** Here's a sneak peek inside the new brewpub .**
Wandering Griffin serves a variety of sandwiches, salads, entrees and appetizers beyond its pizza menu. Appetizers include Smales Pretzel Bites and Scratch-Made Tater Tots; sandwiches include Balsamic Roasted Portabello and the signature dish, B. Young’s Beef on Weck, consisting of thinly sliced tri-tip beef on a weck roll with caraway seeds, dipped in au jus and served with fresh horseradish. Entrees include Lemon IPA Roasted Chicken and Pork Belly Mac & Cheese.
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The 10,000-square-foot brewpub — located at the former Quaker Steak & Lube space at 3725 Presidential Drive off Colonel Glenn Highway — seats an estimated 270 inside, and another 120 on a patio. It will open with about 75 employees, Young said.
The brewpub has two sets of craft taps offering about 30 craft beers, many from Dayton-area breweries. The patio also has a dozen more taps on its patio for warm-weather months. It will be several months before Wandering Griffin starts brewing its own beers, but still intends to pour beers from other breweries, with an emphasis on local breweries, even after starting production of its own beers.
Quaker Steak & Lube operated for 13 years in the space before shutting down in October 2015. The site’s proximity to several large employers — including WSU, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Soin Medical Center and multiple aerospace and engineering firms along Colonel Glenn Highway — made the space attractive to lease, Young has said.
More than a dozen breweries have opened in the Dayton region in the last five years. None have closed, and nearly all have expanded in some fashion. The region’s newest craft breweries, Mother Stewart’s Brewing Company in downtown Springfield and FigLeaf Brewing Company in Middletown, opened earlier this year.
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