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. Like the Saratoga Springs facility, the
Albany site will make beer on the premises.
As the building is renovated, there will be
large windows so that passers-by can observe
brewing operations on the Broadway side of the
building. The entrance to the restaurant will
be from the Bridge Street side of the building.
Whereas the Saratoga Druthers is served
by 12-15 kitchen staff in peak season, George
de Piro, chief brewing officer of Druthers,
anticipated that the Albany location’s kitchen
will need 20-25 staff to meet customer demand
in a location that, aside from a slight summer
slowdown, sees a fairly steady year-round
traffic flow.
He said wood-fired brick oven pizza had been
in the original plan for Saratoga, but there
wasn’t room for it. There will be in Albany and
it will be one of the features of the restaurant.
Other foods will be similar to the Saratoga site,
like appetizers that include chicken wings,
calamari, and mussels. There are four kinds
of macaroni and cheese, green salads, various
sandwiches, burgers, and fish and chips.
There will be capacity for party reservations.
A New Year’s opening is anticipated, de Piro said.
He said Albany’s beer production will accommodate
the needs of the Albany pub and,
thanks to new state legislation, it will be producing
beverages for off-premises distribution
as well. When Saratoga’s Druthers is in midtrack
season and needs more beer, the Albany
brewery will be able to provide support.
De Piro said four years ago he worked at
another brewery in Albany. He said periodically
some visitor would walk in and announce
his plans to open a brewery. Typically, no new
brewery was forthcoming. But one visitor came
in accompanied by a friend of de Piro’s and had
one item the other self-proclaimed brewers
didn’t have: a business plan.
That person was Chris Martell. De Piro left
his Albany job and became Martell’s business
partner for Druthers’ at 381 Broadway in
Saratoga Springs.
The brewery, which produces beers and
ales of various derivations, won out over 47
contenders in the 2014 World Beer Cup in the
German-style sour ale category for its “dose”
(pronounced “do-zuh”) ale called “The Dare,”
de Piro said.
De Piro said he is pleased that the Albany
Druthers will be part of an effort to make Albany’s
warehouse district a solid neighborhood.
He looks forward to making the Druthers brand
bigger and growing it “faster than any other
brewery in the region.”