Old Chicago (Boulder)

6/1/2007 1:57:47 PM, friday, june 01, 2007 [ Updated friday, june 01, 2007 ]
What a joke of a place. The environment is as cold as it gets: TVs in all directions, crappy music, and sheepish and snobby staff with silly-looking polo shirts. I guess because many of the employees here (mainly the bartenders) have convinced themselves that they work at the "beer mecca," means they are more enlightened than the rest of us. Haha. Okay, on to the beer. I stop by here every week when riding my bike to have a taste of the cask ale. Well, let’s just say that, just like the often neglected cask ales at Walnut Brewery (just down the street), the beers are served too warm and often flat and oxidized. Obviously the cask-ale turnaround is so slow that it takes at least several weeks to empty one. Rather than removing the cask (like a responsible pub would do), they choose to serve "spoiled" real ale until its gone. That’s too bad. Cask ale is fairly rare in Boulder, which is absolutely the only reason I will set foot into this place. On a positive note, they do not use sparklers. That said, spending more than a couple minutes in this stinkhole gives me the heepy jeepies.

10/5/2005 11:40:05 AM, wednesday, october 05, 2005 [ Updated wednesday, october 05, 2005 ]
Usually the only time I drop in is around GABF time to buy tickets. Because, well...the bartenders usually don’t know much about beer (but often pretend to...two examples: telling a patron that a particular beer was an "Imperial" style without embellishing further ["Imperial what?" didn’t seem to be a question], and another bartender argued with me that microbrewers designed their beers, all their beers no matter what style, on purpose to be served ice cold in frosted mugs...he really seemed to believe it too), serve keg beer in frosted mugs (sigh!), the bottled beers are often old/oxidized, and the pretense of their "world of beer" menu is repulsive. On the one hand it’s nice to have some choices beyond Bud or Newcastle at a restaurant, but with few exceptions your options are limited to only the most popular, common, and commercial brews outside of the megabrews. So, not a place for beer geeks, it’s more of a hangout for those who are just getting started in the beer world that exists outside of BMC. The food is ok, but I’ve never had anything that was better or worse than just plain edible. Ambiance is kinda trendy and commercial, makes you feel like you’re in Applebee’s or Chili’s or any other chain restaurant you can think of.