Iron Hart Brewing

Basic Information:

• Iron Hart Smoked Wings - 02/16/23
  Overall Rating: 82

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 43 out of 50

  Environment: 9
  

  When we were planning our visit to Iron Hart, I mentioned that it’s close to Lakeland School District, while Serniak countered that it’s in Dalton. Oddly enough, both of us are right somehow. The address is technically Dalton, but it feels like it must be at the very edge of the town. Regardless, it’s a quick exit off 81, making it an easy trip from Scranton. This brewery/restaurant has plenty of room for seating, including lots of sit-down tables, bar-height tables, and a long bar. They have menus at the front as soon as you enter, you walk up to the register to place your order, take a number for your table, and sit down and wait for your food. I’m personally a huge fan of this approach because you’re never waiting for a waitress or your check. You can even partake in a craft beer while you wait and admire all the mounted deer heads on the walls. We waiting very long though as the wings were quickly served. We were in and out in less than an hour. You should check their facebook before planning a visit as their hours are usually limited. And, occasionally, they’ll close on a day they are usually open, but they are pretty good at posting that day off well ahead of time.

  
  Wing Size: 10
  

  This wings were absolutely massive. They may be among the largest wings we ever had. On wing night, the wings are 75 cents a wing, which is a hell of a deal. I went in with my usual appetite and struggled to even take down 10. On wing night, Iron Hart does require that you have a minimum order of 10, but you are allowed to mix and match sauces. For example, I ordered 15, but split them into orders of five to get three different sauces.

  
  Wing Flavors: 6
  

  Iron Hart doesn’t offer a big selection of wings, but they do have some interesting choices to keep it interesting., In addition to your classics like Hot, Hat Garlic, and Garlic Parm, you also have more unique options such as Nashville Hot and Pineapple Habanero Rum, which the menu describes as a super hot sauce. I personally would like to see more options on these delicious wings. And, when we posted our initial visit on Facebook, someone mentioned they used to serve a White sauce, which I assume was an Alabama White Sauce. I’m a sucker for a good Alabama white sauce, so I hope Iron Hart brings it back again in the future.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 9
  

  As mentioned above, these wings were absolutely massive, but all my wings had a great amount of crisp to them, definitely more than you’d expect given their size. Also, all the wings had a subtle smokiness to them that I enjoyed while still allowing the sauce to shine.

  The Hot Garlic had a great buffalo sauce base with a nice touch of garlic. The base sauce seemed different than the regular Hot that Serniak had in that it was less tomato-y. I definitely preferred this. Also, the fresh chopped garlic really adds to the flavor.

  The Garlic Parm was a slightly creamy sauce with a butter base. I was concerned by order the Hot Garlic and Garlic Parm that the wings would be too similar, but these wings could definitely stand on their own. While I usually avoid Garlic Parm as traditionally they are not my favorite flavor, these were actually pretty tasty and would definitely consider ordering again in the future.

  Finally I ordered the Nashville Hot. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen this wing flavor at many other wing joints, so I knew I needed to give it a try. This sauce was a deeper red than a traditional buffalo. If you’ve had a Nashville Hot sauce or sandwich before, you’ll know exactly what to expect, with a tasty sauce that has a lingering pepperiness that hangs out for a while. I didn’t think the spice was too overwhelming, but it definitely sneaks up on you the more you have.

  Serniak's Rating: 39 out of 50

  Environment: 8
  

  Located in an area that I can’t believe is Dalton, Iron Heart brewery shows it was more than just a place to get some suds. I’m still looking into if the place has any connection to Bret the Hitman Hart. My guess would be yes but they don’t want to be overt about it.

  The place is one really good-sized room equipped with a bar area and plenty of seating. There’s a lot of wood inside from the walls to the tables. It gave me the feeling that’s the kind of place you’d find in the mountains which makes sense because it is quite literally in the mountains.

  About those tables, the Iron Hart emblem was imprinted on each table. It was really cool. Lynch and I couldn’t decide how it was done. Pass along that info if you’re aware of how they “burnt” a symbol into the wood.

  One thing I found neat was that you take the menu from a stand right when you walk into the place. I like that.

  You order your food and beer at the register area. This means that you don’t really have a server unless you count yourself. If you don’t like the service then take a look in the mirror buddy. This place is all about self-responsibility.

  The atmosphere was a fun one. I’m not saying that folks were swinging from chandeliers or anything but everyone in the place was in a good mood and making conversation. It was lively and that’s always a good thing.

  
  Wing Size: 8
  

  These were some massive smoked, grilled, and flash-fried wings. They were large and in charge and yet I still found them to be lean. I realize that makes zero sense but the flash-frying that takes place after the smoking adds such a layer of texture that even though they were huge wings, I was still able to run through them. Kudos to the pit master/brewer or whoever created the process for cooking of the wings. Good job on you.

  Thursdays are wing nights. 75 cents a wing is the price and it’s a bargain based on he size of the wings. I got 15 and even though I had my way with them, I was very stuffed.

   

  
  Wing Flavors: 7
  

  Iron Hart has 8 flavors to pick from their wings. mild, hot, mild or hot garlic, Kickin Bourbon, garlic parmesan, hot honey, and Nashville Hot is what they have. I swear you can’t escape Nashville hot sauce. It’s everywhere and I’m here for it. Nashville is now a menu buzzword for me. If I see it on a menu, I’m getting it unless Lynch gets it. In that case, I’m having his.

  Not a bad list but I will say this about any place that doesn’t have ranch as part of their wing sauce repertoire; it be great if you had ranch involved in the flavors. You can create so many more flavors because ranch goes with almost every other sauce ever invented. Just saying

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 8
  

  I’m giving them an 8; part of the reason was how crispy they were. They’re so big thus I didn’t have much hope they would be crispy. I’m glad I was wrong. There was a severe crisp in every bite and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  The first I had was the hot. Interesting concept going on here. They were more tomato based than hot sauce in my humble opinion. They had solid flavor but naturally, I was looking for more heat.

  Fortunately, I got the hot honey. You’d think hot honey would just be an extension of their hot but they really weren’t. The hot honey was hotter/spicier than the plain hot. Not sure why but I’m not complaining. The hot honey had much more heat than the plain hot and there was adequate honey to sweeten them up.

  Lastly and what I liked the best was the garlic parmesan. I’m a sucker for a real-deal garlic parmesan sauce. Not just minced garlic and parmesan sprinkled on a wing. That’s not what happened here. This was an actual sauce. You could have told me it was a butter/garlic/parm sauce and I’d believe you. There was supreme flavor throughout the whole wing. It almost had a creaminess to it that delivered in every bite. I highly recommend this flavor maybe even mix in some hot honey in there who knows?