Friday, June 06, 2008

Ron's Original Bar & Grille Grand Re-Opening

You think I've been behind lately? (Listen here smartypants, I said 'behind', not 'a behind'.) I haven't told you about my visit to Ron's on their Grand Opening weekend yet, have I? Eh, that's nothing. I still have some good notes that I haven't shared with you from a visit to Barclay's in Oakland, CA all the way back in February. But, I have no excuses. Nah, I do have excuses, but I won't waste your time sharing them with you. Instead, I'll give you a quick rundown of my stop in at the new and improved Ron's Original Bar & Grille in Exton, PA. A month or so after the soft opening, they were ready to blow the doors off with a Grand Re-Opening Bash, complete with Andre Gardner from WMGK, free wine tastings, and live music. I couldn't make it for Friday night's festivities. So, I stopped in early Saturday evening for a few beers, light food, and an Oval to take home to eat with Patty. From the minute I pulled into the parking lot, then walked through the doors, I could tell that they got the word out (I'm sure I helped too!) because this was the most crowded I'd seen Ron's in quite a while. As I mentioned the free wine tasting, I'm sure this didn't hurt the turnout. I settled in at the bar, which was packed with a mixture of folks like me having some beers and watching baseball and hockey, and others waiting for tables. The dining room was running a waiting list of approximately 30 minutes. The tap list was as strong as I reported at their soft opening. Of course, giving you this listing 6 days later will not likely be very helpful, but it should continue to provide you with an idea of the kind of selection they're bringing to you at Ron's. The prices seemed to have settled into a reasonable range, something that I was not ready to report a few weeks back. It's good to see that last Saturday the most expensive draft beer were Stone's Imperial Russian Stout, Chimay's Cinq Cents, and Dogfish Head's Festina Peche, each at $7. All others came in just above or below five bucks. Glassware is something that I hope to see them improve upon. While I didn't inquire further, I could see that many of the drafts were being poured into the round-shaped Dogfish Head glass (14 or 16 ounces, I believe). While I certainly don't expect the glassware "fanaticism" (I say that with a good dose of respect) of a place such as Teresa's, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more diversity in serving glass shapes and sizes, especially to fit the particular styles and alcohol levels. I'll have pictures and more detailed tellings in the future. In the mean time, you might want to stop in and rehydrate this weekend; it's gonna be a hot one here in the Philadelphia area. Below is the tap list as of last Saturday. Anderson Valley High Rollers Wheat Avery Maharaja IPA Brooklyn Brooklynator Doppelbock (Brewmasters Reserve) Chimay Cinq Cents (White label/cap) Dogfish Head Festina Peche Flying Dog In Heat Wheat Flying Fish Imperial Espresso Porter Magic Hat Circus Boy Ramstein (High Point Brewing) Mai Bock Rogue Black Brutal Bitter (John's Locker Stock) Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager Stone Imperial Russian Stout Southern Tier Über Sun Victory Whirlwind Wheat Young's Double Chocolate Stout And the usual suspects for those who enjoy depriving themselves of gustatory pleasure ;-) Coors Light Miller Lite Peroni Yuengling Lager Under the coming soon, or maybe here and gone already by this point, section were: Arcadia Coco Loco; Bell's Double Cream Stout; Blue Point Hoptical Illusion; Franziskaner Hefe Weisse; Left Hand Milk Stout; New Holland Dragon's Milk; Pyramid Apricot Weizen; Rogue I-Squared; Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA; Stone Arrogant Bastard; Thirsty Dog Siberian Night; Tröegs Troegenator; Victory Dark Lager; Weihenstephaner Kristall Weiss; and Wells Banana Bread

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Banana bread and coco loco were tapped as of Wednesday.

Kevin said...

I have heard from several people that the bottle prices are much lower than the rest of the area (for at the bar drinking.) I am glad to see the draft prices are where they should be.

Mark said...

Nice to see you back blogging. Was getting concerned and thought we would have to play "Where is Waldo (Byran)".

Bryan Kolesar said...

You'd not be the first. I've had a series of commenters during the week regarding my conspicuous silence! All's well, but I have a backlog of beer stories to tell. Hope your wheels are feeling better of late!