AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA
Right in the heart of diminutive village, Ambler, 16 miles North of Philly, TANNERY RUN BREWWORKS opened its doors March ’19. Re-creating Ambler’s rural past with modern Industrial decor, the 16-tap brewpub features a nifty wood lacquer-etched bar top inlaid by pyrographic tree designs and an overhead fern-vined trellis plus a separate corrugated sheet-glassed right side dining area and a sofa-laden backroom lounge with a large mural celebrating the Pink Boot Society. Rear tanks serve fluctuating flagship brews and snazzy one-offs.
One mile from warehouse-bound Ambler Beer Co,. this 9,500 square-foot centrally located seven barrel pub-eatery (with downstairs private event space) specializes in Splatch Brewing, an innovative mash-kettled yeast and hop system splitting batches into different varieties.
My wife and I grab mushroom leek flatbread from the soup-salad-sandwich menu while consuming eight rangy brews on our enjoyable premier visit.
Amiable copper-toned autumnal lager, Sozin’s Comet, contrasted its toasted Graham Cracker sweetness with dewy herbal restraint and earthy fungi must.
An orange-candied lemon spritz and dewy earthen foliage emerged from dry English-hopped Ceiling Smasher, a hybridized saison with herbal green tea notions.
Brisk Belgian blonde, Beast Of Burden, let herbal white-peppered lemondrop tartness contrast sweet banana-bubblegum-clove-coriander illusions with genuine aplomb.
Dewy fermented tea-like earthiness grappled dark candi-syruped plum, fig and date sweetness for Sokka’s Master, a delightful Abbey yeast-soaked dubbel.
Dank West Coast-styled IPA flagship, Red Dragon, brought dry lemony orange fruiting to a lightly spiced malt sugaring that contrasted its musky wattle-seeded pine nut, fennel and brown tea illusions.
Belgian ale yeast provided black-peppered fungi must and candi-sugared fig-dried resonance to Blue Dragon IPA, a finely detailed rustic hybrid.
Floral-honeyed peach, orange and grapefruit sweetness countered resinous herbal whims for Elder Dragon IPA, a dryly pale malted aggressor.
Dry-kilned Belgian coffee malts provided the mocha thrust of black-malted Dark Ritual Porter, leaving dark chocolate bittering at the finish.