| Vault Brewing Company 10 S. Main St. | Yardley, PA 19067 (267) 573-4291 vaultbrewing.com |
Vault Brewing Company, located in the former Bank of America building in Yardley, Pennsylvania opened its doors on October 11, 2012 in Bucks County.
The historic building was first home to Yardley National Bank in 1889. The original bank closed during the Great Depression, but the building housed several other banks over the years until Bank of America closed in 2009.
In 2012, brothers James and John Cain and their father Jim decided to renovate the vacant building and turn it into a brewery. The plans were ready in April, construction began in July, and the brewery opened in October.
The entrance to the brewpub is a faux vault. Once inside, the copper-clad wood-fired kitchen oven is to your left, and the brewery is straight ahead behind the bar, both surrounded by wrought-iron fencing. The dining areas feature old-world, industrial touches, without letting you forget this building was once a bank.
The back dining room features the original vault from over 125 years ago that is now used as a beer-conditioning cellar, as well as a giant safe repurposed to display wine bottles and artwork that incorporates original deposit slips from over a century ago.
Head downstairs to the restrooms and check out the shoe rack display in the women’s room and the huge rusted iron horse head in the men’s room.
Visitors do not come to Vault to watch the game. Instead jazz and funk music fill the space. Friday and Saturday nights feature live jazz.
The food is a step above the rest as well. The menu features a variety of tapas, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and desserts, which are all either made in-house or sourced locally. The menu rotates seasonally.
The beers on tap are brewed in house on the 10 barrel brewing system. Local wines from Crossing Vineyards and Winery are also served.
The beers on tap during our visit included:
- Amarillo IPA – 6.2% ABV IPA highlighting Amarillo hops with additions of Columbus and Citra. The piney, floral aroma leads into flavors of tropical fruit and orange zest with a sweeter finish.
- Galaxy Pale – 5.1% ABV pale ale hopped with Australian Galaxy hops with rich juicy-fruit aromas and notes of passionfruit, apricot, peach jolly rancher and hop dank balanced by a solid malt body.
- ESB – 5.8% ABV English ale that strikes a balance between malt and hop flavor. The aroma out of the glass is fruity, jammy, marmalade-like with a hint of biscuit. The malt imparts flavors of dark fruit, cherry, prune, and a rounded toasty quality while the hops lend herbal and minty notes with a bright and bitter finish.
- Belgian Blonde – 5.9% ABV Belgian style blonde ale that’s spicy and fruity with notes of cloves, vanilla, mild citrus, and yeast esters. A bigger, sweeter and less hop-forward alternative to traditional American blondes.
- Belgian Golden Ale (Apple Brandy Barrel Aged) – 9% ABV big and bright Belgian ale that’s spent time relaxing in apple brandy barrels giving notes of honey-glazed apple, pink peppercorns, oak, vanilla, soft citrus, and spicy Belgian yeast.
Bottles from the Belgian Golden Ale Trio collection – the next part of the Artist Series – were available for purchase. The three variants included: Chardonnay Barrel Aged, Tequila Barrel Aged, and Apple Brandy Barrel Aged. The featured artist is Michael Smith (www.mesmithdesign.com). The 22-ounce bottles sell for $15 each.
Visit Vault on a Tuesday to try a beer from the experimental Trial & Error Series. Five to 15 gallon batches of these test beers feature a new beer style, a particular hop, new yeast strains, or interesting adjuncts. Enjoy a glass of the unique concoction of the week for $3.
The next round of Breakfast Stout will be released on nitro and in nitro cans on February 21, 2016. The Nitro Can is a widget-less can of beer that offers a smooth, creamy head of foam from the addition of nitrogen during canning.
Other beers coming soon from Vault included Altbier (German-style lagered ale), Centennial Blonde, Russian Imperial Stout (Woodford Reserve Barrels), and Dark Saison (Peruvian Rum and Apple Brandy barrels).
Vault Brewing Company recently announced the acquisition of a large warehouse just outside of Yardley (a 5 minute walk from the brewpub) that will house a full scale production brewing facility capable of producing up to 10,000 barrels. The space will also include a tasting room and event hall. The brewery should be up and running by late summer.
Be sure to come hungry when you visit Vault, as the food is just as delicious as the beer. I enjoyed the Hummus Board Trio – a selection of house-made hummus with fresh veggies and wood-fired pita and the Vegetarian Banh Mi – a Torpedo roll, marinated tofu, English cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot, kewpie mayo, sriracha, cilantro. Delicious!
When you visit, parking is available behind Vault Brewing Company or across the street in the public parking lot at Buttonwood Park. Please do not park in the nearby shopping center parking lot as those spaces are reserved for the businesses in that area. Click here to see a map.
Vault is open Monday to Thursday noon to 11 PM, Friday and Saturday noon to 1 AM, and Sunday noon to 10 PM. The kitchen closes at 10 PM Monday to Thursday, at 11 PM Friday and Saturday, and at 9 PM Sunday.
