Craft Beer Week at Iron Hill

The penultimate day of American Craft Beer Week (May 17-23) at Iron Hill Maple Shade was all about numbers.

The brewpub's Monky business (as in monks, not apes) mug club day on Saturday featured a flight of Belgian brews – single, dubbel, tripel, American tripel, and a round of quads, including bourbon barrel-aged and brett-styled versions.

On top of that, head brewer Chris LaPierre treated the crowd to some 4-year-old Flemish Brown and an early sample of Iron Hill Maple Shade No. 100.

Chris describes the brewpub's 100th batch – a milestone reached in just 10 months – this way: "It's 100 pounds of eight different malts, eight signifying that we’re the eight Iron Hill location. There's also 100 pounds of corn, being in South Jersey, it's kind of corn country. It has 100 IBUs' worth of hops – we used Centennial hops, also for the number 100. There's 100 ounces of finishing hops at the end of the boil and dry hops, and we boiled it at 100 degrees Celsius."

The last part is a joke, obviously, since 100 degrees C is the metric system boiling point for water.

Batch 100 will clock in about 6.5% ABV. Chris says it sort of defies a style category. "If I had to, I'd probably call it an IPA. It's golden to maybe a little bit of light amber ... really, really hoppy, about the alcohol of an IPA. But it's also got rye in there, wheat, corn, a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally find in an IPA."

Look for it early next month.

New Jersey dominates in AHA video contest

This just in: Jersey beer folks dominate in the American Homebrewers Association YouTube video contest.

Woodbridge Homebrewers Ale & Lager Enthusiasts Society won for most-watched video from the May 1st Big Brew Homebrew Day observance.

Beer-Stained Letter (that would be us) got second place in the Spirit of Big Brew category, and the Society of Oshkosh Brewers got the coveted first place in Spirit of Big Brew. Congrats to them.

Special thanks go to the Barley Legal Homebrewers, who share credit in the second place finish.

Here are the links:
• Oshkosh Brewers
• WHALES
• Beer-Stained Letter

Not a Jersey stunt, yet still craft beer

Craft Beer Week & Senator Joe Vitale

The silence has been deafening.

OK, that's a little melodramatic. But more than a month ago – March 29th, in fact – this blog teamed with PubScout blogger Kurt Epps in some outreach to a Trenton lawmaker in the hopes of winning a state proclamation or resolution designating May 17-23 as American Craft Beer Week in New Jersey.

Such a designation would have echoed the congressional endorsement of Craft Beer Week and trained an additional spotlight on the craft brewing industry in New Jersey.

No such luck.

Not only did we strike out, but state Sen. Joseph Vitale didn't even acknowledge the email asking to discuss the idea with him. Nor did he acknowledge a reminder last month that the date of the May observance was approaching.

Some background: We prevailed upon Sen. Vitale because he has more craft beer producers – J.J. Bitting, Harvest Moon and Pizzeria Uno brewpubs – in his district of Middlesex County than any other lawmaker in Trenton. He also serves on the Senate's economic growth committee.

Alas, not a peep from Senator Joe in response to our emails. (For the record when his office was contacted via telephone, email was cited as the preferred method of reaching out to him.)

There are a host of things wrong with this, and some of them have nothing to do with craft beer.

Topping the list is that PubScout Kurt hails from the Middlesex County town of Perth Amboy, and as such, Senator Joe's name has appeared on the ballot in Kurt's voting booth every four years since the late 1990s.

That's a long way of saying Kurt is a constituent and that his representative in the upper chamber of the New Jersey Legislature – Senator Vitale – ignored a constituent who called the district office, then complied with the office's wishes of how to be contacted.

Hmm. Maybe that email business is just a device the senator's office uses to blow off people whom he's elected to represent. Whatever.

Now let's take the economic growth angle, and bear in mind we still haven't predicated things on beer yet.

Anyway you look at it, Harvest Moon in New Brunswick, JJ Bitting in Woodbridge and Pizzeria Uno in Metuchen are businesses and are part of their local economies. Since they collect sales taxes, they're part of the state economy, too. Those businesses – all constituents like Kurt – were ignored as well, albeit in a roundabout way. (For the record, it was pointed out in the email to Senator Vitale that his district includes those brewpubs, but the three were not specifically named. And those brewpubs were not contacted and asked to sign on to the outreach effort.)

Now we get to the beer part.

As we know (and perhaps Senator Vitale does not), New Jersey has a craft beer industry, and in fact, it's growing: three additions to the family over the past 10 months. That puts our headcount at 20 craft breweries in the form of brewpubs and production brewers. And they pay a per-gallon state tax just to brew beer, and that tax is just the headwaters of the levies on beer.

But wait, there's more.

Nationally, craft beer is a $7 billion a year industry, according to the Brewers Association, the industry's trade group. And that figure was $6 billion last year, reflecting, you guessed it, some economic growth à la the kind you would think a lawmaker would be concerned with as a member of a legislative panel called an economic growth committee.

Let's take that economic growth thing a step further, since at least one New Jersey craft brewer was approached last year about exporting to Europe. Imagine a senate committee that helps New Jersey businesses develop overseas markets. Seems rather hard to pull off if that panel has deaf ears.

But maybe we're overplaying the significance of American Craft Beer Week. Nope, not a chance. Especially when you consider that $7 billion; it's a pretty significant rallying point, and the observance is a way to highlight and get behind the industry's economic and cultural contributions.

And it's not too much to ask elected officials to support an industry and its potential (not to mention being responsive to constituents). The House of Representatives has done so by endorsing craft beer week and creating a caucus on small breweries back in 2007.

Rep. Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County is a member of the House Small Brewers Caucus, joining the caucus after learning his congressional district included five New Jersey craft brewers. Lance, a former state senator who was elected to Congress in 2008, even paid a visit to his craft brewer constituents a few months back.

At the end of the day, this is about commerce. Craft beer is bona fide and growing industry across the country, generating tax revenues and jobs. New Jersey has a small piece of that industry. But it could be bigger.

And it seems like Trenton – where these days red ink inundates the ledgers – lawmakers would embrace revenue-generating industries.

Anyway, it's American Craft Beer Week. Support craft brewers. Maybe someday Trenton will.

New beer in NJ for Craft Beer Week

American Craft Beer Week begins Monday, but there's an event Saturday that's a fitting gateway in the Garden State to what the stewards of the May 17-23 observance call the Mother of All Beer Weeks.

The Copper Mine Pub in North Arlington will help launch New Jersey Beer Company's entry into the market place, pouring the inaugural trio of beers from the brand-spanking-new brewery in North Bergen in Hudson County.

"We didn't plan it this way, but I can't think of a better time. What better way to celebrate American Craft Beer Week than by opening a brewery?" says Matt Steinberg, the founder and president of NJ Beer Company.

Matt has spent the better part of this spring working like a dog, overcoming some obstacles and minor delays here and there, to get up and running. So Saturday will indeed be a momentous occasion. (NJ Beer will do a roll-out the following weekend at the Iron Monkey in Jersey City.)

Brewery folks will be on hand as Copper Mine pours NJ Beer's freshly made flagships: Hudson Pale Ale, Garden State Stout and 1787 Abbey Single, paired with some appetizers, mini-entrees and a dessert closer, provided courtesy of a friend of the brewery.

NJ Beer began actual brewing on April 24th, and as of today, it has brewed 100 barrels of beer. Matt's happy with how the beer has turned out. "I really couldn't be more excited get them out there. They're exactly the way the way they should be," he says.

NJ Beer also has a fall seasonal in the pipeline, but Matt is keeping details of the beer under wraps for now. It's in "the lab being perfected," he says.

Right now, NJ Beer's brews are draft only. But the brewery's bottling line is expected to arrive from Canada around the end of the month.

This year, Craft Beer Week sees the ranks of Jersey brewers grow by three: NJ Beer, Port 44 Brew Pub in Newark and Iron Hill down in Maple Shade, which has been doing phenomenally well since opening not quite a year ago.

Port 44 is still serving brews under guest taps, while it awaits final brewing licensing from the state. It's been frustrating trying to cut through the red tape, but Port 44's owner, John Feeley, says a meeting with their legal folks today gave reason to be optimistic.

Bureaucratic waters can be choppy, but if things tilt Port 44's way, the pub could be pouring its house-made ales around mid-June. Cross your fingers for them. Just as NJ Beer has brought brewing back to Hudson County, Port 44 represents a connection to the past for Newark, which was once a major player in the brewing industry before things dwindled to just the existence of Budweiser.

(In fact, once Port 44 gets its license and begins to make beer, the brewpub will be the only American-owned brewery in Newark. As we know, Budweiser is in the hands of Brazilian-Belgian conglomerate InBev.)

About American Craft Beer Week
The observance was organized by the Colorado-based Brewers Association to celebrate small and independent craft brewers and highlight what Americans enjoy about craft beer.

A House of Representatives resolution, H.R. 1297, was introduced in April to recognize and support the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week, not to mention support the role that small and independent craft brewers play through community citizenry; the economic contributions (i.e. the 100,000 jobs in the industry); and a resurgence in the brewing industry unseen since before Prohibition.

Name the Guild fest in honor of Jay Misson

The annual Garden State Craft Brewers Guild Festival is a little over a month away – June 26th – and here's an idea: name the festival aboard the USS New Jersey in memory of Jay Misson, dedicate it to what he did for craft beer in his home state.

Call it simply the Jay Misson-Garden State Craft Brewers Guild Festival. So what if that's a long name, the guy's legacy deserves it. (See here and here.)

Jay was part of the watershed that saw better beer become part of the Garden State landscape. His reputation as a brewer was well known and respected on both sides of the Delaware River (and beyond), and if he had been a university professor, there would probably be a campus building already bearing his name and a scholarship created in his memory to pass on what he knew and practiced.

And that was better beer.

So nearly two years after he died at age 45 (June 9, 2008), it seems more than fitting that the guild, of which his employer (Jay was director of brewing operations for Triumph Brewing) is a standing member, bestow such an honor, give some credit where it is due.

It's just a thought.

Big Brew 2010 in NJ – the video

The Big Brew was a week ago, and here's what went on behind Iron Hill brewpub in Maple Shade, where the Barley Legal Homebrewers club played host to a National Homebrew Day observance. Special thanks to Evan Fritz of the Barley Legal club for inviting the blog to their gathering and serving some great beer. They brewed a total of 140 gallons of beer for Big Brew, Evan says.

And a nod goes to Iron Hill Maple Shade head brewer Chris LaPierre for similar hospitality and availing himself for an interview on a day he also had to go to a wedding.

A couple other things: The videos is entered in the American Homebrewers Association YouTube contest, something we won two years ago (the AHA's inaugural contest). There's some leftover footage that will wind up getting used for follow-up videos. (Contest rules limited entries to three minutes maximum.)

Also, a shout-out to Keg & Barrel Homebrew Supply in Berlin, in Camden County. When Beer Crafters closed last fall, South Jersey lost one of the underpinnings to its homebrewing community. Nice to see another shop filling the void.

When your beer is crap, try gimmicks

What do Miller Lite and a vortex have in common? They both suck.

BA updates beer style guidelines

Imperial porter and American-style India black ale are two of the four new listings you'll find in the Brewers Association's annual update of beer style guidelines.

The guidelines now describe 140 different styles of beer, and the folks at the Colorado-based craft beer industry trade group say the 2010 update, which also added Belgian-style Quadruple and Fruit Wheat Ale or Lager, reflects the emerging popularity of these beers in the U.S. and other beer-drinking countries.

Amongst New Jersey brewers, Flying Fish and Iron Hill have turned out notable interpretations of imperial porter and India black ale, respectively.

Flying Fish opened its doors in 1996 with a bottle-conditioned session porter that it ultimately dropped from the lineup. When the Cherry Hill brewery returned porter to its offerings (as a winter-early spring seasonal) three years ago, it was with an amped-up, esspresso-infused version that clocks in at 8 percent ABV.

Iron Hill christened its new Maple Shade location in July 2009 with Black India Pale Ale on it taps. The brewpub's take on the style is a malty, roasty beer at 7 percent ABV that will put hops on your palate and in your nose.

Iron Hill was perhaps the first brewer to bring the style to New Jersey, but the folks at Basil T's in Red Bank recently mentioned they planning to take a turn at an India black ale.

No. 5 is a 6

The next installment of Flying Fish's Exit Series is a Belgian style with British, Slovenian and Japanese hops.

Oh, and it's Exit 6, the Mansfield area of Burlington County, where Dutch settlers from what is now a part of Belgium farmed rye.

Beernews.org is again out front with word about the fifth Exit Series brew, due out in early June. (It's also on FF's Twitter page as the official announcement.) Think Philly Beer Week observances, because this brew will be a part of it.

So much for our guess of roggenbock at Exit 8. Close. Kinda. Sorta. But this ain't horseshoes.

River Horse – after ShadFest

ShadFest in Lambertville helped run down the clock on April (it was the weekend of the 24th).

And if you follow River Horse Brewing, this go-round you may have noticed something a little different about the brewery: It's really starting to hit its stride under the new ownership (RH changed hands back in 2007), getting there with a contagious enthusiasm.

To make that point may also imply that RH had fallen from favor in a few places. It's true, that happened. But since the folks there now in the red brick of the Old Trenton Cracker factory have worked really hard to get beyond that, we'll just say 'nough said 'bout that.

What supporters of Jersey beer should know is this: The atmosphere at the brewery along the Delaware River is as sunny as the playful packaging that envelopes RH's beer. Production was up 40 percent last year, and a co-owner Chris Walsh will point out they can't brew beer fast enough.

Still smiling as he tells a couple who popped in the brewery's souvenir shop about an hour before ShadFest got rolling, Chris notes: It's happening without throwing a marketing campaign behind the beer.

And for months now, Walsh and Glenn Bernabeo, RH's other co-owner, have been scouting around for more fermenter and bright beer tanks. But it's been a challenge to find tanks on the used market that fit the brewery's specifications. Glenn says it could come down to buying new.

In the meantime, managing demand calls for closer examining of orders from the brewery's distributors.

Chris Rakow, who took over head brewer duties back in January, likens the growth to an imminent blastoff. (That's Chris at left.)

"I think of this place as a spaceship on the pad. It's rumbling, the engines are going," hes says. "This past winter we sold more beer than we did the previous summer ... Summer is the busy season. The orders just keep doubling in size from every different distributor. That's why we're really trying to get some (extra) tanks in here.

"Summer Blonde, we're on our seventh (40-barrel) tank of it. And with the other beers we make year-round we're probably on our seventh tank of those beers, too. So in the past month and a half, two months, we've just been cranking that out. We're probably looking to do 12 to 15 tanks of it."

Since the 2007 ownership change, River Horse has been very much about trying new things: a cherry amber ale, a dunkel, a honey wheat, a double wit, a double IPA, a hefe-rye beer and an oatmeal milk stout. Many of those lay the foundation of RH's brewers reserve series, while some emerged as seasonals and others as year-rounds.

Chris says the next reserve brew will be an imperial pumpkin ale with fresh pumpkin, spices, maple syrup and vanilla bean. "I'm a huge fan of pumpkin beers, and it's just how the schedule worked out that the next brewers reserve was fall, so I was pushing for a pumpkin beer," he says.

Chris is from Bloomsbury in Hunterdon County and studied electrical engineering at Rutgers. He also enjoyed a turn as a homebrewer. "As soon as I found out you can make beer at home, I jumped on it. All throughout college, I was homebrewing as much as possible."

(He also plays guitar. That's him playing the Paul Reed Smith guitar with his band at ShadFest, part of the brewery's back-lot entertainment; Chris Walsh's son, Collin, a bass player, also took a turn on stage with his band. See photo below.)

Rakow's first stop after college was American Brewers Guild as a "mini-vacation before I started working." Next stop was a job as an engineer. "Loved the money, but I just hated the desk job, sitting in front of a computer all day," he says. "My ultimate plan was work as an engineer, save up some money, open a brewpub."

Chris brewed at Boston-based Harpoon Brewery's Windsor, Vt., location and was already at River Horse when the head brewer job came open in January. He ably took over those reins and welcomes the challenge of growing the brewery.

"We're just getting this place geared up to be higher volume but still stick to really good beer and really care about it."

More photos from ShadFest ...

Ramstein Maibock, sehr gut!

Back in March, less than a week after it debuted, a 2-liter growler of High Point's Ramstein maibock showed up at a beer night event in Somers Point, an Atantic County shore town that hopefully is making it's way into High Point's distribution loop.

The bock was gone practically before you could say, "Achtung, baby!" It's just that good. And here's the verdict from the RateBeer jury.

Digging down into the AB-InBev mashup

Taking a hand-off from Seen Through A Glass blogger Lew Bryson's comment/link on FaceBook: The inner workings of the InBev-Anheuser Busch merger that seems like it happened longer than two years ago.

Folks who love to hate Budweiser will probably do another "told-you-so" happy dance, given that AB was a market bully, and here in New Jersey, with a brewery in Newark, AB could get Trenton's attention faster/easier than home-state craft brewers (think distribution regulations).

But you can still have an appropriate measure of sympathy for the rank and file workers, suppliers and related industries who get screwed when giant corporations engage in mash-ups. When those giants borrow tens of billions of dollars to fuel a takeover, the knives come out to cut after the paperwork is signed. Tack on a global recession that still feels like the worst hangover ever, and you get an exponent to the 10th power on that cutting.

So read this. Then go support your local craft brewer.

The shad are back

The celebration of the return of shad to Delaware River waters is tomorrow in Lambertville, home of River Horse Brewing.

Folks familiar with the two-day ShadFest know it showcases the artsy community nestled along the river and canal in southern Hunterdon County.

But it's also a moment for River Horse to show off the brewery's best. This year, along side RH's flagship and seasonal brews, like Hop Hazard or Summer Ale, you can try a pint of a big, fat red rye that's brimming with hops and stands tall at 9 percent ABV.

To get something bigger, you have to reach for a Tripel Horse, a Belgian style brew that, as Mark Haynie of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News tells the story, originated from a suggestion by the late great beer hunter Michael Jackson during a visit to the brewery once upon a time. (Mark was escorting Jackson to breweries that day.)

The brewery will have a setup in its back lot, featuring food concessions and live music. It's pay as you go, and the brewery usually has commemorative pint glasses for sale.

See you there.

Pouring beer at Port 44 in Newark

Port 44 Brew Pub is pouring beer at 44 Commerce Street in Newark.

The long-awaited brewpub, whose name is derived from its address amid Newark's bustling professional offices district, opened to patrons at 4 p.m. today with catered food and a range of guest taps that included New Jersey brewer Cricket Hill's Nocturne, a dark lager that the nearby Fairfield brewery also recently released in 22-ounce bomber bottles.

Although New Jersey's newest brewpub is open, it's not serving house-brewed beer yet. Port 44 brewmaster Chris Sheehan says there's still some finishing touches to be done (namely electrical wiring) to the pub's own brewing system and the awarding of a state brewers license. Those items are expected to be taken care of very soon. And Sheehan expects to strike a mash on Port 44's inaugural brew, Gold Finch Ale, about mid-May. When that happens, Newark will have its first craft brewery and another brewery besides Budweiser for the first time in ages.

"We have six or seven folks drinking right now. We're literally starting this puppy up. We're actually open right now for the first time ever, filling the draft lines with beers from Peerless (Beverage Distributors)," Sheehan said by phone about a half-hour after Port 44 threw open its doors.

Besides Nocturne, one more Cricket Hill brew, Colonel Blides Ale, will go on tap tomorrow. Rounding out the guest taps is a lineup that includes Ommegang Abbey Ale, Blue Point Toasted Lager, Franzikaner Hefeweizen, Yuengling Lager, Spaten Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

The latter brew was the choice of bar patron Jim, who says he heard today was Port 44's opening day and managed to be the first person through the door at 4:05 p.m. "This place is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. This is gonna be novel for this city. The whole downtown is coming back," said Jim (who declined to give his last name).

Port 44 owner John Feeley said the brewpub's kitchen awaits a final inspection but is expected to begin serving food next week. So, today's patrons were welcomed with a catered spread. All in all, Feeley sounded relieved, if not a little bit rushed, to be open after more than a year's worth of effort to see the brewpub to realization.

And Sheehan, who came over to Port 44 from Chelsea Brewing at New York City's piers under an open-ended arrangement that would have allowed him to help launch Port 44 and return to Manhattan, says he'll be staying on in Newark.

Gold Finch Ale, Sheehan added, will be a golden session ale (about 4.5 percent ABV) named for New Jersey's state bird and created with the idea of "introducing people to beer with a little more character, beer that is fresh and pure."

Festival likely safe from budget broadside

Last week, there was a economic shot across the bow of the USS New Jersey, the retired battleship that's now a maritime museum on Camden's Delaware River waterfront and lately the site of the annual Jersey-only craft beer festival.

The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget would choke off grant money to museums and other historical sites, effectively ramming a $1.7 million hole in the battleship's operating finances.

But the important thing to realize about this dire news is that it won't sink the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild festival set for Jun 26th on the battleship's fantail. Or at least, that's the word right now, that it's still full steam ahead for the first Saturday of summer. (It's a rain-or-shine event, but there's a canopy over the fantail.)

For one thing, the governor proposes the budget; the Legislature thumbs up or down what's in it, and then the two branches wrestle over their differences. And the end product doesn't take effect until July 1st, the start of the next fiscal year. So even if Trenton finishes all the budget work by the time of the festival, it's rather unlikely the funding cuts will be in play at that point.

However, there is one small caveat: If there's a shortfall in the existing budget, the 2009-2010 fiscal year (and there have been these kinds problems annually going back a decade), some robbing Peter and paying Paul can happen.

But the bottom line is: Don't worry. Make your plans to go to the festival and pray for a sunny day. Last year, a steady rain fell on the event; this year, those budget blues probably won't.

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.

One more in development

There's yet another hopeful looking to join the Garden State's craft brewing scene.

Ocean County resident Michael Kane is in talks with the town of Manasquan to locate his venture, Kane Brewing, in a building on Main Street in the Jersey Shore town.

The 33-year-old who lives in Ortley Beach (in Toms River) with his wife, Erika, is following the arc of a lot of passionate amateur brewers who went pro. Kane has homebrewed for a decade and wants to commercially brew a draft-only lineup of Belgian and America ales.

Earlier this month, Kane took his idea to use 8,000 of the building's 13,500 square feet for a brewery before the southern Monmouth County town's planning board. He heads back for another round of review on May 4. (The building was once used as a foundry and to store boats. It's been vacant for 15 years.)

Starting a craft brewery is a path Kane began heading down a couple years ago, shifting from a career in investment banking in Manhattan. (Erika still works in NYC doing marketing.) This year saw him taking up the brewery project full-time.

If he can win the blessing of the folks who run Manasquan, Kane estimates there's still a minimum of eight months' of work ahead to get things launched.

Still, his efforts represent some more green shoots in the Garden State's brewing industry.

Roggenbock?

The next Exit Series beer from Flying Fish Brewing will have rye in it.

On Thursday, the folks in Cherry Hill tweeted to the brewery's Twitter followers: "At the farm picking up an ingredient for the next Exit beer – Jersey-grown rye." (Word from the brewery is that some of the rye is malted and also comes from FF's malt supplier.)

But cracking the exit number will take a little more than just knowing that FF is using a grain that imparts a spicy flavor.

Exit sleuths should ask, "Where in New Jersey is rye grown?" That's part of the puzzle. So is the style of beer, going beyond having rye in it.

Our guess: Exit 8, a roggenbock. Stay tuned.

Iron to gold: It ain't alchemy, it's beer

Results of the World Beer Cup competition are in, and Iron Hill came home with a clutch of accolades, including the brewpub and its brewers team garnering a Champion Brewery and Brewers Award in the category of large brewpub.

Iron Hill also won gold and silver in the Imperial Stout category and another gold for an American sour ale. Its Belgian beer stylings took bronze for an abbey dubbel and a lambic.

The eighth bi-annual Brewers Association competition saw 3,330 entries over 90 style categories submitted by 642 breweries from 44 countries.

And yeah, if you look at the winners list, you'll see Wilmington, Delaware, beside Iron Hill's name. That's where the company is based. As most folks know, IH opened an eighth location in Maple Shade in July 2009.

Brownies and beer

Check this out, looks rather intriguing – and tasty.

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."

April's good for Jersey beer growth

Looks like the second of two brewery launches in the Garden State will happen this month.

The folks at Port 44 Brew Pub in Newark say their opening is "so close we can taste it." That's from owner John Feeley, who took a few moments today to field a phone call about the brewpub's status.

The pub's interior is finished, and Port 44 has its federal license to brew beer, as well as its license from New Jersey regulators to sell beer. All that's left is a state license to brew and a bar license from the city of Newark. (In New Jersey, municipalities control the licensing to sell beer, wine and liquor for on-premise consumption.)

What's happening right now is some T-crossing and I-dotting – in other words, overcoming some lingering red tape – that could see Port 44 pouring beer at its Commerce Street site at least by mid-month, if not sooner. The first brews to flow won't be house beers, but rather craft brews from around the region, since the flight of Port 44-made brews won't be ready just yet.

Cricket Hill, in nearby Fairfield, has been a big supporter of Newark's second brewing enterprise (mega brewer Budweiser is the other) in eons – and first craft brewer, so you can expect CH to help inaugurate Port 44's taps. Look for Port 44 to to have its house-made ales on tap toward the end of April.

Port 44's jump into the world of better beer comes on the heels of New Jersey Beer Company launching as a production brewery in nearby North Bergen, making the two companies the second and third craft brewer enterprises to join New Jersey's beer scene in less than a year.

Iron Hill became the first new brewery in New Jersey to open in a decade when it began pouring its pub-brewed ales and lagers in Maple Shade in July of last year.

It won't be long now ...

Matt Steinberg is oh so close to drinking a beer – then brewing some.

As of today, Matt was forecasting the inaugural brew for New Jersey Beer Company to hit the mash tun at the end of this weekend or the start of next week, with folks being able to drink the first beer brewed in Hudson County in over a decade by the fourth week of April. (The last brewer in Hudson County was craft brewer Hoboken Brewing, with the Mile Square brand.)

In the meantime, he says, New Jersey Beer Company is making a mad dash toward the installation finish line at his location along Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. "Actually tomorrow will be a pretty insane day as we try to finish everything off," he said via email Friday.

After that, he'll have that beer to take the edge off the long bumpy road that is starting a craft brewing enterprise, relax for a while, then get going on the very first batch of Hudson Pale Ale, one of three brews that will anchor NJ Beer in the marketplace.

On the heels of that will be more brewing (Garden State Stout and 1787 Abbey Single) and greeting the public at brewery tours. But the latter is down the road a little bit (keep an eye on his Web site, Facebook and Twitter). "As soon as the fermenters are filled, we'll focus on the aesthetics of the place, get the tasting room together," Matt says.

If you subscribe to the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild newsletter and saw that NJ Beer, the guild's newest member, was brewing, well, Matt confesses to doing a little bit of marketing ahead of production in the monthly missive. Nothing wrong with that. At all. Because, like The Beatles sang, it won't be long. Yeah.

And we think NJ beer regs are unreasonable ...

Check this out. Things could be worse than the arcane, ham-handed beer regulations found in New Jersey.

Uno's cask event

A quick look back at Pizzeria Uno's cask ale event from Saturday ...

If you went, then you know it was a treasure trove of hops: Sixpoint's Bengali IPA, Weyerbacher's Hops Infusion, River Horse's Hop Hazard and Hop-a-lot-amus Double IPA.

If you wanted to go big, there was Uno's Scotch Ale and Weyerbacher's Blithering Idiot Barleywine. Rounding out the bill was Uno's Gust N Gale Porter (made really velvety by the cask conditioning), Sixpoint Righteous Rye (this Brooklyn brew was worth seconds), and a nut brown ale from Climax that poured from a hand pump quite bright beneath a creamy head.

The flight of brews wasn't as bountiful as some of the past presentations (this was the fifth Uno cask ale event by our count). Assembling the lineup of ales through distributors and breweries was a little like hearding cats, with some brewers reluctant to fill anything but metal casks (not plastic). And those weren't always readily available.

So, there's a point of appreciation to be made off that circumstance: Uno brewer Mike Sella (that's Mike in the white shorts in the photo) still put together a respectable collection of cask-conditioned ales, and cask ale is a genuine treat.

Shout-outs: John the hired hand at High Point Brewing; friend of the blog and fellow writer John Holl; PubScout Kurt Epps; and special thanks to Mid-Atlantic Brewing News columnist Mark Haynie, who organized the trip up from South Jersey to Metuchen.

Brewing with Wheat ... and High Point

When you put wheat beer in the name of your brewing company, you most surely separate yourself from the rest of the pack. And when you earn a reputation for delivering great wheat beers, you become a natural stop in the exploration of those distinct and distinguished brews that use malted barley's cereal grain cousin.

Stan Hieronymus of Appellation Beer takes you on a global journey of discovery of those beers in Brewing with Wheat, and makes a stop in Butler, N.J., home of High Point Wheat Beer Company and the Ramstein brand.

Stan, whose other titles are Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them, and The Beer Lover's Guide to the USA, interviewed High Point founder Greg Zaccardi about a year ago for a section in the book.

Now called High Point Brewing, a shortened name that makes room for the lagers and pale ales that have been added to the Ramstein banner, the brewery once lay claim to a one-and-only title in the US beer industry (excerpt):

When Zaccardi began selling the Ramstein brand beers in 1996, High Point was the first, and only, all-wheat brewery in the United States since before Prohibition, when weissbier breweries were tiny and made something that tasted more like wheat beers from Berlin. He since has begun brewing a variety of barley beers under contract, accounting for more than one-third of production. "We couldn't survive brewing wheat beer alone," he said.

Followers of High Point know those additional brews these days include a well-received maibock and Oktoberfest, Vienna lager and a imperial pilsner initially brewed for restaurants in New York City, not to mention a Belgian red for the Harvest restaurant chain that owns Trap Rock brewpub in nearby Berkeley Heights.

Another excerpt, courtesy of Stan:

Now that he has made a variety of styles under contract, such as a Belgian-style dubbel and a German-style Pilsener, Zaccardi remains convinced wheat beers present the greatest challenge for a brewer. "Brewing consistent wheat beer is the hardest thing to do," he said. "You have to control something that is uncontrollable, the yeast."

You can get a glimpse of what's in Brewing with Wheat here. The book's available through Beertown, Beerbooks and Amazon.

NJ Beer Co. update

If you follow Matt Steinberg's Twitter activity, you spotted this already.

If not, here's the link to shots of his New Jersey Beer Company brewery taking shape in North Bergen.

Good luck, Matt.

The ranks of New Jersey craft brewers grows again.

NJ brewers at AC beer fest

Atlantic City's beer fest, Celebration of the Suds, features loads of beer from all across the country, but draws just a handful of brewers from the Garden State.

This year saw River Horse, Boaks Beer, Cricket Hill (their first time) and Flying Fish.

Also this year, The Press of Atlantic City and the Tun Tavern teamed up for a dunkelweizen – At the Shore Dark Wheat – that was pretty popular among festival-goers.

By the by, the chap pictured in the colorfully loud shirt is friend of the blog Mark Haynie, the Jersey columnist for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News.

Casking call

Pizzeria Uno's cask event is this coming Saturday (March 27) at the brewpub along Route 1 in Metuchen. As of this writing, the lineup of brews is still taking shape.

But Uno brewer Mike Sella today offered a taste of the list for this pay-as-you-drink nod to real ale: Uno's Gust N Gale porter and Scotch ale are the host offerings, joined by a nut brown ale from Climax Brewing. (Climax, just up the Garden State Parkway in Roselle Park, has been part of the lineup since Uno began what has become a twice-a-year event back in 2008.)

You can also expect a couple of brews from Weyerbacher, as well as at least a half dozen other brands, if Uno's past cask events are any measure. The taps start flowing at noon.

Uno is located at 61 Route 1 in Metuchen, along the southbound side of the highway. The phone number is (732) 548-7979.


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Brewers Association board of directors

Jersey beer has a seat on the board of directors for the trade group that champions craft brewing in the U.S.

Mark Edelson, of Iron Hill brewpub, is serving as secretary/treasurer of the Colorado-based Brewers Association. Mark also chairs the organization's finance committee.

The Brewers Association announced its new board of directors last Friday.

Of course, Iron Hill is based in Delaware and expanded into Pennsylvania before opening a location (its eighth) in New Jersey last summer. But the company was founded by Edelson and two other Jerseyans, Kevin Finn and Kevin Davies.

So, yeah, Jersey beer can make a claim on this topic. Here's an interview with Mark from last year's Garden State Craft Brewers Festival. (Mark appears about halfway into the video.)

Jersey beers at the Brewers Plate

A quick photo pass through the 2010 Brewers Plate in Philadelphia on March 14. From top down: River Horse, Flying Fish, Triumph, Iron Hill, Boaks Beer, Climax Brewing and Cricket Hill. (As many of us know, Triumph and Iron Hill have locations on both sides of the Delaware.)

Craft brewing returning to Hudson County

The last piece of the puzzle was still sitting in Port Newark on Thursday, where federal regulators corralled it to give it not the once-, but twice-over, before releasing it to its final destination – a 5,000-square-foot building in North Bergen.

Once that bureaucratic hurdle gets jumped, Matt Steinberg says he can finally install his 10-barrel mash tun and kettle, four 20-barrel fermenters and same-size bright beer tank, get them inspected and get licensed as a brewer under the name New Jersey Beer Company.

Steinberg hopes that's all done by next week. When it is, NJ Beer will bring craft brewing back to Hudson County for the first time since Hoboken Brewing and its Mile Square brand went bust in the late 1990s. NJ Beer will also become the Garden State's sixth craft beer production brewery.

An IT consultant by profession and homebrewer for a half dozen years, Steinberg, 32, began making the transition to commercial brewer a year and a half ago, putting together financing and scoping out possible sites in Jersey City and Bayonne before committing New Jersey Beer Company to a location along Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, where he makes his home.

He still works full-time at his IT gig, so he hired Matt Westfall from New England Brewing (Woodbridge, Conn.) to help craft the trio of beers under which NJ Beer will begin making its name – Hudson Pale Ale, Garden State Stout and 1787 Abbey Single Ale, a first-gear Belgian style to beckon session drinkers.

The beers will hit the market in both draft and sixpacks. Plans down the road call for brewing some of the heartier, imperial beers. (Steinberg joined the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild, so look for NJ Beer at the guild's festival in June aboard the USS New Jersey in Camden.)

"The great thing about craft brewing is you can pull in styles from around the world, brewing techniques and hop varieties. The fun part is you can do whatever you want," says Steinberg, whose own palate trends toward big stouts, Belgian brews and other extreme beers.

The company name owes much to a desire for simplicity – beer brewed in New Jersey. But Steinberg says there's also plenty to celebrate about the Garden State, and on NJ Beer's Web site, you'll find references to Brick City (Newark) and Silk City (Paterson), homages to Jersey days gone by.

George Washington's at-the-bow Delaware River crossing pose forms the background of NJ Beer's abbey ale label, and the 1787 in the brew's name is the year New Jersey claimed statehood.

The state's pre-Prohibition history isn't lost on Steinberg, either, and he'll remind you that New Jersey was once a player in the beer industry. And the fact that Hudson County shared some of that title, a title that says New Jersey beer.

Trivia: Some people cite Hoboken as the home of the first brewery in North America, in 1641. But others give credit to Manhattan when New York City was known as New Amsterdam.

On the horizon

Like green shoots breaking through the soil of spring, beer events are popping up all over.

So here's a quick hit of calendar items to consider:

High Point Brewing holds its first open house of the year on Saturday (2-4 p.m.) at the brewery in Butler, and the makers of the Ramstein brand say on their Web site it's the debut of the 2010 edition of their maibock. Bring your growlers. We haven't heard back on our inquiry with owner Greg Zaccardi yet, so we can't say if there will be any Icestorm eisbock available. Also, the maibock was one of the Ramstein beers that Greg has been making plans to put in bomber bottles. When we catch up with Greg, we'll repost.

One other thing to consider, unlike Ramstein open houses of the past, the brewery plans to cycle attendees through in two shifts. The events have become so popular that a little crowd management has become necessary to ensure everyone gets a taste, a tour and the chance to have a growler filled.

The Brewer's Plate is Sunday at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. Now in it's sixth year, this is very much a worth-your-time event, with beers from select breweries within a 150-mile radius of Philly paired with food from the city's great restaurants. Tickets are still available as of this writing. The premium ticket is a little pricey, $115, but the event benefits Fair Food, a nonprofit that promotes community sustainable/fair trade farming.

Climax Brewing, Cricket Hill, Flying Fish and River Horse are New Jersey mainstays at this affair, while Brian Boak is making his second appearance with his Boaks Beer brand of Belgian brews and imperial stouts, which a lot of folks remember are brewed under contract at High Point.

But the Jersey connection runs a little deeper: Tri-state brewpub Iron Hill will be there, and those who have followed Iron Hill know it was started by three Jersey guys who struck a mash first in Delaware, then Pennsylvania, and last year enjoyed a homecoming to the Garden State. Then there's Tom Baker's Earth Bread + Brewery, the phoenix that rose in Philly's Mount Airy section from the ashes of Tom closing Heavyweight Brewing in Monmouth County four years ago. Tom's reputation as an artisan brewer is still intact.

You'll find the full list of Brewer's Plate restaurants and breweries here.

The Atlantic City beer fest is March 20-21 at the Convention Center. In the past, we've been a little down on this festival. In fairness, we'll back away from some of things we don't like about Celebration of the Suds and be positive: Atlantic City is probably one of the best locations for a beer festival in New Jersey. AC is destination, and if you want to book a room, there's plenty of hotel space, not to mention enough glitz to occupy your time before or after your festival session.

The downside (we're not going to skip that completely) is, this is a monstrously big festival, and with that there's been long lines to get in and to hit the restroom; there's also been a little bit of rowdiness (sorry to rain on parade, but it's true). There's plenty of beer, a lot of which can be found at packaged stores with good beer managers. That said, this festival is a good fit for those who are just coming to craft beer, folks who are a few steps beyond that juncture, or people who love the buzz of a big crowds in a gambling mecca.

Look for Boaks, Cricket Hill, Flying Fish and River Horse to be poured, as well as Hometown Beverage, whose light lagers are contract brewed by the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barr, Pa. The Tun Tavern brewpub, located across the street from the festival site, is also on the bill. The Tun will be pouring the dunkelweizen made as a tie-in At The Shore and The Press of Atlantic City.

If you're looking to hit the Tun for dinner after the festival on Saturday, make reservations. It's still a recessionary climate these days, and you might get a table without calling beforehand. But over the years, the Tun generally hasn't accommodated walk-ins for looking for dinner. Not to be a buzzkill, but if you go there for just drinks or whatever, please do everyone – yourself included – a big favor by not showing up drunk. If the Tun is too crowded (and it gets crowded post-festival), try Firewaters at the Tropicana casino. You'll find a wide variety of craft beer on draft and in the bottle there.

On March 27, Pizzeria Uno in Metuchen holds its fourth cask ale festival at the brewpub on Route 1. Brewer Mike Sella has done a great job assembling a rack of casks from breweries around the region for this pay-as-you-go event in Uno's comfy pub atmosphere. Cask ale is a real delight, and this festival, which begins at noon, has generally lasted as long as the beer flows, meaning it could run a second day.

Lastly, even though it's a long way off, the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild holds its 14th annual festival on June 26. Once again, it's aboard the USS New Jersey battleship museum, moored at the Delaware River waterfront in Camden. More on that festival later.

Gains in craft beer for 2009

There's more growth in US craft brewing despite the recessionary hangover the country has been experiencing. And in New Jersey, craft brewers have been working like mad to keep up with demand.

For 2009, River Horse Brewing (Lambertville) was up about 40 percent and has been looking to boost production capacity; High Point Brewing (Butler) was up 30 percent; Cricket Hill (Fairfield) came in with a 22 percent increase; Dave Hoffmann at Climax Brewing (Roselle Park) had to put some idled fermenters back online to keep up with a 30 percent jump in demand.

Flying Fish (Cherry Hill), the state's largest craft brewer, saw a 6 percent increase in organic growth. (The business world defines organic growth as a growth rate achieved by increased production and enhanced sales. FF's figure may appear smaller than the others, but the brewery's output is at least twice the size of the next largest New Jersey craft brewer, which has typically been River Horse.)

A number of Garden State brewpubs have been busy, too, filling growlers as fast as people can bring them in.

According to the industry trade group Brewers Association, craft beer sales edged up from $6.3 billion in 2008 to $7 billion last year (10.3 percent), and the Colorado-based organization tabbed the increase in craft brewers' production at almost 614,000 barrels year-to-year. (Volume went from 8.5 million barrels in '08 to 9.1 million last year, a 7.2 percent increase).

This is all happening in the face of overall beer sales falling, namely for the macro brewers. And the stats say a lot for craft beer, whose share of the market in the US beer industry is just 4.3 percent of sales and just under 7 percent for volume. Across the entire US beer industry, sales were down nearly 5 million barrels (210.4 million in 2008 to 205.4 million last year.)

Meanwhile, nationally the ranks of craft brewers also grew, from 1,485 to 1,542 from 2008 to 2009.

Last year, brewpub Iron Hill opened in Maple Shade to mark the first new brewer in the Garden State in 10 years. This year, brewpub Port 44 in Newark is expected to get up and running, while production brewers NJ Beer Co. in Hudson County and Turtle Stone Brewery in Cumberland County are working toward that goal.

NJ Beer, located in North Bergen, said on its Twitter and Facebook pages that its brewing system arrived, although it remains in Port Newark, and next week is likely to be a busy one with installation.

You, too, can brew

Friend of the blog John Holl steered us to this piece he wrote recently for his former task masters at The New York Times.

You can sit on the couch and have a commercial tell you all about (bland) triple-hopped Miller Lite (as if most beers don't get hops for bittering, flavor and aroma) or you can put on your work boots and find out for yourself, take at trip beyond the taste and aromas of the finished product.

Scott Cronick of The Press of Atlantic City gave that idea a shot, spending a day at the Tun Tavern in Atlantic City last month to help brewer Tim Kelly create a dunkelweizen that will be served at the Atlantic City beer fest March 2o-21 and, of course, at the Tun, under a tap logo that commemorates the occasion.

Scott has Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale on tap in his kegerator at home in Somers Point. So he's by no means a stranger to craft beer. And his interest in the brewing process comes mostly from a tie-in The Press has with the Tun for its weekend features supplement, At The Shore, which Scott edits.

Still, taking a turn at the mash tun and kettle as a brewer's apprentice did open Scott's eyes to a few things about beer that go beyond bubbles rising in a pint glass to buoy a head of foam.

Namely, there's the enzyme action that happens when hot water meets malted barely (and in this case wheat, too) to convert the grain's stored starch into malt sugar and collectively the wort; the rolling boil of that wort and protein changes that take place; not to mention the boil time necessary to let hops do their thing.

These are all things pro brewers know, and homebrewers, too, have memorized and can chew the fat endlessly over at Big Brew in May. But to the beer enthusiast whose compass doesn't point to beer geek, the experience is a little bit like pulling back the curtain on the wizard to discover some chemistry is responsible for his magic.

"I never realized how much of a science it was," Scott said. "It was eye-opening from a work perspective ... and how everything is so precise."

It's also like cooking and serving a big dinner: Someone has to clean up afterward. Like Scott did, digging out the spent grain from the mash tun. Anyone who has done that can tell you it's a bit of a workout.

But there's no shortcut to quality. And the same goes for brewing quality small-batch beer.

On Monday, Scott said Tim informed him the beer they brewed nearly two weeks ago is coming along nicely, with some aroma notes of banana and bubblegum that you may typically find with such a wheat beer.

All that's left is for the beer to condition a little more and it will be ready for the pint glass.

In the meantime, as part of the Press-Tun tie-in, you'll see mention of the brew in At The Shore. If it's a hit, other Tun seasonal brews and At The Shore tie-ins may follow in the dunkelweizen's footsteps.