The stuff that helped build brands

Whenever brewery history and New Jersey are uttered in the same breath, the names Ballantine and Krueger invariably come to mind, two breweries that called Newark home as far back as the mid-19th century.

Come Sunday, you can get a visual taste of that kind of past while you sip the present.

The Garden State chapter of Brewery Collectibles Club of America holds its annual winter swap at the Polish American Cultural Foundation in Clark, an event that promises to connect the region's rich brewing industry past with today's beer fans of all walks. (Time: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Address: 177 Broadway. Admission for general public: $5)

Trays, glassware, signs, tap handles, bottle openers, coasters, labels, and of course beer cans – the tactile stuff that joined forces with flavors to build brands – will be in abundance for collectors to buy, sell, trade, or reminisce over while they sip pints of today's craft beers paired with hearty Polish cuisine.

"I love the craft beer stuff," says Jack McDougall, 64, president of the 100-member Garden State chapter, "but I still like to think back to the days when I was drinking Rheingold or Schaefer. It's got a good feeling to me."

Closing in on four decades, collectors have been coming together for the meets. McDougall, now retired from the Exxon Bayway refinery, remembers his first, in 1977 at Princeton Day School, a gathering that featured 400 tables of memorabilia, or breweriana as it's called.

"It was all cans back then, and trade only, no money changing hands," he says.

A good find back then would have been flat-top cans from the 1950s, like a woodgrain Shaefer can. (It should be remembered that New Jersey lays claim to introducing canned beer to America almost 70 years ago, thanks to the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company.)

McDougall's can collection numbers 1,000, with five times that many coasters (his cans are boxed up, though, not on display at home). Back in the day, a co-worker who was doing some home remodeling stumbled upon some Krueger Ambassador cans and gave them to McDougall.

"It was a premium brand by Kreuger in the '40s and '50s. It had an illustration of Bavarian dancers," he recalls. "When Narragansett bought (Krueger), they stopped brewing it."

No swap would be complete without beer itself, and at this one look for some Magic Hat, as well as some Jersey-brewed offerings from Cricket Hill and Climax Brewing, and possibly others. (McDougall says club members often show up with growlers from brewpubs they made excursions to.)

Climax Brewing owner Dave Hoffmann, a longtime supporter of the event, is sending a sixtel of Bavarian Dark Lager (5.2% ABV, a beer he pulled out of production (it's a dying style, he says) years ago but brewed again recently at the behest of Paul Kermizian, one of the owners of Barcade (Brooklyn, Jersey City and Philadelphia).

"It's like the real deal. It's got that real nutty, chocolaty, malty Bavarian dark lager taste," Dave says. "It's real balanced, easy to drink, and it's real dark. When you look at it, it's like my Nut Brown Ale.

"I used to make it all the time, but all of a sudden it started not selling. So I stopped making it, and Kermizian was all upset because that was one of his favorite beers that I made."

And now for the Mad Men moment:

Roundup

Reminder
Basil T's in Toms River, soon to be known under the moniker Artisan, holds its Oktoberfest dinner on Friday evening (starts at 7 p.m.). It's a multi-course dinner by chef Steve Farley, paired with several beers from brewer Dave Hoffmann. PubScout Kurt Epps keeps the event on pace as emcee.

Upcoming
The Garden State Chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America holds its fall show on Sunday (Oct. 4) at the Polish Cultural Center in Clark.

It starts at 10 a.m., and speaking of Dave Hoffmann, you'll find his Climax beers being poured there.

River Horse
River Horse's annual nod to fall will be held the weekend of Oct. 10-11, noon to 5 p.m. both days. As usual, it's pay as you go with the lineup of RH flagship beers; proceeds benefit Twin Rivertown Project.

Missing from this year's Oktoberfest beer lineup is Dunkel Fester, the dark larger RH did last year as a fall seasonal. Co-owner Glenn Bernabeo says the brewery had to sacrifice the seasonal to keep up with demand for RH's mainstay beers.

For instance, for 2009 the brewery nearly doubled last year's 7-barrel production of Summer Blonde.

The brewery also slipped a special project into its production, brewing the winning beer for a homebrew contest connected to the Office chain of restaurants. Glenn says the brewery hopes to boost capacity soon by adding additional tanks.

Given all of that, if you were a fan of last year's oatmeal milk stout, fret not. It's due back in Novermber, while RH's Belgian Freeze comes out this month.

Recap
If you made it to last weekend's cask ale event at Pizzeria Uno, then you saw a great model for scaling down beer fests: a low-key, pay-as-you-go affair with access to good food. Some of the bigger festivals (like Atlantic City) have become drunkfests, while the beer festival idea in general has become overplayed. It makes sense to rein things in a little, downsize and bring some focus.

Speaking of the Uno event, a shoutout goes to Kai Todd of Somerset County, who took the time to talk to us about the beers he was sampling, and Jersey beer in general. (Kai say he's considering adding his voice to the beer scene discussion with a Web site. There's always room for another perspective.)

Constructive criticism
We won't pound this too hard, since we couldn't make it up to the Woodbridge event held in mid-September. But a lot of folks told us about the long lines at the gate and beer staind, and the event running out of beer. Sounds like the Central Jersey Best Fest hit a growing pain, one that limiting ticket sales and boosting the $20 admission price to $35 could solve. (Thirty-five bucks is a common price, and quite frankly, 40 is not out of the realm of reason.)

Granted the Woodbridge festival is a charity event, so if organizers (J.J. Bitting brewpub is the main one) are worried that capping ticket sales will limit the amount raised for the dedicated charity, that can be addressed by having an informational booth to explain where the proceeds are going and to solicit donations. The festival's been a sensible fall addition, and the park where it's held is a great location. Some fine-tuning should help.

Collective reasoning

Bottles, openers and trays, oh my.

If you’re one of the legions of beer drinkers who sees a budding art collection in brewery advertisements, bar towels and empty cans, then this event is for you.

The Garden State Chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America is holding its spring swap on Sunday at the Polish Cultural Foundation in Clark (in Union County).

It’s one of three gatherings the club holds each year to give collectors a chance to buy, sell or trade brewery memorabilia (breweriana, as it’s known), from neon signs, sports programs, glassware and coasters to trays, tap handles and clothing emblazoned with brewery names and logos.

And don’t forget the humble can or bottle, testaments to the evolution of how beer is packaged and served. Some beer cans – like rare, pre-World War II containers – can fetch handsome sums (read thousands of dollars).

(Special Jerseyana note: Many a beer enthusiast knows canned beer was born in the Garden State in 1933, from a union between the American Can Company and Newark’s Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. Beat that, red Bass ale trademark triangle.)

The April show is expected to draw collectors from as far as Pennsylvania and Connecticut and could feature as many as 60 tables from traders, many who are members of the BCCA’s Jersey chapter.

The organization’s treasurer, Scott Manga, says the two larger shows – a kickoff show in January and an Octoberfest show in the fall – pull in collectors from as far north as Massachusetts, as far south as Virginia, and Pennsylvania from the west. Those shows are two-day affairs, held in conjunction with the Jersey Shore BCCA chapter.

If you go
Where: The Polish Cultural Foundation, 177 Broadway in Clark.
Time: From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Trader fees: $12 for Garden State BCCA chapter members, $15 for non-members. Admission for walk-ins and guests 21 or older is $5.
On tap: Climax Brewing’s Hoffmann Helles, Magic Hat (Vermont) Fat Angel and beer from J.J. Bitting Brewing Company brewpub in Woodbridge.

(Special thanks to outgoing Garden State BCCA president Terry Scullin for the photos.)