All Over Albany

Brewery planned for North Albany warehouse district

The building for the planned Druthers brewery facility/tasting room/restaurant.

Another interesting potential development in North Albany's warehouse district: Druthers Brewing Company -- which already has a brew pub in downtown Saratoga Springs -- has been granted a zoning variance in order to open a production facility and tasting room/restaurant in a building at the corner of Broadway and Bridge Street. (A tip of the hat to Steve Barnes for picking this development out of the BZA agenda.)

Druthers partner and brewmaster George de Piro posted about the plan at the TU's Beer Nut blog:

Our current location on Broadway in Saratoga Springs has been doing pretty well and we really want to get our beer to a wider audience. The 10 BBL (barrel) brewing system there can barely handle demand, so to sell more beer we need to build another brewery. I live in Albany and want to do more to help revitalize our downtown (I am proud of the work I did helping the Pump Station to succeed and all that did for Albany). I also miss brewing with Albany water. It's really awesome! Thus, the decision was made to open Druthers II in New York's capital.

De Piro's post includes a projected start date for brewing of June 2014, "if everything goes perfectly."

The building currently serves as space for a plumbing supply company, and its zoning doesn't allow for restaurant use, thus the need for a variance. (The BZA application is after the jump.) It includes a project narrative and pics. From the narrative:

The brewing area of the Building will be equipped with a 30BBL brewing system that is capable of producing an estimated 15,000 kegs annual, a canning line capable of canning 30 beers per minute, 1,500 square feet of cooler space, and commercial keg washing/filling equipment. The tasting area will feature a bar, restaurant style seating, and offer wood-fired pizza. It is expected that the hours of operation for the brewery/tasting room would be daily from 12pm to 10:00pm.

The statement also lists the total cost of the project as $2.2 million.

The warehouse district along Broadway is shaping up to be an interesting area for the city.

The (insert new name) district

The proposed Druthers site is just a few blocks north of the already-existing Wolff's/Sciortino's/Stout/Barrel Saloon strip. And just around the corner from that strip is the start-up Nine Pin Cider Works, which also is planning a tasting room.

And zooming out a bit, the Albany Pump Station, Albany Distilling Co., and the Olde English are just a short distance to the south. So in the span of less than a mile, there could be two breweries, a distillery, a cidery, and a few pubs. Maybe the "warehouse district" will need a new name.

And, wait, there could be more: As Steve also pointed out, there's an application to open a "beach bar" in the 28 Thatcher space, just off Broadway from the Wolff's, et al strip. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that, because it's the same space that the BZA rejected a variance for opening a performance venue last spring. There's not yet a decision on that app.

Druthers BZA application

Albany BZA App Druthers 1053 Broadway 01-08-14