Ambler, PA: a delightful Philly suburb with memorable one-off beers at Forest and Main and a flat-out elegant old movie house showing art house flicks. Coming out of an exhilarating two hours with Elton John's biopic
Rocketman, I spied a new brewery right across the street:
Tannery Run Brewing.
Open to the street in the good weather, the brewpub sits in a re-purposed old brick building, yes, once a tannery, and built over a small creek, which are called runs in this area.
The brewery's taproom opened last St. Patrick's Day, about fifteen weeks ago.
The tap list offered a good selection of popular craft ale styles, some IPAs, saisons, wheats, stouts, etc. To most of them the word "splatch" had been appended, so my first question to one of the brewers was "What's a splatch?"
It means "split batch," Tim said. "Which means we cook up a batch of wort in a big mash tun and then we split that batch between two brew kettles sitting side by side and add different hops and yeast to each kettle as the recipe calls for." Thus, out of the same grain bill they get Ambler Oracle (a pale ale, 4.9%) and a Jasmine Man (Belgian strong dark ale, 7.2%). Some of the splits are logical, a milk stout and an Irish dry stout.
In the picture, the mash tun is in the center, brew kettle #1 is to the right, and brew kettle #2 sits atop the hot liquor tank behind the mash tun. I tried the milk stout, a good creamy example of the style.
Time will tell whether splatching leads to unusual tastes or is more of a brewer's budget technique. Tannery Run has a good vibe and a busy social presence.
(Visited 06/13/19)
