In Drydock

Dave S. and I just got back from Drydock Brewing down on Chambers and Hampden. It's associated with the Brew Hut, a business dedicated to supplying home brewers and vintners with supplies. For those interested, the Brew Hut had to move a couple store fronts east to be adjacent with Drydock Brewing's location, the old Checker Auto Parts store front.

I sampled two of their hoppier brews, the IPA (India Pale Ale) and the ESB (Extra Special Bitters). Both were very much to my liking. Dave S. had their pale ale and the hefeweisen, again, both quite good. The hefeweisen was interesting with its banana overtone. They had another brew with apricot overtones which we didn't get to sample -- someone had to drive the short distance home.

The place is technically a "tasting room", and you can "taste" all you want. All that is sold there is what they produce -- no Bud, no Coors. (The 'keep was wearing a T-shirt reading "Fizzy yellow beer is for Winps!) I noticed that only seven of the taps were in use out of a wall of more than twice that. (More flavors coming in the future -- yay!)

There is no food. The city wants the entire strip mall to be equipped with a sprinkler system, and this specific business to have a 1000 gallon grease trap installed in the parking lot before allowing a permit for food service. Food is not in their future. Their use of a self-service popcorn machine in and of itself may be a violation. Even serving a lemon slice with the hefeweisen is considered "serving food".

But you can bring in your own food or order out (they have menus) and have it delivered. Somehow, that's OK with the city. It's sort of like the situation Shaebeen's Irish Pub was in several years ago when they shut down their kitchen. We frequently saw pizzas and such delivered when we were there for the Irish music. St. Patrick's Day saw corned beef and cabbage meals being supplied by the Greek restaurant across the parking lot.

We left around 2:30 and were told at the time that the place would be SRO in a couple hours. Obviously a popular place. Pints run $3 and $4, with growlers going for $8 and $10.

Visit us and be taken there, like it or not.