hate to get there after the Dunkelweiss is taken off the tap…and I don’t even see it on their webpage right now!  YIKES!!)