By Barbara A. Brewer La Mere<\/p>\n
Druthers Brewing Co. and restaurant in
\nSaratoga Springs has plans to open a second
\nlocation in Albany.<\/p>\n
Work is under way at the second Druthers, a
\nformer warehouse building at 1053 Broadway,
\nAlbany. Like the Saratoga Springs facility, the
\nAlbany site will make beer on the premises.<\/p>\n
As the building is renovated, there will be
\nlarge windows so that passers-by can observe
\nbrewing operations on the Broadway side of the
\nbuilding. The entrance to the restaurant will
\nbe from the Bridge Street side of the building.<\/p>\n
Whereas the Saratoga Druthers is served
\nby 12-15 kitchen staff in peak season, George
\nde Piro, chief brewing officer of Druthers,
\nanticipated that the Albany location’s kitchen
\nwill need 20-25 staff to meet customer demand
\nin a location that, aside from a slight summer
\nslowdown, sees a fairly steady year-round
\ntraffic flow.<\/p>\n
He said wood-fired brick oven pizza had been
\nin the original plan for Saratoga, but there
\nwasn’t room for it. There will be in Albany and
\nit will be one of the features of the restaurant.
\nOther foods will be similar to the Saratoga site,
\nlike appetizers that include chicken wings,
\ncalamari, and mussels. There are four kinds
\nof macaroni and cheese, green salads, various
\nsandwiches, burgers, and fish and chips.<\/p>\n
There will be capacity for party reservations.<\/p>\n
A New Year’s opening is anticipated, de Piro said.
\nHe said Albany’s beer production will accommodate
\nthe needs of the Albany pub and,
\nthanks to new state legislation, it will be producing
\nbeverages for off-premises distribution
\nas well. When Saratoga’s Druthers is in midtrack
\nseason and needs more beer, the Albany
\nbrewery will be able to provide support.<\/p>\n
De Piro said four years ago he worked at
\nanother brewery in Albany. He said periodically
\nsome visitor would walk in and announce
\nhis plans to open a brewery. Typically, no new
\nbrewery was forthcoming. But one visitor came
\nin accompanied by a friend of de Piro’s and had
\none item the other self-proclaimed brewers
\ndidn’t have: a business plan.<\/p>\n
That person was Chris Martell. De Piro left
\nhis Albany job and became Martell’s business
\npartner for Druthers’ at 381 Broadway in
\nSaratoga Springs.<\/p>\n
The brewery, which produces beers and
\nales of various derivations, won out over 47
\ncontenders in the 2014 World Beer Cup in the
\nGerman-style sour ale category for its “dose”
\n(pronounced “do-zuh”) ale called “The Dare,”
\nde Piro said.<\/p>\n
De Piro said he is pleased that the Albany
\nDruthers will be part of an effort to make Albany’s
\nwarehouse district a solid neighborhood.
\nHe looks forward to making the Druthers brand
\nbigger and growing it “faster than any other
\nbrewery in the region.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Barbara A. Brewer La Mere Druthers Brewing Co. and restaurant in Saratoga Springs has plans to open a second location in Albany. Work is under way at the second Druthers, a former warehouse building at 1053 Broadway, Albany….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[48,57,110],"class_list":["post-15622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","tag-albany","tag-business-news","tag-restaurants"],"yoast_head":"\r\n