With all of the hoopla surrounding beer in Boulder and Colorado in general these days, you might think that beer is the only delicious drink to come out of the Valley. If you assumed that beer is what Boulder does best, let me challenge you to try mead.
More specifically, Redstone Meadery mead. That’s right, the centuries old honey wine drink of the gods is back in Boulder and it is no wonder Zeus loved it so much.
Once you have a tasting at Redstone, you might just side with the gods.
Redstone Meadery — Boulder’s answer to non-beer — is located in an unassuming building on Pearl just east of the Foothills Parkway in between a Toyota and BMW dealership. Don’t let the location throw you off, this place is home some of the most delicious mead I’ve had the pleasure of sampling (granted, I don’t get the opportunity to sample mead all that often).
If you’re going, make sure to get there on time to take the free half hour tour that they offer at 1 and 3 pm Monday through Friday and a 12:30 pm on Saturdays. You’ll get an interesting tour of the facility, some background on mead and Redstone itself. It makes the free tasting afterwards that much better.
The tasting room is a little small, but don’t let that stop you from hanging out for a while and trying several varieties of mead. My favorites are their Black Raspberry Nectar and the Nectar of the Hops. I don’t normally like hoppy beers, but apparently when paired with honey wine, it’s heavenly.
As a bonus, Redstone has started canning their mead so that you can have a more outdoors-friendly mead vessel. The bottles are beautiful, but not quite as convenient for single servings.
While this meadery may not be in Downtown Boulder, it’s highly worth the trip down Pearl to spend some time on one of the bar stools in Redstone. If it’s good enough for the Greek gods, it’s definitely good enough for you.
