A view from the brewhouse

These are shots from the brewing day Steve Moen and Mike Wentzel had late last month at Krogh’s. That’s Steve at right.

Steve says in a note to us that Turnpike Pale Ale, the best-in-show beer from the 2008 New Jersey State Fair hombrew contest, will be on tap in Sparta in about a month, once Krogh’s can open up a tap handle.

Meanwhile, we caught up with Brian Boak of Boak’s Beer/Boak Beverages at the High Point Brewing open house on Saturday. (FYI, High Point has this seriously good schwarzbier, Project Z, on tap in the visitors area. It's totally worth your growler, just like their maibock, a rich and malty brew with a solid hop balance. Call to check on availability of Project Z.)

This is a shot of the 15-barrel fermenter Brian popped for that will be installed at High Point. It was in transit when this photo was shot.

If you recall, Brian has a business relationship with High Point, which brews his line of Belgian-style beers and an imperial stout. This fermenter is a pretty big deal for Boak’s Beer, representing dedicated tank space for the brews that Brian has found a market for in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Over the past year or so, Brian has had to rely on what tank space would come open around the regular lineup of Ramstein beers and High Point’s other contract brewing obligations.

So consider this fermenter, which at the end of last week made it from China to Michigan where it sat en route to New Jersey, to be the first ring in the tree that is Boak’s growth. Brian expects the tank to be installed within the next 10 days. From there, it’ll be filled with a wheat beer accented with lemongrass that'll wind up in a bunch of new kegs Brian also bought, and ultimately bar taps, perhaps one near you.