Taste Bridge Brew fresh on tap in the new tasting room

Our backyard brewery, Bridge Brew Works, recently opened their new tasting room, where you can sample their beers on tap and chat with owners and head brewers Ken and Nate.
They also were awarded some impressive medals at the Bramwell Oktoberfest recently, with their Dun Glen Dubbel and 3-River Tripel winning gold and silver in the Belgian/specialty category. While their Peregrine Porter aged in Smooth Ambler Old Scout Bourbon oak barrels won gold for porters, Long Point Lager took silver for light lager/ales, and Oktoberfest earned a bronze.
This month you can try their Long Point Lager, Mountain Momma, Draculin and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Bridge Brew in the tasting room. The Draculin is their Halloween beer, a red Belgian IPA inspired by a National Geographic special about vampire bats.
We got a chance to catch up with Ken and find out how it’s going with the tasting room:
What’s the Tasting Room About?
“We do 2 oz tastings of each of our beers. Right now we have 4 beers on tap, and we can fill ½ gallon and quart growlers to go, and we sell our bottled beers. We also have glassware and t-shirts.”
Are You Doing Tours?
“We do offer facility and beer making tours for groups, where we talk about our philosophy and how we make our beer. Just call us to set up a tour.”
What’s the response been from visitors and the community?
“We’ve had a great response, and we’ve really enjoyed getting to have conversations with the people who enjoy our beer. For years, people would stop by and we could chat, but we couldn’t offer tastings. The tasting room gives us the opportunity to invite them in so they can learn about what we do and try our beers.”
What’s the best part about the tasting room?
“Being able to meet the people who have enjoyed our product for years. It’s amazing that they can see what we are doing and meet us. Most of our beer goes through a distributor, so this is a great way to connect with our customers.”
What’s the hardest part of having the tasting room?
“It’s still just the 2 of us, so it’s hard to be open as much as we’d like. When we went to the Bramwell Oktoberfest we couldn’t have the tasting room open. We try to be open on Friday and Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., but if we are at a festival, we can’t be in 2 places at once. We update the hours we are available on Facebook, so liking us or following us is a good way to know when we are here.”