Vine Street Pub

Talk about a place I wish were closer to my house. The Mountain Sun breweries have teased me for years with delicious beer and great food that is just a little bit too difficult to access. 

Mountain Sun operates three outstanding brewpubs along the front range. Their first two locations were both established in Boulder: Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery opened on Pearl Street in 1993, and Southern Sun set up shop in south Boulder in 2002. 

Most recently, Vine Street Pub opened near City Park in Denver in 2008. It operated without its own brewing facilities until April of this year. Now, its 5,000 barrel per year output capacity allows it to brew  over 50% more than the combined yearly capacity of both Mountain Sun and Southern Sun. 

Vine Street Pub & Brewery Exterior

Unfortunately, the three Mountain Sun locations don't jive well with our busy schedules and deep-in-the-south-suburbs living situation. Plus, even after the long trek to any of their brewpubs, they can be frustrating to eat at. Long, long, long waits are the norm at even non-peak hours, reservations are not accepted, and diners must pay in cash.

Several months ago, Mr. Oyster and I were super excited for a dinner (plus beer) at Southern Sun in Boulder. We were so excited, we took a picture of the outside:

Exterior of Southern Sun in Boulder

We had arrived just before 5 pm on a Friday night, only to find there would be over an hour wait for just the two of us. We had an event to attend later that night and couldn't wait around that long. Mr. Oyster had frequented Southern Sun in college, and had been looking forward to one of their hamburgers and a pale ale. Bummer. 

I visited Vine Street Pub for the first time this past February to meet up with some fellow bloggers. After waiting for over an hour, the five of us were seated. We proceeded to enjoy their (at the time) "imported from Boulder" brews, and I munched on a chicken burrito that was about as big as my head.

Since those two Mountain Sun encounters, I knew Mr. Oyster and I needed some time together at one of their brewpubs. We finally had the opportunity to head to Vine Street Pub on Memorial Day weekend, when we were in the City Park area for a visit to the Denver Botanical Gardens.

Vine Street Pub is located at 17th and Vine Street, just west of City Park. It made for a long drive from Highlands Ranch, but it was a holiday weekend and we were looking forward to a relaxing day of beer followed by flower-and-tree-ogling. 

We arrived right around noon on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Fortunately, there was no wait. In fact, although their patio seating was packed, indoors most of the tables were available. We quickly got situated and perused the drink and food menus.

It was noon, but beer was a priority. Vine Street Pub is generous in its "taster" sizes, serving up 8 ounce sample sizes for $2.8 each. We opted for a beer flight with the six most intriguing looking beers on the menu:

Beer Flight, clockwise from top left: Saison D'Ete, Bombshell Blonde, Pater's Pale Ale, Colorado Kind Ale, FYIPA, and Nitro Old School Irish Stout

The FYIPA was my favorite; it was very similar to Odell's IPA, with an intense Cascade hops flavor but a smoother finish than Odell's brew. I also enjoyed the saison; it was very traditional, with a mild peppery aftertaste. 

The menu at Vine Street - as well as its sister restaurants in Boulder - offers typical bar food plus various vegetarian options. From my experience, the food has always been very tasty and reasonably priced. 

We started off splitting an order of chips and salsa ($3.5, not pictured) plus guacamole (additional $2). 

Since we were all about sharing that day, we also split a Black and Blue Burger ($7.75), which was blackened with seasoning and sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles.

Black and Blue Burger

The burger came with very fresh onion, tomato, and lettuce, as well as hand-cut French fries.The fries were particularly good, although they weren't as heavy on the salt as I would've liked.

The burger was juicy and perfectly cooked to medium, and its taste was highlighted with the tangy flavor of blue cheese and blackened seasoning. However, I should have paid more attention to the denotation of a 1/3-lb burger patty on the menu. It was just too small for sharing, even for a midget-sized portion-watcher like myself. 

Not sure when we'd have a chance for another visit, we loaded up on a couple last tasters of beer: their very fruity Blackberry Wheat, and the XXX Pale Ale.

Blackberry Wheat and XXX Pale Ale

The beer at Vine Street is easily on par with what's turned out at Colorado's best known breweries. However, you can only get it at their brewpubs or via growlers. 

Mr. Oyster remarked that if Vine Street were closer to the house, he'd be there multiple times a week. I don't doubt that, and it's too bad that we don't make more visits to their restaurants. 

Casual Dining

 (9 of 10)

Pros: Great food, beer, and service

Cons: Long waits, cash only