Walnut Brewery

morebeergood

Massachusetts

3.23/5  rDev -11.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | $$$

Our second stop on our evening Boulder pub crawl. Walked into this place on a Monday night in the summer, and it was dead. It's a huge venue, and when it's empty, it looks like a cave. Had a cool warehouse vibe to it, minimal decorations, and I liked all the mugs hanging behind the bar. Service was quick (she had no one else to serve). I went with the Devil's Thumb stout on cask. Sounded good, but was a bit watery for a cask beer. Didn't eat, but never enjoyed the food at Rock Bottom, so didn't want to have any either way. It was a decent place to stop for one beer just because it's a Boulder institution, but we didn't want to hang out here too long.

07-14-2008 23:42:05 | More by morebeergood

russpowell

Oklahoma

3.55/5  rDev -2.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

My least favorite stop in Boulder; just reminds me too much of local Rock Bottom, with not as good beer.

The look of this place was less corporate than the newer Rock Bottoms I have visited, a plus. Liked the old wast slant, vaulted cielings & dead animals mounted on the wall that had tie-ins to house beers

Quality of the 3 beers I tried average to good. The Devils Thumb on nitro was the best I tried.

Service was alright, not particularly friendly or enthusiastic.

Eight beers on offer, one cask ale & a lager

Food wasn't bad, wasn't great either

I thought the place was a bit pricey for lunch; 3 pints, a kids ice cream, an appetizer & a kids meal for $33.

Not a horrible choice, but this is the runt of the litter as Boulder Brew Pubs go to me

06-17-2008 03:17:59 | More by russpowell

mikesgroove

South Carolina

3.86/5  rDev +5.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

I must say I was glad I got to stop in this place on my trip. I walked in and the place looked great with the high arched ceilings but yet still a cozy feel to it. Walked right up top the bar and had a pint of the stout, and was very impressed with the fullness. They seem to really make a good point of taking care of theri brews. Did not have time to try the food, but what I saw and seemed seemed good. The bartender was friendly and took a couple minutes to chat with me. Overall this was more then a decent stop and a good little brewer. I wish I had more time, I would have styaed and tried some more. Maybe on my next trip.

11-20-2007 11:43:39 | More by mikesgroove

jyeast101

Colorado

4/5  rDev +9.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

I would say that Walnut Brewery was good. Only had time for one beer. The bartender was very generous in letting us sample whatever we were interested in at the time. I kinda felt the Boulder "we're an upscale brewery, food, and peolpes type of place" Effect. On the surface good but I guess a little too polished. Beer was good. Staff friendly. I guess what you'd want in an establishment. Just not Outstanding. I did like the sign in the doorway, 10 years before when I was in the place, and the craft beer industry was building, which read..."No beer ever enters or leaves this door." Cool.

05-10-2007 01:27:19 | More by jyeast101

Mebuzzard

Colorado

3.56/5  rDev -2.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

A rather large place; high ceilings, long bar. A glass housing on the second level allows patrons to see the vats. There is not second floor just a gang-way.
Behind the bar is a wide array of beer mugs, I think for sale, but look like just for decoration. The walls are lined with signs for their in-house brews. The selection of brews is wide as far as style goes. They had 9 on tap, and not sure about the bottled beer, if any.
We didn't eat there, although the food smelled good. Didn't even look at the menu. I was there for the beer.
Service was ok, probably a bit less than that as it was slow, yet the place was almost empty. Good location, though. Can really go anywhere else by foot.

02-16-2007 23:15:42 | More by Mebuzzard

hoffman

Nebraska

3.05/5  rDev -16.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 3 | $$

A nice pub atmosphere in Boulder, CO is not hard to find. This place was typical and run of the mill from what I saw. No cask beers available at the time I visited, but there were several selections including 8 regulars and two seasonals by my count. The winter seasonal (snowfest I think) was a nice brew, hopped well and decent, the pale ale was also decent. They are remodeling in here so the atmosphere score may have been hurt a bit. The service is what really took the cake. We waited about 10 minutes for a server and another 10 minutes for the beer once we ordered....not good.

I would stop in again after the remodel to see if things improve.

01-28-2007 23:30:06 | More by hoffman

blitz134

Connecticut

3.68/5  rDev +0.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

The first of many stops while in Boulder. Stopped for lunch. Typical brewpub type feel to the place, high ceilings...bar, bartop tables, and booths filled the place. Some nice shiney brewing equipment glistened through the glass windows in the back. Service was as expected, so no complaints there. Several beers on tap (8? or so). They also had two casks setup. Unfortunetly the two casks were the same, their stout. I thought their beer was so-so, and so did the others with me. Food was good and reasonably priced. One of the guys with us got the buffalo fajitas and I think I got a burger. Burger was fine, but the fries were bland and probably pre-frozen. The fajitas looks really good though and I heard they were. A good stop if you are in the area and want some good food and decent beer at a good price. Worth a stop.

08-21-2006 23:35:51 | More by blitz134

mentor

Colorado

4.05/5  rDev +11%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

One block south of the Pearl Street Ped mall, there is a large parking structure right across the street. Free parking on the weekends. My wife suggests this place occassionally as we both like the food and atmosphere. I like that we get a discount because of my Am. Homebrewer's Assoc. membership card.

Upon entering, a greeter is to the immediate right and the bar is forward a touch on the left. In front is seating level with the bar and a few steps up to the right is a raised dining area. The ceiling is high and the entire inside is dark brown wood with moderate lighting. To the back, the brewing area is encased in glass. The fermentation tanks are also encased in glass, but are located above and behind the bar. Pretty cool set-up, IMO.

We've been here several times and have always found the servers to be well informed of both the menu and the available beers. Note: I once wore a BA T-shirt in here and received especially attentive service. The offerings on the menu are not expansive, but have interesting nooks and crannies. A standard selection of 6-8 beers are available with a seasonal or two and a cask-draw version of one of the standards. Nothing killer here, but it is a functioning brewpub in a college town (and part of a chain brewpub, at that). I wish dining out wer an option for us a couple times each week as there are a number of brewpubs in Boulder that I'd like to frequent more often. This would definitely be one of them.

04-30-2006 07:32:48 | More by mentor

PuckLSHS

Iowa

4.08/5  rDev +11.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

I went to the Walnut Brewery while on a trip checking out the Graduate School programs in the area. Walnut is in a great little area in Boulder that is a little further away from the school so it does not seem like a huge undergrad hangout. Actually, the area reminds me a little of 3rd Street in Santa Monica, CA.

Anyway, the Walnut Brewery was fairly decent for the beer selection. It was standard fare. No big beers here, but they had a Poor Richards Ale and a Maerzen that were pretty decent. The Poor Richards did not bowl me over and neither did the Maerzen, so I decided to order their brown ale which the waitress told me was one of the more popular beers on the menu.

Their food was phenomenal and I really enjoyed the salmon sandwich that I ordered. The portions were large and they arrived fairly quickly even though the place was packed with people.

I would definitely hit this place up over a Rockbottom any day.

04-18-2006 03:38:27 | More by PuckLSHS

Quaffer

Nevada

4.03/5  rDev +10.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I went to the Walnut Brewery with five friends for lunch while in Boulder. The hostess was friendly and promptly had us seated. There was nothing special about the overall look and feel of this place. Just a basic restaurant/brewpub type of atmosphere. There were a few too many televisions to suit me, plus I think there was a decent amount of sports crap on the wall. Otherwise, the place itself was just fine. Some of the brewing equipment was on display on the second floor above the bar.

The staff that we dealt with was great. Our waitress was quick, friendly, and put up with all the crap that we were able to dish out. She had a great sense of humor and started dishing it out herself after awhile. She seemed to be knowledable about beer, too. We had a fun time with her.

The food was pretty good and priced as expected. My burger was delicious and absolutely huge, and the slaw was wonderful.

There were a decent amount of beers available, maybe around eight. First I had a dry-hopped IPA on cask that was really good, though it was served too cold for cask. I then had the Devil's Thumb stout which wasn't very special. Typical nitro-served, dry stout that was a little bland. I wish I would have had more time to try some others.

The Walnut was an overall positive experience and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

10-05-2005 22:20:50 | More by Quaffer