EGG HARBOR, NEW JERSEY
Filling out a large 10,000 square foot aluminum warehouse in Central Jersey’s Egg Harbor, HIDDEN SANDS BREWING COMPANY opened January 2018. A multifarious high ceilinged venue with a welcoming ground floor pub, spacious table-chaired mezzanine area (with twelve draught handles) and upper level seating space, Hidden Sands utilizes a freshwater aquifier that provides a clean briskness to each handcrafted beer.
There are twelve taps at the ground level, formica-topped, ten-seat serving station. Antique beer cans line the front wall and a Hidden Sands insignia hangs down on the opposing wall while decorative barrels and five small tables fill out the concrete-floored room.
My wife and I hang around for a few hours, downing all twelve crisply clean watered suds this seasonally warm March afternoon, 2020. Not many breweries offer three pilsner-lagers, but Hidden Sands did.
Pleasantly mild Bavarian-styled flagship, 800′ Pilsner, brought sugary pilsner malting to lightly salted lemondrop souring and daintily citric Hallertau/Tettnanger-hopped floral spicing.
Sweet orange peeled peach, tangerine and clementine fruiting glided thru mild mineral-grained Noble hop herbal bittering and toasted cereal graining for crisply clean Amber Sands Amber Lager.
Easygoing Hidden Helles Lager placated its tangy peach-tangerine-clementine conflux with moist earthen-grained Noble hop bittering.
Maize-dried pilsner malts crisply engaged light lemon sugaring for The Kolsch, a delicately sparkling straw yellow light body.
Glistening Citra-hopped orange and grapefruit spicing added pizzazz to pilsner-lightened honey wheat as lemon-dropped floral herbage fluttered behind pale yellowed moderation, Pump Handle Honey Wheat Ale.
A milder West Coast interpretation, 107′ IPA let refreshingly citric floral-perfumed Citra-Centennial-Columbus hops enjoin coniferous pine needling and mild juniper bittering to top its dry pale malted spelt spine.
Delicate citrus-spiced tanginess, oats-flaked pilsner malting and relegated piney hop bittering set the stage for straightforward 608′ Imperial IPA.
By blending 608′ with strawberry, tart citrus piquancy and oats-flaked pilsner malts subsumed much of Strawberry Imperial IPA’s floral-bound berry essence.
Kettle-soured compost soiling seeped into tart lemon-candied peach sourness for spritzy white wined Sand Blasted Sour Peach Ale.
Just as approachable, tropical fruited lollipop, Sand Blasted Sour Guava Ale, stayed slightly sour as tart guava salting grazed lemon-candied gooseberry, passionfruit and papaya snips.
Dark-roasted coffee infiltrated maple syrup-draped First Drop Coffee Maple Baltic Porter, leaving rye-dried Black Patent malt bittering on its caramel-burnt dark chocolate bottom.
Creamy milk-sugared coffee crowded roasted chocolate malts for sweet mocha dessert, Imperial Stout, the perfect afternoon delight to close my visit.
Revisited Hidden Sands, May ’23, on a warm Friday afternoon to try six more well-rounded suds.
Tart cherry sugaring glazed the honeyed wheat base of Cherry Amber Sands, a fruited cereal grain-toasted amber lager variant with mild orange-tangerine tang and candied apple whims.
Tart strawberry twang snuffed limey woodruff syruping and lemony Citra-hopped zesting of Strawberry Wheat, a salt-prickled summer ale with minor phenolic alkalinity.
Another stylistic variant, Sandy Blues Kolsch, allowed brown-sugared cinnamon toasting and mild blueberry souring (plus licorice licks) to penetrate its delicate Noble-hopped herbage and pilsner malt grist with unlikely Christmas spicing.
Lemon-candied orange mimosa and strawberry daquiri tartness gained mild sour acidity for Strawberry Lemon Orange, a fruity pale-malted wheat ale.
Spiking its golden ale with Belgian yeast funk, Belgian Sands slightly veiled its coriander-spiced orange tang with white-peppered fungi as distant Chardonnay wining and banana daquiri daubs melted thru briny Salty Dog vodka licks.
Nitrogenated Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brought oaken vanilla tannins to its dry rum influence, dryer burgundy-bourbon auxiliary and dewy truffle-like mossing above musty dark chocolate base.
During early October ’23 revisit, discovered six more Hidden Sands elixirs, including three citric soft drink-inspired ales based on previous recipes.
Inspired by fructose-salted Tang sugaring, Witty Orange (a White IPA blending Belgian Sands Golden Ale with 107′ IPA), spread powder-candied navel orange tartness all over, leaving spritzy lemon soda and peachy apricot daubs on the tail end.
Mixing Belgian Sands Golden with juicy orange, Citrus Wit let its orange Tang frontage receive Pez-like candied powdering and slight coriander spicing.
Mingling 107′ IPA with tangy orange as well as tangerine sweetness, green mango salting and tart lemondrop souring, Orange IPA relegated its piney hop dryness and pilsner malted spelt base.
Mellow mango-juiced habanero peppering teased Spicy Mango Pilsner, a nebulous soft-toned light body.
Gingery cinnamon bark outdid brown-sugared pumpkin spicing and zesty orange peel sweetness for daintily crystal malted Autumn Equinox Ale- Amber, a spicy autumnal moderation with truffly gourd licks and tertiary cardamom, mace, sage and basil nips.
‘A twist on traditional Sand Blasted Sour,’ blush pinked amber-hued Watermelon Splash had Jolly Rancher candied tartness and watermelon Warheads souring.