By Kelli Rosen
Located in the former City Electric building around the corner from Pearl Street Mall’s west end, Walnut Brewery is well-known for its relaxed atmosphere, eclectic menu and homemade microbrews.
When longtime Boulder restaurateur Frank Day opened his first brew pub in 1990, he had no idea how successful Walnut Brewery would be. That success led Day to open Rock Bottom Brewery on Denver’s 16th Street Mall just a year later. Today Rock Bottom Restaurants operates more than 50 Walnut and Rock Bottom breweries as well as Old Chicago, Chophouse and Sing-Sing restaurants nationwide.
Although Rock Bottom is a national company, each restaurant creates its own menu and brews its own beers to suit their individual markets. “We brew the really flavorful beers that people in Boulder really like,” says Vince Mineo, who became Walnut Brewery’s general manager in July. As a 25-year Colorado resident, Mineo’s got a reliable finger on the pulse of local tastes. Two to five times weekly, as many as 14 barrels of handcrafted ales—with such familiar names as Buffalo Gold, Indian Peaks Pale, Singletrack Copper and Devil’s Thumb Stout—are brewed at the restaurant. First-time visitors can try a complimentary sample tray that includes four-ounce glasses of each of the eight tap brews, as well as seasonal specialties. On weekdays patrons can meet brew master Rod Taylor and tour the brewing area, witnessing everything from grains cracking in the gristmill to the finished product snaking its way to a serving vessel.
Walnut Brewery regulars also can become Mug Club members. For a $25 annual fee (a portion of which goes to charity), members can bring in their own mugs to hang on the wall under their engraved name plaques and receive beer discounts and invitations to special tappings. At least 10 percent of Walnut Brewery’s 300 Mug Club members have been charter members since the brew pub first opened a decade ago.
Walnut Brewery’s tasty brews also make their way into some menu items. Chef Bill Cassel’s creative entrees include Brown Ale chicken, a juicy chicken breast with fresh shiitake mushrooms sautéed in a rich, buttery ale sauce; hickory-smoked St. Louis-style ribs basted with stout-enriched barbecue sauce; buffalo fajitas; and a fresh char-grilled, alder- smoked salmon filet topped with romaine lettuce, tomato and crisp bacon on a multigrain bun with rémoulade sauce. Vegetarian dishes include grilled red pepper-eggplant-zucchini-summer squash enchiladas, angel-hair pasta with smoked tomatoes, and a grilled portobello mushroom sandwich. Homemade desserts such as carrot cake and deep-dish apple pie round out the menu.
The Bigger Picture
Day’s restaurants have long been recognized for their philanthropic efforts, and Walnut Brewery is no exception. Through the Mug Club and other charities, the restaurant has donated thousands of dollars to Boulder County foundations and organizations. According to Mineo, “We receive between five and ten requests a week, and try to honor as many as we can.” Walnut Brewery was also one of the first local restaurants to be certified by Partners for a Clean Environment (PACE), a countywide program that sanctions businesses that meet specific waste-reduction criteria.
Walnut Brewery contributes to the Boulder community in many ways, but perhaps its biggest contribution is as a “fun and relaxed place to eat. That’s what I look for in a restaurant when I eat out,” Mineo says, “and that’s what I get when I come in here.”
Walnut Brewery is at 1123 Walnut St. The phone number is 303-447-1345.