Thirsty Dog Brewing Company

Local Brewery Offers Tours Every Saturday
By Brit Charek

This St. Patrick's Day, I chose to do something educational. Naturally, there was beer involved.

Thirsty Dog Brewing Company, located on Grant Street between the University of Akron and I-77, offers tours of their facility every Saturday afternoon at three o'clock, free of charge.

The tour starts in a small room in the very back of the warehouse filled with bags of malt and barley stacked high to the ceiling. Our tour guide, Adam, a pleasant gentleman who looked a bit too young to know as much about beer as he did (although as the daughter of an avid homebrewer who was capping bottles at the tender age of nine I have no room to talk), narrated the various adventures that magically change the malt into delicious beer.

The brewery, established in 1997, recently underwent an expansion a year ago, and plans to expand again this year. Thirsty Dog beer is now available in 13 states, and the company hopes to continue to grow.

 

Bourbon barrels from Kentucky used to add flavor to darker ales and stouts

The tour ends in the tasting room, which is basically a bar with a dozen beers brewed in-house on tap, as well as two hand pumps for serving cask ales. There they serve samples for $1 or pints for $4. My personal favorites (why yes, I tried them all) were the Siberian Night, a Russian Imperial Stout, and the Old Druid Saison, a Belgian "farmhouse" style blonde ale.

The tasting room is open to the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4-8pm, Fridays from 12-8pm and Saturdays from 2-6pm. They also rent out the tasting room for private events. I'd recommend going on Thirsty Thursdays, where you can fill up your growler with draft beer for $2 off and stay to enjoy a discounted pint as well. Don't have a growler? You can get one with the Thirsty Dog logo on it for $5.

You can learn more about Thirsty Dog by visiting their website or by touring the brewery yourself for free any Saturday afternoon this summer. They also offer private tours for groups.

Thirsty Dog Brewing Company

529 Grant St.

Akron, OH 44311

(330) 252-2739

http://www.thirstydog.com