At Vine Street Pub, nothing is different — but everything has changed

Places matter. Spaces matter. That’s never been more clear than it was when the Vine Street Pub & Brewery reopened its doors this month, four years after closing them for the pandemic.

“People have been so kind, sharing memories and telling stories, said Kevin Daly, who founded the Mountain Sun Pub and brewery group in Boulder in 1993 and opened Vine Street in 2008.

“It feels great. I’ve always felt like I had a mission-based job that creates community, that offers that third place for people to go. I think we will do well,” he added.

The brewpub, at 1700 Vine St., officially reopened last weekend and will maintain hours Thursdays through Sundays for now before expanding them down the road.

In many ways, not much has changed on the inside over those four years. The homey interior looks much the way it did in early 2020, and the menu still offers wings, burgers, sandwiches and classic Vine Street beers like Colorado Kind, F.Y.I.P.A and Megatron Imperial Stout. There is also an old ATM in the corner, although Vine Street finally accepts credit cards now.

And yet, everything is different on the outside, Daly said. People don’t go out as often as they did before the pandemic, restaurant prices have skyrocketed, hospitality workers have moved on, and commuters who used to come into the city to their jobs now work from home. That means it’s harder than ever to run a restaurant and make a profit, he pointed out.

But the problems didn’t show on Thursday as employees smiled ear to ear, carrying dishes from the kitchen to excited tables full of old regulars and curious newcomers.

Steve McConnell, who lives across the street from the pub remembers watching people from his porch on the day the business first opened in 2008. He also recalls his first visit when he showed up without any cash — as many people did — to the cash- and check-only restaurant and was told to just come back the next day to pay. He did, and he kept coming for years.

“Monday burger-and-beer night was my favorite,” he said, joking that he wanted to install a rope connecting his house to the pub so that he could find it in case of a blizzard.

Other changes at Vine Street include:

— The kitchen was gutted and remodeled to make it more efficient.

— The Buffalo wings are sadly smaller and come without the breading that made them stand out in the old days — a victim of rising food costs — but they still taste delicious.

— Some old menu items are missing, but new chef Lincoln Humphrey plans to bring some back as weekly specials. He’ll also add pizza and dishes of his own creation. “We don’t want to change too much because of the culture here, but we’ll change them just enough,” he said.

— The beer list has been updated with more modern selections, like the delicious Tank Top hazy IPA, and there is now a house-brewed hard seltzer (currently pineapple passion fruit).

It took Daly four years to reopen Vine Street, in part, because he also runs four other pubs, Mountain Sun, Southern Sun and Under the Sun, all in Boulder, and Longs Peak Pub & Taphouse in Longmont — and Vine Street was the furthest from his home. He also wanted to take his time finding the right group of people to run it, he said.

The company, which owns the building, has continued to use the brewing facility in back over the past few years. Three of those restaurants reopened in 2021, while the fourth returned in 2022.

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