In my heyday, (which I’m starting to think is unfortunately nearing its end), I used to sell craft beer— legally, of course. I spent my days selling beer in a can for a local brewery and I spent my weekends sampling the cream-of-the-crop of local and national beers from everyone else. As you can imagine, it was an extremely tough job, and I loved it.
During my stint in the beer world, and as a resident of Boulder, I always knew about Twisted Pine Brewing, located in their current convenient location just east of 30 th Street on Walnut. I knew that Twisted Pine had been around for quite awhile and that they stayed fairly busy crafting up a palatable line-up of beers that even my craft beer-loathing friend would drink. Aside from that, Twisted Pine really wasn’t on my radar. I never purchased a six-pack of their beer at a local store, or even ordered a pint at my favorite local watering hole. Twisted Pine seemed to stay afloat with a very local, long-standing following and really didn’t spend too much time worrying about pushing the beer boundaries too much—unlike the rest of the Boulder County breweries that found themselves immersed in their own extra hoptastic and high ABV races.
But lately, Twisted Pine has stepped it up a notch. I’ve been seeing them everywhere. I had one (or two or so…) Twisted Pine beers at the Boulder Food Truck Party at Gateway Park a few weeks back. (A portion of all beer proceeds from the event were donated to local non-profit, Parenting Place). I also found myself at a friend’s barbeque where the host promptly placed a tall boy of Hoppy Boy in my hand upon arrival. Twisted Pine has also been making headlines lately by announcing the expansion of their brewery and tasting room, kicking up their social media efforts a notch, and brewing one ofthe hottest beers on the planet… the Ghost Face Killah, which is currently on tap in their tap room.
On my last visit to the Twisted Pine tap room, owner Bob Baile was seated at the bar, sharing laughs, greeting patrons, chatting about beer, enjoying his own product, and eventually giving up his seat in an increasingly busy tap room for a group of regulars that greeted Bob with a handshake and a big smile.
In the beer business, there’s nothing better than sitting down in a tasting room and enjoying a cold one with the owner himself.
Although Twisted Pine is experiencing an exciting expansion and is recently selling their beer in nine states, they’re still taking the time to create some buzz in their tap room. A few carefully-placed TVs transmit a steady stream of sports games, a trivia night has recently been introduced and they’re offering up happy hour specials nearly every day of the week.
Unfortunately, as with a good majority of tap rooms, it’s a toss-up on the kind of customer service that you receive. On my last trip to the brewery—I showered, did my hair, wore lipstick and generally acted like really decent and knowledgeable craft beer-loving lady—but I still had to fight to get refills and my tab (which consisted of only three beers) was still wrong. As a former brewery employee, I understand that things come up. People want to tour the brewery, and ask questions about the types of malts and hops that go into the beer—and as a tap room employee, you’re first in line to answer all of those questions.
And although the Twisted Pine tap room does serve food, the selection is pretty limited—however they do offer an interesting grilled cheese and beer pairing selection that’s worth checking out.
Bottom line, as a long-term staple in the Boulder beer scene, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on the growth that Twisted Pine is experiencing. The view of the Flatirons from their patio on a clear day is worth the trip alone.
