Planes, grains & automobiles (lighthouses & boats, too)

A four-day road trip with Cape Lookout, North Carolina, as the destination ...

How do you get New Jersey beer out of that? By trawling for beer along the Outer Banks.

Briefly ...
Many miles south of Kill Devil Hills, Cape Lookout's sesquicentennial was observed Saturday (Oct. 10) with, as honored guests, the descendants of the lighthouse keepers and members of the US Life-Saving Service (which eventually became the US Coast Guard) who served at Lookout.

Our lineage goes back to 1859, when light thrown from the current beacon's whale oil-burning wick first swept the surrounding waters of Cape Lookout. Hence, we set out for the southern shores of North Carolina, where you can still find wild horses and a lighthouse done up in diamonds of black and white.

Plenty of 19th and 20th century maritime history, lots of East Carolina cuisine (i.e. pork barbecue), but not much craft beer at hand, save for a sixpack of Highland Brewing's Kashmir IPA and a couple of liters of Weeping Radish picked up in Jarvisburg, North Carolina, on the way down (the Radish was a destination for beer friends of ours in the mid- to late-1990s, when it was in Manteo on the Outer Banks; that location is now closed).

(A quick call to Charlie Schroeder at Trap Rock in Berkeley Heights put the inadvertently overlooked Outer Banks Brewing Station on the return trip itinerary. Charlie vacationed at the Outer Banks last summer. After a four-hour drive up from Morehead City on Sunday, there was good beer to be had.)

Jersey Connection
Outer Banks Brewing is ensconced in a wind-powered white building trimmed in red, its shape a fresh architectural take on Life-Saving Stations found along the coast at the turn of the 20th century. Located along the southbound lanes of busy Route 158, the brewery's so close to where the Wright brothers revolutionized travel that you could get hit by a prop blade. (The pub brews an alt called Altimeter.)

The beer's good – pub food, too – and the brewery's wind-generated electricity isn't a curiosity but a philosophy (a tenth of the pub's power needs come from wind-generated electricity).

Twenty-five minutes into our pint of chocolate stout, beer traveler Randy Boyles made a pit stop en route home to Advance, North Carolina, settling in for a lunch and grabbing a half liter of Outer Banks Moondog ESB and two-liter growler of the pub's brown ale to go.

And here's the Jersey connection: Randy races yachts, his vessel being a 30-footer called the Rocket J (as in Rocket J. Squirrel, better known as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, whose image graces the side of the boat).

One of the Rocket J's six crew members for those regattas on the Pamlico River and Pamlico Sound is Tom Hughes, father of Flying Fish brewer Casey Hughes.

So you can imagine that Randy has an appreciation for Flying Fish.

While traveling to Philadelphia recently on business, Randy, who confesses to the kind of beer snobbery that makes a lot us craft beer enthusiasts, met up with Casey for a stop at Monks Cafe in Philly, and got to try FF's Exit 4 Tripel and Exit 11 Wheat Ale.

Flying Fish was still on his mind when he pulled into Outer Banks.

"I was here because enough people come down from the North, I thought there was an outside chance I might find Flying Fish down here. But I haven't yet. I haven't found it in North Carolina. I don't think it's come this far south," Randy says.

Yet.

Basil T's, the Oktoberfest in Toms River

Aside from the brewpub's name change, the news out of this year's Basil T's Oktoberfest observance in Toms River (held Oct. 2nd) is the return of Tom Paffrath, the guy who made the beer before Dave Hoffmann took over as brewer. (Tom is the guy hoisting the mug.)

Tom's tenure followed that of Gretchen Schmidhausler, who as we all, know tends the kettles and fermenters at the original Basil's in Red Bank.

Tom handed the brewing duties over to Dave several years ago, after his parents' deteriorating health meant he needed to spend more time with them. Now, Tom's coming back to lend a hand, since Dave also owns Climax Brewing in Roselle Park, and sometimes it gets a little tough to be in two places at once. (Case in point, toward the end of September, Dave was shuttling between both locations in a week that saw him get virtually no time off.)

Besides Toms River, you may encounter Tom at J.J. Bittings in Woodbridge, where he'll also help out, now that brewer August Lightfoot has opted to step away from the grind of a one-man brewing operation.

Meanwhile, if you went to this year's Oktoberfest, then you took part in the last fall festival under the Basil T's-Toms River banner (and enjoyed emcee Kurt Epps' wit, and the charm of the Dirndl Mädchens). Come the start of 2010, the original Red Bank location will have the Basil's name all to itself.

Artisan Brewery & Italian Restaurant will be the new name in Toms River, something that's worth having a big bash for. And that's not a swipe at Red Bank, either.

It's just that the folks in Toms River, the brothers Gregorakis, have worked hard to establish their own identity, relying in part on Dave's beer and Steve Farley's kitchen know-how, all while sharing the Basil's handle with another restaurant that has different ownership and no connection at all (as in the two are not a corporate franchises).

That's not necessarily an easy thing to pull off, when you consider maybe only the beer geeks and diehard patrons were the folks armed with the knowledge to parse the two Basil backstories.

In any case, the Gregorakis brothers are excited about the change, and we hope they kick the new chapter off in style.

And, if you missed this year's Oktoberfest, well there is always next year's ... at Artisan.

See more photos from the night here.

Live blogging from Basil T Oktoberfest

Dirndl madchens are milling about, and the Fire House Polka Band is setting up.

It's a little more than an hour before festivities will start and a good time to have a warmup pint of fest beer.

5:59 p.m. ... Just talked to emcee Kurt Epps of PubScout fame, brewer Dave Hoffmann, his dad, Kurt, and Roger Freitag, who supplies oak barrels for Oktoberfest events.

6:51 p.m. ... Talking to Kurt Hoffmann ... Kurt's fest hat sports a plume from a chamois he shot himself 9,500 feet up a mountain in Austria.

7:43 p.m. ... It should be noted at this point that 2009 is final the Oktoberfest in Toms River under the name Basil T's ... Hello Artisan, a name that touches on the great things served here, beer and food from, the hands of artisans.

7:54 p.m. ... Quote of the night: In all fairness, the bus boys should be wearing lederhosen. Said in respose to the servers wearing dirndls.

8:10 p.m. ... Several choruses of "Ein Prosit," an excellent shrimp cocktail and a hefeweizen ... The night is going quite well.

9:20 p.m. ... The best wurst has been served and the Oktoberfest beer is being poured, while the Fire House Polka Band -- oompah tuba, accordian and guitar -- runs through the "Roll Out The Barrel" and the crowd merrily sways with mugs in hand (schunkeling as it is called).

10:05 p.m. ... A survey of the crowd ... The Pauls -- Paul Unkert, the well-respected luthier who made Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat " guitars during the 1980s, and Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine. By the by, Paul Unkert now makes guitars in Toms River under the brand name "Unk."

9:40 p.m. ... The main course arrives: a fork-tender sauerbraten from chef Steve Farley, complemented by spatzle, potato pancakes and applesauce, and red cabbage, of course. Another chorus of "Ein Prosit," and all is well.

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.

Gold Fish

From judging at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver ...

Flying Fish's Exit 4 American Trippel, the inaugural beer in the Cherry Hill brewery's bomber bottle-sized specialty brews, picked up a gold medal at the biggest beer party in the US this weekend.

Maybe now the folks at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority will graciously accept the fact that New Jersey gets some accolades, not just sarcasm and standup comic punchlines, thanks to FF's Exit Series beers, which are a nod to the Turnpike's place in state and pop culture.

The brew that is Exit 4, as we all remember, is a fusion of Belgian and American tastes, and it won top honors in the category of that interpretation. (Belgian beer styles have been good to Flying Fish. The brewery's Abbey Dubbel went silver last year.)

Also, Flying Fish's IPA, Hopfish, won a bronze in the classic English Pale Ale category.

Meanwhile, Long Valley Pub & Brewery's Lazy Jake Porter took home a silver for brown porter. Lazy Jake has been in the winner's circle before, bringing home GABF gold nine years ago.

Triumph Brewing (which wraps up its two-day Oktoberfest blast in New Hope on Sunday) won a pair of gold medals with its Pennsylvania locations (hefeweizen from New Hope and kinderpils from Philly). Alas, no medal for Triumph's Princeton brewpub.

Similarly, Iron Hill, which opened an eighth location in Maple Shade last summer, won gold and silver with brews from its Delaware properties (schwarzbier and raspberry torte).

Congrats to all.

Benefit at Firewaters Atlantic City

A calendar item coming by way of beer writer Mark Haynie, the New Jersey correspondent for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News ...

From 2-7 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 27), Firewaters bar in the Tropicana casino is holding a benefit to help cover medical expenses for one of their bartenders, Jackie, who has a rare digestive disorder that causes her to reject foods of almost any type.

Jackie's 26, and unfortunately as is the case with a growing portion of the country's population, she's without medical insurance. She's had surgery to treat her condition, and that's left her with some big bills.

There's a $20 cover charge with food and drink specials, plus a Chinese auction and prizes. Brewer Tim Kelly from the nearby Tun Tavern is sending over a pin of dry-hopped red ale, and Mark is kicking in some offerings from his impressive beer collection. If you're an Eagles/Giants/Jets fan (everyone's playing 1 o'clock games), fret not, there's a TV or two.

For the uninitiated, Firewaters specializes in casting a wide net for beer, bottle and draft. In Atlantic City, Firewaters and the Tun Tavern stand alone as the places for good beer.

An FYI: Firewaters isn't located in The Quarter side of the Tropicana. It's probably a little easier to hit from the casino's boardwalk entrance.

AOL dumbs down homebrewing

This is from AOL, which comes to the statistical conclusion you can save money on beer by making your own. The premise isn't inaccurate, but the presentation is so naive as to be misleading. (Obviously, it's mainstream Internet content, a lot of which you shouldn't take too serious, or serious at all for that matter).

As we know, most dedicated homebrewers aren't looking to shave 30 cents off the cost per bottle. As we know again, most seasoned homebrewers are more sophisticately equipped than our video hosts here, who, judging from their processes, are on their way to make some funky, undrinkable beer.

On the one hand, this could draw some people into homebrewing and better beer. On the other, there's no getting around it, making good beer at home (and doing it consistently) is much more involved, quite a bit of work. Coming at it from the Hints from Heloise angle of saving three dimes per serving is just dumb.

One more real thing

It's in the comments portion of yesterday's post, but just so it gets noticed here's the update from the kind folks at Hunterdon Distributors about Saturday's cask ale event at Pizzeria Uno.

Says Hunterdon: In addition to the Nugget Nectar, Troegs is sending their new seasonal, Javahead Stout. Smuttynose should have their Big A IPA and Pumpkin Ale ... doesn't look like Yards is going to make this one.

What's old is new?

Another nod to PubScout Kurt Epps, who points out the Star-Ledger is recycling features, only this time using a video camera to do it.

The Ledger descended upon The Brewer's Apprentice in Freehold to pick some low-hanging fruit. Kurt points out he did this story 11 years ago, and the Asbury Park Press (our alma mater) did it back in the 1990s, too.

What's different now? YouTube's ascension, from 2005 forward.

Some folks fancy calling this new media, which is accurate enough if you're in the industry or academics and need a term to wrap your mind around. But you can also take it as a euphemism for how the Internet has upended newspapers and eaten their lunch.

The Ledger and some others have inanely called it video journalism. Accurate again. But we can't help but remember that at the time of JFK's assassination 46 years ago, folks in television news were witnessing their slice of the broadcast journalism pie grow exponentially. (You can almost hear the broadcast veterans grinding their teeth at the phrase video journalism; what were they making from Dallas, slides? Animations? Cave paintings? Never mind the news reel footage shown in movie theaters back during World War II and before.)

Whatever. The nomenclature evolved because of short memories and tunnel vision. We're taking a swipe at the Ledger for a few other reasons, too.

One, Kurt's right. And two, the Ledger's production (and it must be stressed, we're not picking on Brewer's Apprentice) is just gathering apples from the ground, no ladder in the tree. All it does is talk about going to make beer outside the traditional brewery setting, i.e. homebrewing by proxy. There are plenty of homebrew clubs – folks who actually brew at home – in New Jersey with some seriously talented and innovative brewers, including one who was a national finalist in the 2007 Samuel Adams LongShot homebrew contest (something we pointed out, to no avail, to an editor at the Ledger back then).

Also, making beer – whether at home or in Butler, Roselle Park, Cherry Hill or Lambertville – is no mystery. There are boatloads of how-brewing-is-done videos on YouTube, and some are from New Jersey. If the Ledger were looking to do some real video journalism, it could have focused on the fact that New Jersey requires homebrewers to get an onerous annual permit, which practically no one does (except Brewer's Apprentice won't make your beer without it), and which practically no other state requires (according to the American Homebrewers Association in Boulder, Colorado). The permit is 15 bucks; it used to be 3, and requires your homebrew to not leave your home, something else that doesn't happen.

Sigh.

But we're not just griping for gripe's sake. We've shot plenty of newsy video about New Jersey beer. So here's where we blow our own horn:

• A look at how hop prices spiked.
• New Jersey's first brewery/brewpub in 10 years.
• And Big Brew 2008.

The real thing

Cask ale was the real thing long before Coca-Cola ever thought about it as a marketing slogan.

And the real thing will start pouring at Pizzeria Uno (Metuchen) on Friday evening as a warm-up to Uno's third edition of its cask ale event, which is officially timed to start at noon on Saturday (Sept. 26th).

It's pay as you go, priced by the pint, and there's Uno's pub fare menu you can order from. As far as the beer goes, there are a some gems on the lineup (this is from the Beeradvocate posting):

Jersey brews

• Climax ESB
• Flying Fish Abbey Dubbel
• River Horse Hopalotamus Double IPA
• Cricket Hill's American Pale Ale
• and a brace of brews from the host's playbook: Station House Red and Oktoberfest.

Keystone State brews

• Troeg's Nugget Nectar
• Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA and Imperial Pumpkin Ale
• and some offerings from the ever-respectable Philly brewer, Yards.

Brews from afar

• More flying wildlife: A duo from Colorado brewer, Flying Dog (Gonzo Imperial Porter and Snake Dog IPA).

Cask ale is a real treat, lots of flavors come rolling out when the carbonation is natural and dialed to the gentle setting. Not to mention the great aromas that really emerge.

Uno is on Route 1 (on the southside of the highway), and easy to find. Just point your car toward the Menlo Park and Woodbridge Center malls.

Beer in Woodbridge

PubScout Kurt Epps has a report on the 2009 Central Jersey BeerFest.

We didn't make it up to Woodbridge this year, owing to a prior commitment. Looks like the festival at Parker Press Park is building on its momentum from the past two years.

The news from Kurt's post is August Lightfoot will be leaving as brewer at J.J. Bittings brewpub.

Speaking of brewpubs, Basil T's south will be changing its name. The restaurant and brewery in Toms River will soon be known as Artisan.

The new moniker will be good for the establishment. It allows for genuine separation from its similarly named progenitor in Red Bank. (A lot of folks who have been around the craft beer culture in New Jersey for some time already knew about the two Basils, the history and the eventual different ownership. But there are new recruits to the beer culture ranks practically every day. So you could say the shared name was a bit confusing.)

Plus, Basils in Toms River ably moved beyond its founding roots long time ago, and gained in brewer Dave Hoffmann, who, as many know, also owns Climax Brewing in Roselle Park, a cornerstone on which to help build the new identity. It's been awhile since that happened.

(And if you've been in the brewpub latley, you know it has been undergoing some remodeling. The work should be done by the start of October.)

The future is bright. Like a fresh pint of beer.

Aw-shucks

Lew Bryson had a note about it on Monday, and the brewery tweeted on it, too. But we were emailing owner Gene Muller about it today: The next Exit Series bomber-bottled beer from Flying Fish is an oyster stout, due out in November.

The folks at the brewery are still shuttling between Cherry Hill and the Delaware bayshore of Cumberland County to get oysters from Bivalve Packing, a small seafood wholesaler in Port Norris.

By the numbers, this beer will be Exit 1 (Carneys Point, land settlers bought from the Lenni Lenape tribe for 80 gallons of rum and some cutlery). By the map, we're talking deep, deep in South Jersey, where you'll find not just oysters but Bivalve also, a locality within Commercial Township (the township in which Port Norris is also located) and Shell Pile, which is what you get after shucking a Meerwald load of oysters.

New Jersey's oyster industry in Cumberland County crashed in the late 1950s, virtually wiped out by disease. But it has since been revived. Like Springsteen sang: ... Maybe everything that dies someday comes back.

Or gets saluted with beer.

Märzen across the Delaware

Philadelphia's Oktoberfest 2009 is Saturday, the same day Oktoberfest in Munich begins.

Unlike Bavaria, where the Märzens will pour over several days (Sept. 19-Oct. 4), you have only one day for the eins, zwei, drei g'suffa! in Philly.

Here's the link for the Philly nod to Ludwig and Therese's nuptials. Flying Fish is the lone Jersey brewer among the beer lineup, which also features the deutschers of Spaten, Ayinger, Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner, plus enough pumpkin ale to float your gourd.

Meanwhile, New York City's Craft Beer Week wraps up on Sunday, which makes New Jersey – sans a beer week of its own – again that barrel tapped at both ends, as Benjamin Franklin is said to have described the Garden State. Only now, you can apply that notion to New York City and Philadelphia's drawing upon New Jersey's craft beer patrons, pretty much undercutting our beer identity.

Is New Jersey Beer Week the answer to burnishing our beer profile? The idea's worth some consideration.

Scenes from Ramstein Oktoberfest 2009

From last Saturday's debut of Ramstein Munich Amber Lager (Oktoberfest) at High Point Brewery in Butler. A strong turnout for a great beer. By the by, High Point's Oktoberfest brew will be poured at the Crystal Springs Resort Oktoberfest event on Saturday (Sept. 19).

Fest Radar: Woodbridge this weekend

The third Central Jersey Beer Fest is this Saturday (Sept. 19) in Woodbridge.

Like the two previous incarnations, this year's event will be held from 1-5 p.m. at Parker Press Park, a bottle cap's toss from the taps of the festival's organizer, J.J. Bitting brewpub.

Amonng the Jersey breweries, contract brewers and brewpubs attending will be the Tun Tavern (Atlantic City), Harvest Moon (New Brunswick), Pizzeria Uno (Metuchen), River Horse Brewing (Lambertville), Cricket Hill Brewing (Fairfield), and Boak's Beverage (Pompton Lakes). Last year also featured out-of-state breweries represented by Hunterdon Distributors. And speaking of Boak's, owner Brian Boak says Kohler Beer Distributors will be handling his beers in the seven northern counties of the state. Brian has self-distributed and largely focused on Pennsylvania as a market for his brew lineup, which he has contract-brewed at High Point Brewing in Butler. Kohler now helps him devote some attention to his home state.

Admission is 20 bucks and there's unlimited sampling, plus and plenty of food vendors to sate your appetite. Proceeds from the admission will go to a local charity cause (a terminally ill child from the Fords section of Woodbridge, we're told).

The park is easy to find, but your best bet for getting there is probably by train. NJ Transit has a station right beside the park. As with any festival, your behavior matters, so if you're inclined to get tuned up, you run a risk of not being served, or worse, asked to leave. (The past two festivals have gone very smoothly, so make the third the same.)

Weather.com right now is calling for a chance of rain on Saturday. So keep an eye on the forecast. Contact J.J. Bitting brewpub for tickets.

Here's video of last year's festival.

Märzen chronicles

Among Jersey-made Oktoberfest beers (notably the ones coming out of the production breweries) the compass definitely points north. Flying Fish in Cherry Hill in South Jersey puts out a respectable, malty fall seasonal. But Oktoberfish is actually an altbier, with just the faintest hint of ale stylings.

For lagers – and Oktoberfests are just that – follow that compass: Ramstein's Munich Amber Lager (from High Point Brewing) and Hoffmann Lager Beer Oktoberfest (Climax Brewing), two brews that speak faithfully to the style.

In Butler, High Point will debut its 2009 rendition of Oktoberfest on Saturday (2-4 p.m.) with a ceremonial oak barrel tapping and a spread of complimentary German food. All of this precedes the brewery tours.

High Point nearly doubled production of its draft-only Oktoberfest this year (105 barrels for 2009), with virtually all of that snapped up by the brewery's accounts. That means your best bet for getting a growler filled is on Saturday during the brewery event.

(Beer geek note: The beer was produced from a decoction mash, all German malt and hops, and fermented with Kloster-Andechs lager yeast. Owner Greg Zaccardi says what will be sampled at the brewery on Saturday is an unfiltered version that dropped shiny and bright after eight weeks of lagering.)

Over in Roselle Park, Climax is working on their third tank of Oktoberfest, reflecting a growing popularity of brewer Dave Hoffmann's tribute to his German roots. "It's been flying out of here," says Dave's dad, Kurt. Those familiar with Hoffmann Oktoberfest know to look for it on draft and in half-gallon, growler-size jugs available at a number of packaged goods stores that feature craft beers.

Meanwhile, Climax has now entered the Virginia market, and Dave's gearing up for the release of the Oktoberfest he brews for Basil T's in Toms River, where he has a side gig. The brewpub's fall observance is set for Friday, Oct. 2, with a flight of beers served to complement a multi-course German dinner served by chef Steve Farley. Kurt Epps of the PubScout blog puts his razor wit to great use as host.

Beercrafters closing

This is some sad news:

As of Sept. 19, Beercrafters homebrew supply shop will fold its tent. In the meantime, there's an everything-must-go sale.

Online discussion board chatter didn't reveal why the shop's closing after a 16-year run, and the folks at the store today we're pressed for time and couldn't talk.

The nucleus of the Gloucester County Homebrewers club, Beercrafters got a lot of people into homebrewing and helped a lot of neophyte brewers step up to making better beer, from extract brews turned out on stovetops to all-grain masterpieces crafted over gas flames in kegs turned into kettles.

Back in the mid- to late-1990s, Beercrafters was our go-to supply store, saving us a trip to far-off Philly's Home Sweet Homebrew and the related expense of parking in the city. Their selection of grain and hops was always respectable, their advice reliable, and the people always friendly.

And come the first Saturday in May, you'd find hordes of homebrewers in Beercrafters back lot, tending mash tuns in celebration of the American Homebrewers Association's annual Big Brew day. In fact, the winner of the AHA's first YouTube Big Brew video contest was shot at Beercrafters in May 2008. (The second video is from Big Brew 2007, shot in the first year of this blog.)

General silliness & looking back

Seems like a good year to do a GABF poster a la the three days of peace & music.

Les Paul, 1915-2009

This has nothing to do with beer, although beer and guitars go quite well together.

Les Paul died today, and for anyone who's been keeping track this year, Grim Reaper Class of 2009 has some big names in it.

Les Paul is one of the biggest.

Never mind for a minute the iconic, single-cutaway, solid-body electric guitar that bears his name and Jimmy Page's testimony to rock 'n' roll. The recording industry was stood on its ear by Les' innovations and his pursuit to put in his hands, and the hands of others, that which he did not have. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Les Paul was a member of that family.

Indeed, The Beatles would never have been able to go out on the high note that was Abbey Road were it not for Les Paul and multi-track recording.

The photo above, depicting his irreverent sense of humor, was shot in March 2006 during one of Les' Monday night stands at the Iridium in Manhattan, the second occasion we were fortunate enough to see him. He was 91 then and could quite ably hold a room with his guitar playing.

Les was a class act. And he's already missed.

Jersey at GABF

The lineup of participating breweries for the Great American Beer Festival (Sept. 24-26) is out.

Five Jersey brewpubs and one production brewery, namely 2008 silver medalist Flying Fish of Cherry Hill, are on the list for Denver.

Hometown Beverages, which contracts with the Lion in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to make its tri-state-named flight of lighter lagers, is also going.

The brewpubs are: Original Basil T’s from Red Bank; Gaslight in South Orange; Long Valley from scenic Long Valley in Morris County; and Triumph in Princeton (as well as New Hope, Pa., and Philadelphia). Iron Hill is also in there but listed as coming from Delaware.

Here's a heads-up: The Saturday afternoon session (Sept. 26th) has just about closed the books on available tickets.

Charlie Papazian and the Jersey brew tour

John Holl at newjerseynewsroom.com has a word on the dean of homebrewing's swing through his native New Jersey late last month, and how one of the big names of the craft beer movement was thinking Jersey and drinking Jersey.

Here's a tidbit we picked up on our own: Long Valley brewpub was closed for renovations at the time. But when Watchung's own Charlie Papazian asks if he can drink from your taps, you pour man, you pour.

Brewmaster Joe Saia, who happened to be at the pub brewing that day, says they summoned some Chinese takeout to go with their pints (Charlie had the German Valley Amber; his wife had a cask-conditioned ale).

Week before last, Joe tried, via his assistant at the brewpub, to get us a picture of Charlie's time at Long Valley. Alas, it never arrived. Thanks anyway, Joe.

Nonetheless, welcome home, Professor Surfeit, and don't be a stranger.

And oh, don't you think it's about time the American Homebrewers Association picked the Garden State as the site for a National Homebrewers Conference?

We do.

House call

In a joint statement last week and again this week, the Brewers Association and American Homebrewers Association put out a call for beer enthusiasts to urge their reps in Congress to join the House Small Brewers Caucus, meaning you should write emails or letters to those reps suggesting they make themselves part of that body formed two years ago to lend a voice to the interests of small commercial brewers and homebewers alike.

Not surprisingly, New Jersey beer, whether produced by the make-your-own crowd or microbrewers, has no representation on this body. (New York has four federal lawmakers on it, while Pennsylvania has three.)

In New Jersey the congressman who’s in line for the most pressure from such cajoling efforts would be Leonard Lance, whose sprawling, one-side-of-the-state-to-the-other 7^th Congressional District is home to five Jersey brewers: Climax in Roselle Park; JJ Bitting in Woodbridge; Trap Rock in Berkeley Heights; Pizzeria Uno in Edison/Metuchen; and the Ship Inn in Milford.

About Rep. Lance:

Lance is a freshman on Capitol Hill (elected in 2008 and sworn in to office back in January; he also bears a resemblance to actor Strother Martin of Cool Hand Luke fame). Before Mr. Lance went to Washington, he was a legacy in New Jersey politics, a fixture in Trenton whose father, as a state senator before him, helped redraft the state’s constitution 62 years ago (the one we operate under now).

A self-described fiscal conservative, Lance was never one to shy away from taking a crack at money wasters. One of his confirmed kills in Trenton was icing (via a lawsuit) ex-Governor Jim McGreevey’s trick of borrowing to even out the state’s finances. In his so-far brief stint in D.C., Lance voted no on the Obama stimulus package but supported giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco and how it’s marketed. His congressional Web site is here.

Rounding out the list of Jersey reps with breweries or brewpubs in their districts are:

• Rodney Freylinghuysen, Republican. Production brewers Cricket Hill (Fairfield) and High Point (Butler), and Krogh’s brewpub (Sparta) are in his 11^th District.

• Frank Pallone, Democrat. Brewpubs Original Basil’s T (Red Bank) and Harvest Moon (New Brunswick), as well as contract brewers Hometown Beverage (Oceanport/Manasquan) are in his 6^th District.

• John Adler, Democrat, another 2009 freshman to Congress. Flying Fish (Cherry Hill) and Basil T’s (Toms River) are in his 3rd District.

• Frank LoBiondo, Republican, 2nd District. Tun Tavern (Atlantic City).

• Rob Andrews, Democrat, 1st District. Iron Hill (Maple Shade).

• Bill Pascrell, Democrat, 8th District. Gaslight (South Orange) and Boaks Beverage (Pompton Lakes).

• Rush Holt, Democrat, 12th District. River Horse Brewing (Lambertville).

The folks at the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, point out that while only 49 reps belong to the caucus, there are 344 congressional districts across the country that are home to at least one small brewery. And it’s a good bet that every one of the 435 districts is populated by some homebrewers and beer enthusiasts.

Hence, the Brewers Association and AHA put out their call. But the timing is pretty bad, no matter how solid of an idea this is. Here’s why: Healthcare reform right now sits on the plates of all 535 federal lawmakers (Senate and House) like that broccoli George H. W. Bush said he hated to eat. Suggesting right now that a congressman sign onto the small brewers caucus, well, it’s just not going to rise above the din of town hall scrums and the crossfire of healthcare debate.

On the other hand, the Brewers Association Points out: In these uncertain economic and legislative times, you can imagine how important it is to educate Congress about the community of homebrewers, beer enthusiasts and small brewers.

Indeed.

One more jinx from 2009

Here's an ach du lieber Gott in Himmel moment ...

Bad news about beer sales – they're down – with a little more than a month to go before Oktoberfest (Sept. 19-Oct. 4). Unfavorable weather over the summer is partly to blame, as are demographics.

Looks like folks in Deutschland have some consumption to make up. Better get cracking, shouldn't try to do it all in München next month.

Best of Show 2009

When you mention a beer, some folks want details. Well, here’s the profile for Andrew Meravi’s New Jersey State Fair Best of Show Russian Imperial Stout:

• Malt: Maris Otter, roasted barley, chocolate malt, munich malt (two types), crystal, Special B and flaked barley.
• Hops: Magnum for bittering, a dash of Centennial and East Kent Goldings for flavor and aroma. The brew scrapes the IBU ceiling at 100 (beneath a lot of malt, though).
• ABV: 10.25%

That profile represents a few tweaks Andrew made from a version he brewed last year that won second place in the homebrew competition's Imperial Stout category. (The stout was his sole entry then.) This year, he says, he was just trying to sharpen the stout a little to win the category. “I guess I got that and a little more.”

Andrew, who’s 34, took up homebrewing after a friend in New Hampshire helped broaden his horizons with the wide array of craft beers that are out there. (His palate was practically there, since at that time, he was enjoying beers like Bass.) A pale ale made by friend in New Jersey showed him what could be accomplished by homebrewing.

That was four years ago, and in that time he stepped up from brewing with malt extracts to all grain, turning out 10-gallon batches, unless it’s a big beer (like the imperial stout), in which case he’ll do half that volume.

Andrew took six beers to the 2009 State Fair and did rather well, even if you factor out his Best of Show title. His American pale ale won a gold medal; a breakfast stout made with oatmeal and a light-roast organic coffee took silver, and a Belgian golden ale went bronze.

And now he joins the pantheon of State Fair champs whose bragging rights include reproducing their winning ways for the taps at Krogh's.

Sham, and for shame

A little off topic but here goes:

This is a big reason the New Jersey Turnpike Authority should embrace a beer series that salutes its world-famous toll highway instead of denouncing it and acting like someone threw a stinky diaper in its lap.

If the authority is going to be an event ticket broker – and the mere fact you can buy concert tickets through a toll road bureaucracy is so patently absurd – then the PNC Bank Arts Center should be selling at its concession stands beers that were made locally. (The Turnpike Authority owns the arts center; naming rights were sold to PNC years ago. Yet, the state is still broke, drowning in red ink.) The authority's bitching earlier this summer about Flying Fish and its Exit Series beers was bootless, knee-jerk whining more suited for a dumbed-down world we should have taken the exit off of long ago.

Of course, ensuring Jersey brewers enjoy a home-state advantage at those concessions would be circumventing the public bidding process for contracts. But hey, looks like the Turnpike ensures a concernt ticket advantage for insiders and its employees (because they work hard. Note to the TA: Let's just assume people paying taxes and tolls to support the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway and pay off the highway bond debt work hard, too).

But the bigger picture here is: How do you place any credence in the Turnpike's gripes about it being prima facie wrong to mention beer and a highway in the same breath, when the Turnpike's administration is running a ticket racket, selling premium concert seats to people smart enough know the Turnpike has killer seats for Dave Matthews or Incubus?

That in-the-know crowd pretty much excludes most of us, since last time we checked the E-ZPass lanes don't have signs saying "Need seats? Call (732) 750-5300." Nor do Turnpike toll tickets.

What's the next act taking the stage? Sham.

Time for a beer.

And the winner is ...

A Russian Imperial Stout claims the Best of Show title in the 13th Annual New Jersey State Fair Homebrew Competition.

That means, like Best of Show winners before him, Andrew Meravi of Boonton will get to scale up his recipe and brew it on the 5-barrel system at Krogh's brewpub with the help of Krogh’s brewmaster, David Cooper.

Krogh's puts the Best of Show beers on tap when it can squeeze them into its brew lineup, and past winners have seen their beers land tap space over the late winter and mid-spring.

Meanwhile, rounding out the winners list:

• First Runner-up was an American IPA brewed by Robert Giaquinta Jr. of Sparta.
• Second Runner-up was a doppelbock crafted by the 2008 defending champs, Pequannock brewers Mike Wenzel and Steve Moen, joined by Glen Celmer.

Congrats to all.

Teachable moments ...

What we got from the beer summit:

• It makes your skin crawl to hear Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy talk about beer (i.e. that Anheuser-Busch is no longer an American-owned company). Oh let's face it, hearing Steve Doocy talk about anything is nauseating.

• CNN, Fox, MSNBC and the 24-hour news cycle continue to boost Jon Stewart's career.

• The White House could probably stand to start a pint glass collection. (The Prez, Skip Gates, Sgt. James Crowley and Veep Joe Biden, a late addition to the lineup, all drank from mugs.)

• It's unlikely you'll see on BeerAdvocate a new rating for Bud Light under the user name POTUS.

• The Prez, Gates and Crowley all passed on Biden's idea to play Quarters.

• Despite having a brew, everyone could still taste the foot he stuck in his mouth that landed him at the summit. All except, the Veep ... Joe just keeps his foot there.

• No matter the reason, or the brand of beer, it should be noted that BEER was the drink of the day (except the Veep, who had an N-A malt beverage).

Cheers.

All's fair in malt and hops

Come Saturday evening, we’ll know the newest beer destined for the tap handle lineup at Krogh’s brewpub.

You probably won’t be able to drink it until sometime next year, but when the Best of Show winner of the New Jersey State Fair homebrewer competition is announced, you’ll know what to look forward to.

The annual summer ritual unites the make-your-own contingent in a quest for bragging rights and that coveted opportunity to strike a mash at the picturesque brewpub by the waters of Lake Mohawk in Sparta (Sussex County) and have that beer served to paying customers.

The contest has grown in size in its decade-plus existence and has made commercial brewers out of a couple of winners (those would be Brian Boak, who contract brews with High Point Brewing in Butler; and Bud Usinowicz, who has helped brew at Krogh’s since his victory in ’06). This year has seen the most entries ever with 106 (up from 65 in 2008), including two-time winners and defending champs Mike Wenzel and Steve Moen; and Dave Pobutkiewicz, who was a 2007 finalist in the LongShot homebrew competition run by Boston Beer Company. On top of that, the quality of the homebrewed beers being entered has surged.

Last year, the contest was opened up to homebrewers anywhere in the country, not just those from the Garden State. Next year, the contest is expected to be sanctioned by the Colorado-based American Homebrewers Association and the Beer Judge Certification Program, a move that's likely to boost the number of entries even more.

Sussex County resident Ken Sharrock is the point guy for the competition. A homebrewer himself and certified beer judge, Ken got involved with the contest eight or so years ago and has helped bring it closer to what beer enthusiasts would recognize as a BJCP-approved event. Besides Ken, the contest has at least two other certified judges, and last spring, Ken administered the BJCP exam to some folks interested in stepping up to the world of accredited beer judges. (They're waiting for their rankings, Ken says.) Most of those people were already serving as contest judges, but in any case, you can expect skilled palates and noses to be crowning the next state champ.

Speaking of things New Jersey ...

If you can celebrate Jerseyana with a beers named after Turnpike exits, then why not that other fixture New Jersey is well known for – government corruption?

Some possible beer names: Bribery Coast Brown Ale, Take the Pinch Pils, Bagman Porter, Hauled into the Dock Bock, Indictment Pale Ale, Jersey Payola Summer Ale. The possibilities are limitless.

And now, here's the Garden State's own Jon Stewart:

Iron Hill Brewery, the video

Iron Hill in New Jersey in moving pictures …

A thanks to everyone who took the time for an interview, and to Kevin Davies, Mark Edelson and Kevin Finn for persevering to overcome the none-too-friendly Garden State regulatory climate, and having the confidence to put a kitchen and a brew kettle in Maple Shade.

Launching the first new brewery in New Jersey in 10 years is monumental, and as some have noted, a homecoming since Iron Hill is a triumvirate of Jersey guys committed to creating great beer and pairing it with equally great food.

Speaking of that none-too-friendly climate, a couple of state Treasury investigators – on Iron Hill’s opening day no less – strode through the doors to conduct a spot check, looking to see that all taxes were paid on building materials and equipment. On top of that, they’ve been going through Iron Hill’s invoices and checking up on IH’s contractors, to make sure they’re registered and, again, that taxes have been paid.

That may be standard procedure for bureaucrats, but it's not much of a welcome from New Jersey, a state that the reputable and highly regarded Iron Hill, a taxpaying company that just created jobs in Maple Shade, chose, say it again CHOSE, to do business in. It’s rather insulting, too, given that it was IH’s opening day, a time when Mark and the Kevins probably wanted to devote their attention to the patrons who would come through the door, not some auditing regulatory nonsense that sits at the core of why New Jersey is tough business terrain.

Here and there: Hops & Iron Hill

Hops ... First round picked, more to go.

This shot of the Centennials was taken a week or so before picking, which was done July 12th and yielded just over a half pound, predominantly from one hill. Nice crisp grapefruit aroma with a hint of pine.

A second round happens in about 10 days.

And ... Iron Hill officially opened Monday night in Maple Shade to brisk business. Best of luck to New Jersey's first new brewer in a decade, a place that will surely become an oasis in South Jersey.

Pictured below is co-owner Kevin Finn toasting the opening with Maple Shade Mayor James Fletcher. Follow this link for some observerations on Iron Hill by John Holl of newjerseynewsroom.com. Video of the opening will be up soon.

Iron Hill: A sneak peak

What a way to spend a Saturday …

Iron Hill Brewery co-owner Mark Edelson was filling growlers (that's Mark on the left in the second photo), trying to get just the right pour in the half-gallon brown glass jugs, pausing between takes to tweak settings beneath a brushed-metal control panel door to a German-manufactured filler, the first at any Iron Hill location, and the first such growler device to be put into use by a New Jersey brewpub. (Production brewer Climax in Roselle Park has a six-head, counter-pressure filler for the half-gallon jugs the brewery uses for bottling. Owner Dave Hoffmann, a machinist before he turned brewer, designed and built his filler). After a while, it looked like Mark had the right calibration, and two growlers, filled with Pig Iron Porter and India Black Ale, were rung up for sale.

If you’re the kind of beer drinker who likes to take something home after your afternoon or evening at the brewpub, then you’ll appreciate Mark’s efforts, which came on a day that Iron Hill folks spent smoothing out everything ahead of their grand opening in Maple Shade on Monday (doors open at 5 p.m.).

The filler is of benefit to both the beer drinker and the pub.

On principle, it works much like a bottling line: It purges air in the jug by filling it first with CO2; then it floods the container with beer via a tube inserted down into the jug, topping off the fill with a jet of beer to kick up some foam as a final air purge, after which the jug’s cap is screwed on by hand.

What it means for you is better shelf life in your refrigerator (it doesn’t change the fact that once you open the growler, you should do what you can to finish those four pints, or risk it degassing). For the pub, it should be more efficient than the widely practiced approach of half filling the jug and letting the foam settle before topping it off. That can eat up precious time on busy nights, and you can end up with an underpour if a pub is slamming busy. (For the record, the only time we ever got an underpour was in Massachusetts.)

If you go back about 10 years or more, some brewpubs used to slip a clear, vinyl tube (like what many homebewers use for racking) onto the tap and fill the jug from the bottom up. That practice fell out of fashion for some reason. However, The Ship Inn in Milford still does it.

The grand opening of its eighth location is surely to be a sweet moment for Iron Hill, and comes after two years of scouting sites and seriously trying to finally bring to New Jersey the brewpub model that has worked for Garden State natives Edelson and his partners, Kevin Finn and Kevin Davies, first in Delaware and then Pennsylvania.

One Jersey site that had been under consideration was the upscale Sagemore/Promenade plaza on busy Route 73 in Marlton, a great location to be sure. And we say the folks who own that site screwed themselves by not working out a deal with Iron Hill, because Redstone and PF Chang’s can’t come close to what IH does.

The brewpub, at 124 East Kings Highway, is spacious and well-appointed, a relaxing atmosphere that's quite conducive to conversation. The wait staff is attentive and makes it their business to know as much about the beers as the food (after all, beer is food).

Speaking of the beers, Iron Hill’s nine taps are built on a foundation of five house beers. Toss in a tap always dedicated to a Belgian style – you’ll find a wit occupying that tap on opening day – a pair of seasonals and a nitrogen tap that right now features a must-try keller version of their Ironbound Ale (4.7% ABV), an American-style pale ale that went bronze at the Great American Beer Festival in 2005. To begin with, Ironbound is an even competition of malt and hop flavors wrapped up in a session beer. But the unfiltered, nitro version has this dense creamy head that stays with you to the bottom of the glass.

A beer that should pique your interest is that India Black Pale, an amped-up, IPA turn of their American ale (6.3% ABV), deepened with black malt and dry-hopped with Horizon hops.

But don’t just take our word for it. Find out for yourself on Monday.

The Big Picture

Here’s video from last month's Garden State Craft Brewers Festival. To those who inquired more than once about its completion date, sorry for the delay. And to those who paused from their sampling or pouring to do an interview, many thanks.

If you went to the festival, you know the weather pretty much sucked. But thankfully the rain, while poncho-worthy, was intermittent. The guild puts the festival attendance at 630, and the event marked the New Jersey debut of Iron Hill Brewery. (IH co-founder Mark Edelson and head brewer Chris Lapierre took time do interviews for the video.)

A word about the guild fests
We’ll take this moment to repeat an oft-said point (on this blog, at least): Having the festival in Camden, or South Jersey if you want to track it regionally, is fine if there will be at least a second festival, specifically in North Jersey. You could toss in a third for the middle part of the state, since New Jersey is actually and distinctly of three regions, as far as its cultural stylings go.

A single festival in South Jersey becomes forgettable in the long run, and North Jersey folks can be hard-pressed to drum up the desire to travel the distance (a shout-out to Tom Eagan of the Destination Beer blog, who did come down from Jersey City on the 20th and made an admirable daytrip of things). And for argument’s sake, if there were but a single festival in North Jersey, the shoe of disdain would be on South Jersey’s foot.

So two festivals becomes important. At some point, it's about branding, and brand awareness. And by branding, we mean broadly speaking the New Jersey brand, the big picture, collectively the great beers made by the pub and craft brewers inside the state’s borders.

Since the guild’s festival is the only one that’s granted the dispensation to have the beer poured by the people who made it (therefore brewers can really talk to the consumers), it becomes important again to capitalize on that opportunity for face time with the beer-consuming public and remind those folks not just about your beer, but your very existence (you can’t do tastings at the package stores in this state). Because there’s a flood of beer on the store shelves from across the country and around the world, almost too much to choose from, sort of Alvin Toffler-ish/Future Shock-like, when you consider that back in the 1980s, the choices were dramatically narrower. The home team is in peril of being overshadowed by the plethora of labels now. (Yet once upon a time, Jersey had a plethora of labels brewed within its borders.)

It’s good for the consumer, the veritable panorama of choices, but not so hot for the concept of buying local being the new organic.

And that, in the end, is the big picture.

Iron Hill opening on 7/20

Iron Hill is set to open the doors of its New Jersey brewpub to the beer-enjoying public on Monday at 5 p.m., preceded by a ceremonial first pour with the media at 4 p.m.

We'd like to think of IH's opening as a small step for an established and respected brewpub brand that has eight locations spread among Delaware, Pennsylvania and now New Jersey. But you could say it's really a giant leap for the Garden State, which hasn't seen a new brewery/brewpub open in 10 years.

The folks behind Iron Hill – Kevin Finn, Kevin Davies and Mark Edelson – are from New Jersey and have long wanted to return to their home state with the brewpub model they found success with in the First State and the Keystone State. But the big ball of red tape that is New Jersey makes opening a new business, like a brewery, a daunting challenge. (Too much control is ceded to municipalities, and state government does little to encourage business development.)

But Iron Hill is here. Happily.

Cheers.

Fall through

This is a little disappointing, especially if you live in the northern part of the state. But there is some hope on the distant horizon.

The Garden State Craft Brewers Guild won’t be staging a second festival this year, like the one last fall at the Newark Bears minor league baseball stadium. Guild folks say a deal for a venue can’t be nailed down in time to sufficiently advertise a date for this fall to draw a good-size crowd.

That said, guild folks are scouting around for a place to hold an early- or mid-spring 2010 festival in addition to the annual summer festival that has moored itself to the decks of the USS New Jersey. Stadiums at Montclair State University and Somerville (the Somerset Patriots field) are being eyed for a spring festival.

The disappointment here is, obviously, that if you didn’t make it to the battleship this year, you missed the boat as far guild brew fests for 2009 go. It’s perhaps harder on the folks in North Jersey, who have had to travel to Camden for the past five years to sample the brews of guild members in one sitting.

Camden’s not exactly the idea of a dream destination for those folks, and if you talk to some longtime fans of Jersey-made beers who live above I-195, they will invariably bring up the halcyon days of the late 1990s, when the guild festival was held at Waterloo Village. But those days are long gone, and the festival eventually dropped anchor in Camden, to the satisfaction of South Jersey.

Cross your fingers that 2010 will indeed yield two festivals and be the dawn of an era in which the guild keeps a light on in both halves of the state.

Meanwhile, the version 3 of the Central Jersey Beer Festival is set for Sept. 19 in Woodbridge. And, Pizzeria Uno down the road in Metuchen is likely to repeat their cask ale festival yet again during the fall. Stay tuned.

Video
Speaking of festivals, the video we shot last month aboard the battleship in Camden will be up toward the end of this week. Some people have asked about when they could see it, and we expected it to be up by today. But the computer and a linked pair of external hard drives aren't playing nice with one another. The technical trouble should be resolved very soon.

Cheers.

Time to exit this

MADD strikes a more moderate tone in the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill regarding Flying Fish's Exit Series beers.

Two months of running in place on the same topic ... Now's a good time to shift things out of neutral, move forward and exit this debate, or at least adapt it to the times (see here, and here, page 3 of the table).

Exit to ale ... and so it goes

There's an AP story on the wires and Internet in which MADD gets annoyed at Flying Fish's Exit Series.

Nothing truly new in this, unless you're looking for a release date for the hoppy American wheat ale that will be Exit 11 (it's July 15th, and alas a media event to kick things off is being held in Philadelphia that day, not New Jersey. Sort of flies in the face of the talked-up homage to Jerseyana. But then, Philadelphia is, was and probably always will be a top market for Flying Fish, so there's that to consider). And when we say "nothing new," we mean the very same argument/gripe trotted out in June is being recycled a mere month later. Who cares if it's coming from a different mouth this time?

If you read The Associated Press story, you get the impression that Mothers Against Drunk Driving was contacted for comment (a completely logical thing to do as far as news reporting goes; and honestly, where was MADD a month ago when the chance to grouse about this was on the front burner?), as opposed to MADD getting out its long knives to fillet the Fish with a protest, à la a news conference at the start of a major travel holiday (such as last week's Fourth of July celebrations), something the organization is known to do. Not that we're advocating MADD tee off on a brewery; hardly, since we think MADD, nationally, has become a temperance league – as in all beer, liquor and wine are bad or lead to trouble – and especially since we thought the New Jersey Turnpike Authority needed to lighten up when it was getting fussy last month over this. But it is curious that the freshest news release on the Web site for the New Jersey chapter of MADD is dated 2006. The Exit Series gripe isn't even mentioned on MADD-NJ.

And, if you ask us, The Star-Ledger's headline on the story sort of oversells things. MADD gets second fiddle following some more of the Turnpike Authority frowning and resignation at Flying Fish's First Amendment rights (which the Exit Series wholly is). The balance of the story, aside from more rebuttal from FF, is about the beer series, not about how MADD intends to get madder over this. A mild slam, it would seem.

This item made WCBS radio in New York this afternoon, with audio comment from MADD folks (in which they did indeed slam FF, saying they were "appalled") coupled with some renewed deflection from Gene Muller at Flying Fish in Cherry Hill (he has proffered once before that drinking and driving are an unthinkable combination, something anyone could guess). But oddly enough, WCBS did this same story three weeks ago – after Channel 4 in New York did a take on the Turnpike folks having a conniption, after the TollroadsNews Web site broke the story (if you want to call it that). In CBS' report back then, the station spoke to Gene, but never went after the MADD angle. Hmmm.

And now a news day in the slow lane once again today.

And so it goes ...

PS: One thing about the Exit Series that does come to mind these seven months into FF's program for 2009 and as far as keeping beer denizens far and wide interested: 18 exits, 3 beers a year = 6 years of taking exits. The turnpike's a long road, indeed. Maybe the US Mint has some tips after 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 52 quarters and 10 years.

River Horse update

There's a brewer change at River Horse to report.

Head brewer Christian Ryan is off to London, where his wife was transferred by her employer. Replacing Christian is Greg Papp, an alumus of Victory Brewing and Shipyard Brewing, and most recently the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery chain.

More to come soon.

Happy Independence Day*

Celebrating the 4th and continued independence from crappy, dumbed-down beer … Budweiser the king of beers? Nay, the beer equivalent of George III, our improvident former overlord who was overthrown.

Now is also a good time to renew a shout-out to Rick Reed’s Campaign for New Jersey Beer, his call to muster pride and support for Jersey-brewed beer.

From Rick: "New Jersey breweries make some of the finest beers on earth and if you are a New Jersey bar then you should serve at least one New Jersey beer. Have some pride in our state, it doesn't matter which brewery from NJ but have at least one!!!"

Small-batch beer is a thread that runs through the origins of this country. Everyone who’s really into beer knows that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, turned to brewing in retirement from public life. (TRIVIA: Jefferson is among three US presidents who checked out on July 4th, the other two being his rival, John Adams, and James Monroe.)

Jefferson, of course, wasn't alone as a homebrewer. As prominent people of their day, the Founding Fathers were of the means to maintain personal breweries at their estates. If you’re a homebrewer, celebrate your connection to them. It's all about freedom and independence.

*Fireworks display shot July 4, 2009, at Lake Pohatcong in Tuckerton, NJ.