East Coast Brewing, Part 4

East Coast Brewing is now licensed by federal regulators, and the folks behind the brand expect their contract-brewed lager to be in distributors' hands later this month.

That's from John Merklin, who says the first production run of the Point Pleasant company's Beach Haus pilsner was finished in the early hours of July 29th at East Falls Brewing in Rochester, N.Y. (East Falls is the maker of Genesee Cream Ale).

"You can’t punch the smile off our faces at this point!" John says via email. Aug. 23rd is the target date for getting the beer to the wholesalers.

John founded the company with Brian Ciriaco as East Coast Brewing. However, they'll be doing business as East Coast Beer Company, the name you'll find on all labeling and branding efforts. The shift was a nomenclature adjustment undertaken to appease regulators.

A pre-Prohibition pils, prototype batches of Beach Haus tasted reminiscent of a Vienna lager, a little deeper in character and bolder than the typical pils.

FOOTNOTE
Hops: Mount Hood and Horizon at 42 IBUs; ABV: 5.5%.

East Coast Brewing, Part 3

By now, the folks at East Coast Brewing had hoped their contract-brewed pre-Prohibition lager would be on store shelves.

But John Merklin and Brian Ciriaco have found the industry regulators to be a little fussy.

So the launch of their Beach Haus brand pilsner has been pushed to next month. You could hear the frustration in John's voice this afternoon as he spoke from the company headquarters in Point Pleasant. Beach Haus' launch was supposed to happen in June.

Federal regulators, he says, raised some flags about the corporate name (the feds wanted it clearer that East Coast will be contract brewing) and squawked about some fine print and other minor details regarding the label for the pilsner, the prototypes of which – made on a 15-gallon hobby system – tasted reminiscent of a Vienna lager, certainly deeper in character and heartier than your typical pils. (For the curious, the beer will be brewed with Mount Hood and Horizon hops – 42 IBUs – and weigh in at 5.5% ABV.)

So the upshot is this: John and Brian say they've addressed regulators' concerns and have a July 26th brew date set with Genesee Cream Ale-maker High Falls Brewing in Rochester, N.Y., with whom the two Jersey shore guys (they live in Ocean County) struck a contract-brew deal. (In a world not foiled by regulators, that brew date would probably be the top news here.)

If all goes to plan, John says, Beach Haus pils will launch around mid-August.

In the meantime, he and Brian have been developing some ales to eventually roll out under the Beach Haus banner.

And as for their pils, well, the two will tell you that August is still certainly beach weather.

East Coast Brewing, part 2

A follow-up item to East Coast Brewing ...

John Merklin and Brian Ciriaco, the two guys behind the planned contract-brewing enterprise, extended an invitation last week to come to their Point Pleasant office to taste a pilot batch of their Classic American Pilsner, the pre-Prohibition lager that forms the foundation of their Beach Haus brand.

The beer, hopped with Horizon and Mount Hood, was homebrewed three months ago on an upscale, 15-gallon hobby system by Tom Przyborowski, who has been providing consulting help to Merklin and Ciriaco (that's John in the dark blue hoodie and Brian holding a copy of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News). Filtered and bottled with a counterpressure filler, the brew represents their vision of what they want produced by their hired brewer, Genesee Brewing in Rochester, N.Y. (The brewery also produces beer under contract for Boston Beer Company; it changed its name from High Falls back to Genesee last year.)

Here's what can be said about Beach Haus Classic American Pilsner: It's definitely a respectable turn on a pilsner, a little beefier and deeper in color than what you might expect from the style (think of something trending toward Vienna lager). It was certainly full-bodied, with a hop presence in the finish. It's impressive, too, since as a homebrewer Tom enjoys creating wits and other Belgian styles. This recipe marks his first efforts with a lager.

It's worth pointing out these details, since in some craft beer enthusiast circles, when you say contract-brewed pilsner (or even just pilsner), the image of fizzy yellow beer instantly comes to mind for some folks. And amid the popularity of big beers, like hop-bomb double IPAs and Belgian styles that can stretch your palate, a pils can easily get shouted down.

But to their credit, John and Brian's brew seeks to be heard.

East Coast Brewing looks at June launch

By the time New Jersey was getting into craft brewing – in 1994, with Climax and High Point breweries – John Merklin and Brian Ciriaco were on the cusp of enjoying beer legally.

The two northern Ocean County men (they live in Brick Township near the Point Pleasant border) were 20 then. They're 36 now, and they can boast better beer has been around for as long as they've been of age to drink it.

"We were weaned on the good stuff," says Merklin.

That probably explains the Jersey Shore guys' decision to ditch their careers in the high tech industry (they most recently worked on voice over internet protocol) and jump into the beer world with a pre-Prohibition style lager, Beach Haus Classic American Pilsner, from their 2009-formed East Coast Brewing Company.

Merklin describes Beach Haus as a full-bodied, craft beer take on the pils style, a brew that harkens back to the days before blandness became a hallmark of the big brewers, something small-batch brewers continue to push back against every day.

Merklin and Ciriaco's careers in high tech took them across the globe and afforded them the opportunity to sample beers wherever they went. They also had a boss whose father was a commercial airline pilot, who would bring back beers from far and wide. Those experiences, plus some dabbling in homebrewing, helped hone their palates. Collaboration with Tom Przyborowski, a homebrewer from Mountainside, led to the pre-Prohibition pilsner idea, Merklin says.

"There's nothing ordinary about this beer at all," Merklin says. "If you're a Sam Adams drinker, you'll love us."

Right now, East Coast Brewing awaits licensing from the state to sell the beer that will be contract-produced by High Falls Brewing in Rochester, N.Y., the makers of the Genesee Cream Ale brand.

The two are looking at a June launch for the pils (5.5 percent ABV, 42 IBU) that celebrates New Jersey's sun-surf-and-boardwalk culture. Their target market is the tri-state areas (NJ-NY-PA, NJ-NY-Conn), then up and down the East Coast.

In six to 12 months, they hope to follow up with a couple more labels under the Beach Haus brand, an ale or perhaps a dark lager. (The ale is in the development pipeline, Merklin says.)

The two aren't blind to the fact that their Point Pleasant-based company (you can see the boardwalk of Point Pleasant Beach from their office) is contract-brewing, in fact becoming the third contract brewer in the New Jersey beer scene in the last couple of years. (Hometown Beverage and its light lagers brewed by the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Brian Boak's Belgian ales and imperial stout brewed by High Point in Butler are the other two.)

Merklin says that once they've built up the business and established the brand, they'll look at having a pilot brewery in New Jersey, or a place for local production and bottling, "even if it's just for seasonals." But for now, contract brewing will let them bring what they believe is another better brew to the Garden State.

"It's been done as a brewpub; it's been done as a microbrewery. There's no one way about this," Merklin says, referring to craft beer start-ups. "We're into enhancing the beer profile in New Jersey."