The Drafting Room Taproom & Grille, with locations in Exton and Spring House, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1994 by Andrew and Howard Weintraub. The combination of fine food and top shelf drinks provided in a relaxed atmosphere has seen some success in there 10 year history. The Exton location was a recent recipient of Main Line Today magazine's Best Restaurant in Exton award for the second year in a row as well as being recognized for Best Draft Beer Selection and Best Bottled Beer Selection on the Main Line.
Drafting Room 10th Anniversary Ale will play a major role in The Drafting Room's season-long tenth anniversary celebration. Other highlights will include several Meet the Brewer events, a weekly BBQ night, and soft-shell crab specials throughout the summer months. "The Summer Solstice immediately struck us as a logical release date" says Patrick Mullin, TDR General Manager. "What better way to kick off the Dog Days than with a great handcrafted local ale?"
Owner Andrew Weintraub was concerned with the role that a specialty beer would play in the overall restaurant operation. "We wanted to be certain that the resulting product would be something that our Chefs would be able to work with. A significant portion of our menu utilizes beers of varying styles for marinades, sauces and steaming. Having a product that would be flexible in its utilization in the kitchen was certainly a consideration. It goes without saying that stylistically, 10th Anniversary Ale will need to pair well with existing menu items as well."
For obvious reasons "...recipe formulation was a very important part of the process," said Mullin. "We had several meetings where styles, flavors, and character were discussed. A number of products were sampled with extensive conversation about the merits of each and what could be done to create our own distinct flavor profile. We felt that Chris and John Troegner, brewmasters and owners of Tröeg's Brewery, were uniquely qualified to accomplish our goals both stylistically and logistically. John's knowledge of hop utilization and blending impressed us a great deal."
The brewing took place on Wednesday, April 28th at the Tröeg's Brewery at 800 Paxton Avenue in Harrisburg. Although the style remains a matter of some speculation, the 20 barrel batch utilized Warrior, Simcoe, Nugget and Amarillo hops in the boil as well as an impressive 25 pounds of whole flower hops in Tröeg's own "hopback". An additional "dry-hopping" may yet take place in the kegs, where fresh whole hop flowers are allowed to steep in the beer after fermentation is complete.
10th Anniversary Ale will be available at both Drafting Room locations June 21st until the supply runs out, (probably in early September). Although no bottles are planned, half-gallon growlers are always available for carryout in each of the taprooms.
Brothers Chris and John Troegner founded Tröeg's Brewing in 1997. As they like to say, "We aren't concerned with making beer to a particular style, as much as we want to create a quality beer that we like to drink, that's what is really important." In addition to a long-standing relationship with The Drafting Room, Tröeg's products are available throughout Pennsylvania as well as in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Tröeg's is open to the public for tours every Saturday at 2:00pm. [more tour info]
Both Drafting Room locations are open 7 days a week and feature an extensive array of draft and bottled products. Although the success of Drafting Room 10th Anniversary Ale is still uncertain, Mullin seems confident: "We've already started thinking about our 11th Anniversary Ale!"
