Eat, drink and play at Talcott Mountain Collective in Simsbury

admin 0 Comments July 21, 2022

, 2022-07-21 07:41:36,

At the five-acre Talcott Mountain Collective in Simsbury, you can choose your own adventure. Grab a beer at the bar, with your choice of 20 local, regional and international brews. Snack on a giant Bavarian pretzel, or order Spanish tapas and fried chicken sandwiches from a Connecticut food truck. Gather your friends for a game of cornhole or disc golf, or just take in the views of Talcott Mountain and the iconic Heublein Tower.

Wallace “Ron” Ronald and his son, Tyler, opened Talcott Mountain Collective, what they call an “experience venue,” in December, transforming the former Tower Ridge Golf Club into a spacious multi-use destination. Wallace was inspired by similar spaces in beer meccas like Boulder, Denver and Asheville, N.C., and had the idea in the back of his mind for about six years before the Simsbury opportunity came up.

Tyler says his father was looking for something unique to set itself apart from traditional food truck parks and the growing brewery scene in Connecticut. “He needed it to be something special,” Tyler says. “That was always the word he used, needing a special location. He did site visits all around the state, and he was just holding out until he found something that really spoke to him.”

Talcott Mountain Collective offers outdoor seating, yard games and a spectacular view of the mountain itself.

Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media

The winning site ended up being the former club, which closed about four years ago. Wallace saw the potential: a clubhouse with indoor seating, a bar and a kitchen; expansive outdoor space for alfresco seating and plenty of room for recreation, including yard games.

Not only was the space just what Wallace was looking for, but it has sentimental value to the family. “I literally married Tyler’s mother on top of the mountain in 1971,” he says.

Wallace brings more than five decades of restaurant and beer industry experience to the project. He’s been involved with restaurants in Hartford and surrounding towns in that time, experiencing all of the city’s highs and lows: the Civic Center’s 1978 roof collapse, the economic boom of the 1980s and the departure of the Hartford Whalers in 1997.