Drinks, Dinner or Dessert – You Decide

By Steve Graham

We are in peak peach season, and any smart Coloradan knows the world’s best peaches grow in Palisade. With this year’s extended season and bumper crop, we hope you’re enjoying bushels of fresh peaches. And Colorado’s restaurants, breweries and distilleries are here to help you find even more ways to get your peach fix. Here are 10 of our favorites.

Burrata with peaches

The burrata, a decadent Italian mozzarella-and-cream appetizer, is popping up on upscale menus everywhere. But few make it quite like The Bindery, an eatery, market and bakery in Denver’s Lower Highlands. The Bindery serves the creamy, cheesy pillow with heirloom tomato, peach, Persian cucumber, Marcona almonds, vanilla bean, tarragon and rose.

Brioche toast

Acorn, on Brighton Boulevard in Denver, is so excited to serve some peaches that they won’t even wait until they are ripe and, well, peach-colored. The restaurant creates a brioche toast with green peaches, green garlic, cherry tomato and stracciatella cheese.

Peach wine

Carlson Vineyards in Palisade makes a chardonnay, a dry red blend and plenty of other traditional grape wines, but the star of the winery, and the reason many people join the wine club, is the peach wine. The semi-sweet wine is made with 100-percent Palisade peaches, and won a 2017 Governor’s Cup award.

Peach brandy

Palisade also boasts Peach Street Distillers, which turns 26 pounds of fresh Palisade peaches into a smooth aged peach brandy. The distiller also makes an Eau De Vie, or un-aged brandy, with Palisade peaches. And you don’t have to travel to Palisade for either drink. Peach Street distributes to bars and liquor stores all over Colorado.

Peach and short rib burger

Combine grilled Colorado peaches with Colorado beef and a slow-roasted short rib for an over-the-top burger that is just one highlight of a stacked Palisade peach-themed menu at Simmer in Fort Collins. The menu also includes a peach caprese grilled cheese sandwich, peach panzanella salad, peach pancakes, peach salsa, peach tacos and peach sangrias and margaritas.

Peach squash blossom

The Mercantile in downtown Denver has a small plate that combines Palisade peaches with another late summer delicacy, the squash blossom. These are served alongside ricotta cheese, toasted brioche, prosciutto and confit tomato.

Peach cobbler ice cream

Denver’s Frozen Matter makes all its ice cream from scratch. They also bake their own Palisade peach cobbler, which is then blended into ice cream at the uptown location at East 19th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street. For more local treats, they also make a blueberry and Olathe sweet corn ice pop.

Peach sour beer

There’s nothing petite about the flavor of the petite sour beers at the Crooked Stave brewery, which has taprooms in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood and Old Town Fort Collins. The beer is fermented first with wild yeast culture, then fermented again in oak foeders with a big batch of whole fruit. The surprising part is that they started with Washington blueberries and raspberries before looking closer to home for some batches made with Colorado peaches. But the peach version has finally arrived, and was worth the wait.

Peach pizza

Slyce Pizza in Fort Collins built its August pizza of the month around the fruit. Palisade peach slices are accompanied by grilled chicken and habanero salsa for a great pizza with a slightly sweet and mildly hot kick. Although you might be skeptical about fruit on a pizza, it’s a definite step above your average Hawaiian pizza.

Peach Pie

Sure, there are plenty of peach pie options around Colorado, but Wednesday’s Pie in Denver’s Larimer Square specializes in fresh peach goodness. In fact, one of the only complaints about this place is that fresh peach pies are only available at the peak of Colorado peach season, so don’t dawdle on getting over there.