Sending a big hello after this lovely Memorial Day weekend… well at least the weather was lovely in Boulder, Colorado! I spent the weekend in Boulder with my sister and was not envious of the crummy weather in Chicago (except for a HOT Monday). Her boyfriend, Josh, had been raving about a new pizzeria that opened, so we had to check it out 
. Ariel, Josh, and I were joined by our cousin, Sarah, and her friend Ali who were visiting from Colorado Springs.
Backcountry Pizza & Tap House is located near the downtown area, but set away from the hustle and bustle. We drove over for some pizza & beer to start off our Saturday night.
At first glance of the menu, it reminded me of Piece Pizzeria & Brewery. They place an equal emphasis on pizza and their wide selection of beers. We ordered some beer for starters, ranging from an amber ale to a Mead blackberry liqueur beer. I was so excited to share a drink with my sister who recently turned 21!!
Ariel's Mead Beer
Amber Ale
We moved on to tackle the pizza orders and decided two medium pizzas would satisfy our large party. A medium is 16 inches in diameter, much smaller than their XXL pizzas… yeah, it’s one of those places.
For our first pizza, we went with a specialty pizza: Garden Fresh- Cheese, red peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, and red onions. The second pizza had ½ red-pesto sauce with red onions, ½ red sauce with pepperoni <–See the similarity with Piece? They offer red sauce, pesto sauce, white sauce, just like Chicago’s New Haven-style establishment.
When our pizzas arrived, we dug right in. A bunch of us started with the Garden Fresh, and I was definitely pleased…
Garden Fresh Pizza
I couldn’t taste any sauce because of the overload of toppings, but the crust was GREAT. A doughy crust with braided edges satisfied the crew. Since I always love to assess a pizzeria at its purest point, I was anxious to try the other two combinations.
1/2 Red-Pesto & Onion, 1/2 Pepperoni Pizza
The pepperoni was good, but there was something lacking. It was quite ‘flat’ and surprisingly I went back to liking the Garden Fresh. This leads me to believe that although the basics of the pizza are so-so, the combination of toppings with the crust highlight the positive aspects of the pizzeria.
Ariel liked the pesto & onion pizza, but she too had some gripes about the lack of pesto spread and thought it may have been a bit bland.
Overall Assessment:
- Backcountry Pizza & Tap House is great for groups- many sizes of pizza and lots
- The crust is stellar if you are looking for a no-char pizza
- Don’t stray away from the specialty pizzas or you may be a bit disappointed
- Beer selection is great! A nice place to congregate with friends!
That’s all for now! Until then, I’ll leave you with this picture of my family’s new puppy, Jack 
He is too cute and I can’t wait to meet him!
Our new puppy, Jack
