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 autumn ’19 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.
On Montgomery County beer tour, early September ’26, hoisted a few more Tannery Runners with wife.
As white bubbles rose to the surface of paler, less creamy hefeweizen, Wheaty Mc Wheatface, black-peppered lemony herbage placated banana-clove-coriander sweetness.
Aluminum beige-cleared Berliner Weiss, Straight To My Thiols, stayed ultra-tart as briny lemon-limed gooseberry and composted lemon rot gained dry Phantom grape esters over white wheat blanching.
Flagship single-hopped tripel, Sympathy For The Devil, let floral perfumed white pepper prickle coriander-seeded grains of paradise and Loral-hopped citric spritz over wheat-dried pilsner malts.
Floral citrus sweetness countered dank cannabis resin of dry-hopped NEIPA, Terrestrial Dragon – Ouroboros, letting mildly embittered yellow grapefruit and orange tanginess reach lightly creamed oated wheat base.
Dry tropical fruited Imperial IPA, Pop Goes The Dragon, escorted mildly bitter grapefruit, tart guava, tangy tangerine, white grape esters and lemon zest to oats-flaked pilsner malts before musky pine resin entered.
Dryer than usual lactic milkshake IPA’s, Blood Dragon, utilized blood orange to desiccate its sunny navel orange zesting, picking up sticky pine resin and lacking necessary milk sugar sweetness.
Another dry one, German-styled brown ale, Bready Or Not, recalled a fungi-cellared altbier with its brown tea spot and dank dewiness dotting musty chocolate-chalked baked breading.
Smoothly creamed nitro stout, Breakfast At Timothy’s, draped brown-sugared pancake syrup over chocolate-chipped dark roast coffee for morning time eye opening serenity.
Aged in Blue Bird whiskey barrels and conditioned on toasted coconut, vanilla beans, cocoa nibs and almond extract, luscious lactic Imperial Stout nightcap, Joyfull Moon, posted maple-sapped brandy, cinnamon and bruised black cherry sweetness atop brown-sugared oats given dark chocolate syruping.