Keen analysis shows Iron Hill Brewery's leaps and hops in the craft beer market have been stout.

On Friday, workers for the Delaware-based Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant received critical equipment required to construct its seventh restaurant, set to open in Lancaster around Thanksgiving.

"We're brining in two truckloads of our brewing tanks and fermenters; this is the operation center of the restaurant," said Mark Edelson, one of three partners in the organization and the head of Iron Hill's brewing operations.

Iron Hill's newest tanks will be assembled within a 10,000-square-foot space in the 700 block of Harrisburg Avenue across from the Franklin & Marshall College campus.

The restaurant was the first retail business selected to occupy space within College Row, a $30 million, 200,000-square-foot mix of retail, residential and commercial space.

Though it was originally scheduled to open last month, Edelson, along with partners Kevin Finn and Kevin Davies, are confident the Lancaster Iron Hill will open in November.

"We'll open mid- to late November, certainly we want to be open for the holiday season," Edelson said.

Edelson and a handful of brewers from other Iron Hill locations, including Lancaster's head brewer Paul Rutherford, helped unload and set up Friday's deliveries.

The tanks and fermenters range in size from 120 gallons to 320 gallons, and weigh between 350 and 600 pounds, including two copper brew-house tanks.

"That's the hot side, where the actual brewing takes place," Edelson said. "That's where we mash in the grains and extract the sugary liquid and at that point add yeast."

Once the yeast is added, the liquid goes into fermenting tanks, where alcohol is produced. The beer is filtered into serving tanks, which adjust carbonation levels and link beer directly to taps at the restaurant's bar. From start to finish, the beer travels about 65 feet.

Despite a reputation as an elite brewer –– Iron Hill has won Great American Beer Festival medals 11 straight years –– Edelson says the business is a restaurant first.

"We are a restaurant that happens to serve excellent beer," he said.

The pub will serve eight to 10 types of beer that will be brewed on site.

Last year, Iron Hill's six other locations –– Media, North Wales, West Chester and Phoenixville in Pennsylvania; and Newark and Wilmington in Delaware –– had more than $25 million in sales, 70 percent of it from food, the company said.

Dinner entrees will range from $12 to $20 in the restaurant, while lunch entrees will cost $9 to $14.

Still, beer — specifically "craft beer" — is a major draw at restaurants these days. Craft beer is defined by the Brewers Association as "small, independent and traditional." Small means annual production of beer is less than 2 million barrels.

The Brewers Association reports the volume of craft beer sold in the first half of 2007 rose 11 percent, comparable to this same period in 2006, and dollar growth increased 14 percent. For the first time, craft beer has exceeded more than a 5 percent dollar share of total beer sales.

A recent Gallup poll on alcoholic beverages found for the second straight year that beer edged wine as Americans' drink of choice.

The Lancaster location will be the third Iron Hill to open near a university. The others are near West Chester University and the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.

Finn said the new Iron Hill, which is named after a Revolutionary War landmark in Delaware, will take advantage of its proximity to F&M and employ about 80 full- and part-time workers.

"The thing we like about being in a college town is the labor market," Finn said. "There are a lot kids who will come and work for us."

Located at 781 Harrisburg Ave., Lancaster's Iron Hill should accommodate up to 300 guests and will be open seven days a week for dinner, lunch and Sunday brunch.

For more information, or to download a job application, go to www.ironhillbrewery.com.

E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com