New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Eat, drink & play at Talcott Mountain Collective
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.”
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.
Most recently, as a partner in downtown Hartford’s City Steam Brewery and Cafe, he’s seen first
hand the effects of COVID. Business hasn’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and “it’s going to be a long recovery,” he says.
At the Collective, the Ronalds are enjoying their first summer in Simsbury. They work alongside general manager Abner Rosario, who brings experience from the Hartford Golf Club and Chippanee Golf Club in Bristol. But they all run the operation as a true team, with everyone working together to prepare food and drink, serve guests and help set up and clean up.
“Part of the model is that everyone has to be a jack of all trades,” Tyler says. “It’s really a collective effort, not just in the guest experience, but also for the employees, everyone working together and then sharing in the gratuity.”
The kitchen features simple bites and snacks: pizzas made by Fitzgerald’s Foods, Bavarian pretzels, beer-braised brats and kielbasa with sauerkraut and German mustard, chili and freshly popped popcorn. Food trucks pull up on weekends, with recent visits from Mama Nena (Spanish tapas), Square Peg Pizzeria, Hot Taco Street Kitchen and Craftbird (fried chicken).
The Collective adjusts its menu according to the food trucks’ offerings, Tyler says, so they won’t sell pizza, for example, if a pizza truck is on site that day. They’re also working on adding some healthier snacks to the menu, like hummus with vegetables and pita, and Wallace is keen on specials like burger nights and shucked-toorder oysters.
The beer selection is heavy on Connecticut representation, with a mix of IPAs and ales from local breweries such as Tribus in Milford, Back East in Bloomfield, Alvarium and Five Churches in New Britain, Coles Road in Berlin, Black Hog in Oxford and Counter Weight in Cheshire. Wallace loves German beers, so guests will also find a few imported pilsners and wheat beers on the list. He’s also introducing a special German beer tap display, with five German beers and their appropriate glassware.
Not a beer drinker? Wine is available by the glass and bottle, along with canned craft cocktails and hard seltzers. The Collective also offers a selection of whiskeys and bourbons.
The Ronalds are also partners in Tower Ridge Disc Golf, which is adjacent to the Collective. The sport, which involves throwing a disc at a target using rules similar to golf, became “huge” during the pandemic, Tyler says.
Tyler loves that people are re-discovering the property, as they may have only been to the former club for special events like weddings or bar and bat mitzvahs. “On any given night, you can see a 6year-old and a 70-year-old all having fun, and that’s the mark of success for us,” he says.