Druthers, Saratoga

When you think of Druthers, what comes to mind first? It’s gotta be either beer or macaroni and cheese, right? Well, we took a taste of some of their other popular appetizers to get another stamp for the passport.

Note: This is part of my personal 2021 Capital Craft Beverage Trail journey to fill the passport.

Druthers, with their locations in Albany, Schenectady, and Saratoga, are pretty well-known around the area. Their delicious beer options, their out-of-the-box food options, and the overall cool vibe in each of their spaces. “We all make a life one choice at a time and we know that our loyal enthusiasts are trading up, spending more, and drinking less. We will never make concessions as an aberration against the spirit of our beer. Our commitment to choice beer will always be focused on quality not gimmicks or hype. The kind of quality that rewards craft beer enthusiasts and makes Druthers the right choice.”

Instead of a flight, we decided to each just get a pint and some delicious food. I ordered “No Excuses” which is 6.5% ABV. Our New England pale ale is brewed with pale Munich and wheatmalts, oats and a lot of hops! The big fruity resinous aroma has notes of pineapple, citrus and pine. The flavor is overtly hoppy with a smooth malt presence that brings some balance to the hop extravaganza. I really enjoyed it, the fresh flavors, the hops, citrus – delicious.

For food, we ordered the Loaded Monkey Bread ($12), garlic butter, crumbled bacon, leeks, pepperoni, mozzarella, house red sauce and Beer Cheese Dip ($13), druthers 7-cheese blend, golden rule blonde, cherry peppers, scallions, bavarian-style pretzels. Though, we do usually order the macaroni and cheese, both of these food choices were delicious in their own right. They were filling enough for the two of us (and we even took some pretzels and beer cheese home).