Wildwood and Gravity Brewing Company

25-26 Jan. 2014

It is hard to keep up with new breweries in Boulder County – but that does not mean one should not to try. This weekend Alita and I checked out Wildwood Brewery and I wandered over to Gravity Brewing.

Wildwoods Brewing Company 

Alita got me a Groupon for this brewery for Christmas and we decided it was time to cash it. Wildwoods is located in east Boulder on Arapaho near Avery. The brewery is in a warehouse space and it’s a tasting room only. But it has space for a meal if you want to bring one.They have six beers in their regular line-up. The Groupon was for a sampler of these beers.

Alita shows off the Wildwoods line-up

My favorite was their Treeline IPA. I would call it an English-style IPA. It has a nice piney hop aroma and flavor with a balance and flavor that reminded me of an imperial IPA. Their Campfire Red was also very interesting. As the name could suggest – they put a subtle bit of smoke into the usual malty flavor. The Berry Patch Wheat was also really interesting. I am generally not a fan of fruit beers since they often come out cloying, but this one has the fruit flavor without the overbearing sweetness. The rest of the line-up was also really solid. I would go back to this place.

 

Toasting little man's second brewery

Gravity

This place had been on my radar for a while, but I had not found a good excuse to check it out. Putnam Smith, a folk musician from my home state of Maine, provided just such an excuse. Gavity's tasting room was a nice low-ceiling-but-open venue - perfect for some good folk music on a snowy winter's day.

Since it was winter I did not check out their beer garden – so a return visit may be needed. But the interior was spacious with a really nice bar design.

Photo from the Gravity website

As the name would imply their beers have some heft to them. Since I was driving I opted for a few of their 4-oz (maybe 3 oz) samplers. At $5 for three, it was a pretty good deal for high gravity beers - and about the right amount if you need to do something after. 

I tried the Jubelium Peppercorn Belgium Ale. As the name promised it has a just a bit of peppercorn in the light Belgium funk – a surprisingly good combination. Also worthy was the Ebb & Flow – Double Red Rye and the Tsar Bomba Russian Imperial Stout. My favorite sample of the night through was the Bourbon Barrel Aged Acceleration – Double India Pale Ale. Think Maharaja with a little oak. Amazing.