Severance – Bruce Ruth’s Rocky Mountain oysters were famous. The breaded and fried strips of bull testicles drew thousands to Bruce’s Bar over the years, including Julia Roberts and John Elway.
But what patrons such as 91-year-old Glenn Scott truly appreciated about the narrow hideaway in downtown Severance was the hospitality of the staff and the bar’s hunting-jacket-clad patrons.
Scott doubts he’ll find the same atmosphere anywhere else, which is why he drove from his home in the mountains west of Fort Collins once a week to spend the day at Bruce’s Bar.
“Now what am I going to do for a watering hole?” he said.
Dozens of patrons who shook off the cold Wednesday afternoon at Bruce’s Bar for the last time are wondering the same thing. The bar is shutting down after more than 50 years for reasons manager Bary Brim refused to talk about.
Longtime patrons began worrying about the bar’s fate in August when 73-year-old Ruth died after a long illness. Customers said Wednesday that Ruth’s son, Steven, allowed the bar to lapse into code violations because he wants to sell the property.
Steven Ruth couldn’t be reached for comment.
But those who crowded the bar’s tables and hunched over baskets of French fries and “oysters” Wednesday bemoaned the loss of a landmark where white and blue collars mixed easily.
“I first came in here 37 years ago, and the ceiling has never changed,” said Don Wisroth, a 20-year resident of Severance. “The place is a constant.”
Goose hunters used Bruce’s Bar as a gathering spot for decades, said local outfitter Shane Kingsley. Many of them treated the place like home, and the help treated them like wayward sons and daughters, Kingsley said.
“There is nowhere now to go talk about our geese,” Kingsley said, “and no one to yell at you when you order.”
Ruth started serving Rocky Mountain oysters in the 1950s. At one point, he told customers they came from the nearby Poudre River.
Brim said Ruth used only the finest imported testicles, bringing in as many as 22 tons a year from New Zealand and Costa Rica.
They always tasted good to RoseAnne Seiler, who plucked one from a basket with her manicured nails and dipped it into a cup of ketchup. Seiler took a small, crunchy bite and reveled at its taste.
“You know, it’s just like chicken,” Seiler said with a smile.
Her husband, Warren, looked at the crowd around their table and wished for a new future for Bruce’s Bar.
“This place,” he said, “is really going to be missed.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
