Under the Sun pub in Boulder set to open in January, with wood-fired oven, 30+ taps

Nice taps. Boulder will get lots of of ‘em – more than 30 – at Under the Sun, a pub scheduled to open in January from the people behind the Mountain Sun pubs. (Mountain Sun)

If a Grateful Dead tour could be reincarnated as a bunch of brewpubs, then the tour – say, Fall ’72 – would live in Boulder and Denver, and be named Mountain Sun, Southern Sun, and Vine Street Pub. And here comes another joint, Under the Sun, set to open in Boulder in January. At its best, the Dead was welcoming, improvisational, informal, inspirational. In their own way, I think the Sun pubs capture the same vibe.

Before I delve into Under the Sun, let me rattle on a bit about the Suns (and the Vine).

Hopheads love the Sun’s Kind Ale, a hoppy beer with an especially, uh … floral-yet-slightly-skunky … aroma, one familiar to people who, for example, attend concerts. (Mountain Sun)

I have written about the Sun empire occasionally over the years, and I plan to keep on truckin’ with the coverage. I dig everything about the pubs. I dig the beer-geek brewers who get all glassy-eyed talking about their Belgians and their hyper-hoppy IPAs and their stouts. I dig that when I eat at Southern Sun, my local Boulder brewpub, I sometimes see one of the owners, Kevin Daly, busing tables, taking orders, chatting with customers. I dig that workers really don’t have titles – people cook, clean, pour, deliver plates of fish and chips and vegetarian Reuben sandwiches and burgers made from Colorado beef. I dig the food, particularly the specials. I dig the vibe – tapestries on the walls, photographs of Jerry, good music, no televisions, people behind the bar who always seem poised to launch into something a touch devilish; I keep thinking one day I will chance upon an ale-meringue pie fight. The vibe is gender-neutral dude; if the pubs were a ski resort instead of a Dead tour, they might be Arapahoe Basin. The pubs are not tourist vortexes, nor are they quiet islands of Apple products and wallet-chained “curators” lost to the iGlow, nor are they packed with boozy bozos, finicky foodies, pickup pilots.

The three existing pubs are nearly of a piece – same general vibe, same food, same fun-loving crowd.

Under the Sun, I’m guessing, will attract a fun-loving crowd. But the food will be different, and so could the vibe.

First, the grub and the liquid refreshment: Under the Sun will have a big, wood-fired oven, and a staff dedicated to the kitchen (former Boulderite and Top Chef contestant Melissa Harrison, a friend of the Suns, is consulting on the menu).

“We will execute more complex food than you might find at the pubs,” said Paul Nashak, a partner in the empire. “Everything will probably touch that wood-fired oven, in one way or another. Flatbreads. Roasted chicken. Roasted pork chops.” He also sees fried chicken, homemade pretzels, homemade cheese, homemade bread. Sausage made with their beer.

Taps? More than 30 of ‘em. Twenty-one taps for Sun beers. Ten taps for guest beers. A pair of wine taps – one for red, another for white. Possibly a tap for some kind of cocktail.

Second, the vibe. I haven’t seen the interior yet, but I will, soon. Expect pictures. But Denver designer Melissa Friday – the woman behind the genius whimsy of Snooze and the Bangkok-warehouse-food-court feel of Ace, Eat, Serve – is giving Under the Sun the Full Friday, which has great potential. She calls the design “classically handsome,” said Nashak.

Handsome, sure. And cool.

“Our pubs, for example, are covered in original concert posters. Rather than plaster this new space with concert posters, we photographed all of our posters and turned it into wallpaper.”

Dude. I can ride my bike to Under the Sun in 7 minutes. I’m thinking: new living room.