Jack’s Abby Offshoot Springdale Barrel Room Starts Pouring This Week

Springdale Barrel Room. / Photo by Mo Bentley provided

Give your Jack’s Abby growlers a rinse, because the Framingham brewery is about ready to introduce a brand new lineup of beers. The Springdale Barrel Room opens on Thursday, with nine new brews and blends. Check out the opening draft list below.

Pending the receipt of a state pouring license, Springdale Barrel Room will offer full pours and pints, but growler fills begin Thursday, December 15, says cofounder Jack Hendler. Clinton Street is now home to two beer brands, but it’s technically just one brewery, so they can use Jack’s Abby growlers for these new beers, he says. Eventually, both taprooms will sell co-branded jugs.

Just five beers will be available to go fresh from the draft, though, limited to the clean-fermented styles and New England-style IPAs. Springdale’s sour beers will be bottled, Hendler says.

“Our beer is best consumed fresh, and as quality freaks, we’re not thrilled putting all our beers in growlers,” he says.

There’s an additional incentive for beer geeks to try Springdale beers on-site: Modern Draught has installed a system that will allow them to serve samples directly from the fermenting barrels, says Springdale general manager Joe Connolly. For Cuvee d’Or Rouge, for example—a blend of red and gold sour lagers aged in barrels—drinkers can taste chilled components of the blended beer alongside the carbonated, finished product.

“We can open that up to people and show them what the process entails. We’re really excited to share that,” Connolly says.

(L to R) Springdale Barrel Room general manager Joe Connolly and Jack’s Abby cofounder Jack Hendler. / Photo by Mo Bentley provided

Springdale not only brings an additional, 100-plus-seat, 12-draft beer hall to Clinton Street, it also gives Jack’s Abby room to grow its production capacity. About 25,000 square feet of the new space—located next door to the beer hall that opened last fall—is devoted to production. About 1,000 wine and bourbon barrels have moved from the JA brewhouse to SBR, and in the coming weeks, five foeders (large, wooden fermenting vessels) will get set up, Connolly says.

“We built [the Jack’s Abby] facility to brew triple the amount of beer we’re making currently. The barrels take up a lot of space but don’t put out a lot of volume,” Hendler says.

He anticipates both brands producing 25,000 barrels in 2017, with 100,000 barrels an achievable goal in the near future. Springdale’s production floor is devoted to aging for now, but it will eventually host some primary fermentation, too, he says. Longtime Jack’s Abby employee Matt Cohen is Springdale Barrel Room’s barrel master.

The Springdale Barrel Room will be open Thursday from 4-10 p.m., Friday from 4-11 p.m., Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sunday from 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Guests can bring in their own food, including orders from the Jack’s Abby beer hall next door. Connolly adds that everybody should bring a pocketful of quarters: While the team gets ready to open, he’s been racking up high scores on the vintage Budweiser Tapper arcade game and a couple pinball machines—a challenge for guests to beat, he jokes.

“If you want to come in and geek out on beer with us and taste straight barrels, we’ll do that for you,” Connolly says. “But beer should be fun.”

102 Clinton St., Framingham, 508-872-0900, springdalebeer.com.

Springdale Barrel Room Opening Draft List

Slanting Light
brown lager finished with Brett in a foeder

Kriek Mythology
golden lager finished in bourbon barrels with sour cherries

Cuvee d’Or Rouge
blend of red and gold sour Lagers aged in barrels

Cuvee de Bandwagon
Brett-finished golden lager dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand

Skillshot
dry-hopped, 100 percent Brett-fermented grisette

Walk On Porter
sessionable English Porter

Mr. Wallace’s IPA
East Coast-style IPA

Mr. Crooks’ IPA
West Coast-style IPA

To be-Named Saison

To-be-Named 100 percent Brett-fermented Berliner Weiss

“And maybe a few other surprises.”

Springdale Barrel Room. / Photo by Mo Bentley provided