According to Huntley, the city never had an issue with The Station itself. However, Boulder does have problems with Bushes, a grow associated with the MMC, and is actively trying to shut it down. Boulder recognizes grow sites and dispensaries as completely separate entitie.
The city alleges that the owner of Bushes twice refused access to city inspectors and may have been drying and curing marijuana off-site, among other violations of city and state law. Currently, the case is in district court waiting for a judge to make a decision. However, the judge has ruled that the city cannot enforce a closure until such a decision is made.
We also spoke with an employee at The Station, TJ, who said that "everything has been fixed" and that th dispensary is back in operation.
Thanks to our ever-observant commenters for pointing out the initial confusion. And now, on with the review.
Original review, 4:20 p.m. December 1: A few people have brought up The Station lately, telling me that it was worth my time and gas money to drive up to Boulder. After what felt like weeks of going without finding some mind-blowing good meds here in Denver, I shot up 36 to search out something that I actually wanted to smoke, not simply review.
The Station3005 28th Street Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 442 0892 www.thestationboulder.com
Owner: Calls and e-mails to the shop were not returned. Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. Online menu: Yes. Other types of medicine: Hash, edibles Handicap accessible? Yes.
The shop is in what looks like a brand new building, standing alone on the corner of 28th and Valmont. It's a nondescript but nice looking place with flagstone accents, a large maroon awning over the top and a mega-bright LED sign out in the parking lot advertising $35 eighths of Master Kush as the special of the week.
Parking wouldn't be an issue even if the shop was busy, but only the employees were inside when I stopped by. So I snagged a spot out front and sauntered to the secured entryway to hand over my red card and ID. The middle-aged woman behind the counter greeted me and buzzed me through to the shop itself.
Inside, the place was done up like an executive office. Custom dark woodwork was everywhere, from the trim on the top and bottom of each wall to the wooden columns and custom-made receptionist desk. Not much art aside from a few contemporary abstract pieces probably picked up at a Pier 1 store or something like that. I snagged a seat on one of the built-in benches along the wall beneath a flatscreen TV while the receptionist entered me into The Station's system.
The bud bar is through a doorway on the other side of the waiting area, and after a few minutes of waiting I was sent back to check out the goods. The finely crafted woodwork look carries over to the bar as well, with massive shelving units and cabinets built into three of the walls. Three huge counter tops set up in a U shape framing out the bud bar.
Walking in, I was greeted by the two guys working the counter -- one setting up a display of seeds from The Station's own breeding program while the other tended bar. Both gave me a casual "What's up" before telling me to check out all of the jars of herb spread across several yards of counter-top -- most of them some variation on the OG/Chemdawg family tree.
The first jar I popped open, an excellent example of Sour Diesel, set the tone for the rest of my visit. I blew out my olfactory senses with jar after jar of amazing, small-grow quality herb, including a frosted Jesus Bud, chunky Big Bubba Diesel, nose-tickling Sour Kush and lightly hazed Shreck with tiny bits of light blue leaves reminiscent of its Super Silver Haze lineage.
The Bubba, SFV OG, Ghost's OG and several other OG cuts were all extremely on-point and grown to a pungent ripeness that begged to be smoked. The budtender said tongs were available if I needed them, but you didn't need a closer look at any of these nugs to know they were the dank. How much they cost was another question. Price levels ranged from $30 to $45, tax included, but it wasn't really clear in the shop which was which without asking first.
The budtenders pointed out was that The Station has two master growers. One of them does everything in an all organic soil and the other also runs soil but uses some nutes from Canna. The difference between the two techniques was visible from the counter on just about every strain that had the side-by-side comparison thing going on -- a cool feature. Some strains, like the SFV, had juicier, fatter buds with the non-organic grow, while others, such as the Master Kush, looked better done in the organic soil.
The Station sells out some of its genetics through an in-house seed line. I didn't get a long look at what was available, but packs of five seeds sell for $35, and currently everything is based on a cross with an Albert's Haze. There was also a strain-specific bubble hash made in-house and a small selection of edibles from Sweet Mary Jane
First timers get 10 percent off and signing the shop up as primary center gets you 20 percent off all purchases, which brings even the most expensive eighths in the shop to $36 with tax included. As I have been known to do when faced with such a good selection, I sort of blew it with my picks and went with two OG phenotypes that are extremely similar in almost every regard. But still, both were amazing examples of what The Station can do.
With prices like these plus a solid selection of genetics and excellently grown herb, I would consider making this shop my primary caregiver if I lived in the orbit of Planet Boulder.
Page down for strain reviews and photos. Ghost's OG: $45/eighth One of the most impressive examples in the shop, the Ghost's OG was something I absolutely had to take home. An elite, clone-only flower, this earthy-smelling, extremely potent variety of OG isn't the easiest thing to come across as a grower. My apologies for the picture quality this week. The true color of this herb was a deep pine green with big, fat pistils poking out of the top of the crystal-covered calyxes like orange Hershey Kisses tags. Broken up, the bud left my office smelling like a can of tennis balls had a fight with a bag of potting soil. The taste was equally as rich, with an almost floral aftertaste from the start of the bowl through the powdery, white-ash finish. When done right, like this sample was, a normal bowlpack is more than enough to get irie. Burning several bowls was great for dealing with a stupid knee injury I sustained slipping in the snow a few weeks back as well as for battling insomnia. A bowl of this before bedtime, and I was sawing logs within fifteen minutes. San Fernando Valley OG: $45/eighth Stinky-stinky-stinky, just like the Ghost cut. But the SFV at The Station had a sweet, new-car-leather smell to it broken up in addition to Ghost's aroma of skunks, new Michelins and organic lemons. I spent about as much time sniffing this herb as I did smoking it. Beautiful bud structure on what I took home, with chunks of calyxes fighting it out for space in the flower. In some places, the green of the herb was hard to see beneath the glistening coverage of trichomes. I got lost looking at the bud under the scope, daydreaming about starring in a stoner version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. As expected, the herb burned with a clean smoothness and a taste that lasted from one end of a handrolled king size RAW cone to the other. A good half-gram was enough to really get my head lifted off and kill the stomach-cramps that came with eating way too much Thanksgiving leftovers this past week.William Breathes is the pot pen name for Westword's medical marijuana dispensary critic. Read more of his reviews in our Mile Highs and Lows archive, and keep up with all your Colorado cannabis news in our news blog, The Latest Word.
