All posts by John Fortunato

BROOKS BREWERY @ NORTH SIDE LOUNGE

United States Brewpubs,

photo visitnj.com

MANVILLE, NEW JERSEY

Open since 2018, BROOKS BREWERY occupies yellow bricked neighborhood joint, North Side Lounge. In the heart of Raritan County on the outskirts of New York’s metropolitan area, this convenient Manville-based corner bar blends sportsbar conventionality with boutique nanobrewing bohemianism.

Veteran homebrewer Arthur Hannemann spent six months at nearby Flounder Brewing before setting up shop in Mansville. Crafting soft-toned suds reflecting a full spectrum of styles, Hannemann offered eleven rangy brews on my March ’21 afternoon stopover.

My wife and I grab a table across the niftily blue collar bar. There are TV’s at all corners of the cozy pub. Exposed pipes and Edison lights hang from the black ceiling tiles and a few locals play billiards at the left side. Top shelf liquor and local craft beer dot the menu alongside Brooks’ delicate fare.

A small courtyard provides outside seating in the springtime.

Brooks Brewery - Takeout & Delivery - 33 Photos - Breweries - 100 Brooks Blvd, Manville, NJ - Phone Number - Yelp

Lightly golden hazed Cloudy Day Pilsner stayed dry as biscuity pilsner malts anchored subtle mossy earthiness, herbal whims and apricot snips.

Silken Hanlon Irish Ale let peaty moss earthiness settle alongside mild hop musk while Hannemann Helles Bock added gentle floral-spiced fruiting to its soily peat base.

Another dewy moderation, Rob The Exterminator Doppelbock, allowed mellow dried fruiting and wavered vanilla creaming to top cellar-mildewed caramel malting.

Subdued Mary Ellen Belgian White yielded orange-peeled coriander sweetness and ancillary pineapple-candied banana tartness.

Candi-sugared Aegirs Fersken Belgian Peach let its peachy nectar sweetness fade on the tongue as ambrosial pineapple, clementine and tangerine illusions waver.

Dry pale and red wheat fortified Jahrenowski Weiss, relegating its traditional lemony banana-clove combo for soap-stoned lemongrass-herbed liming.

Perfumed citrus spicing bedecked 6 Hop IPA, a dry cologne-wafted medium body with mulchy graining sidestepping lemony grapefruit-orange tanginess.

Lightly creamed mocha malting gained dry earthen tones for Tavern Brown Ale, picking up distant spiced orange nuances.

Soft-tongued tobacco-roasted black chocolate nuttiness consumed Gallagher Irish Stout, gaining sour creamed walnut pasting at its mild hop charred midst.

For dessert, Belgian candi-sugared Putski’s Hammer Strong Ale plied caramelized chocolate malting to honeyed peach and red cherry fruiting as astringent 11% ABV ethers add whiskey pitch.

FLOUNDER BREWING COMPANY – ORIGINAL

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for flounder brewing company

HILLSBOROUGH, NEW JERSEY

In the process of moving to a nearby farmhouse (pictured above), FLOUNDER BREWING COMPANY opened its doors in 2013 at a rustic overhead doored warehouse my wife and I sojourned to late February ’21.

Readied for an April ’21 move to the aforementioned red barnyard, Flounder will operate a spacious 15 barrel system that easily dwarves its initial nano tanked setup. The new brewhouse will include plenty of outside seating and and ample indoor space.

Already familiar with several impressive Flounder offerings such as Hefeweizen, Fred The IPA, For Peats Sake, Breakfast Ale and Sticky Pancakes (fully reviewed in Beer Index), this afternoon’s selection included one Belgian blond and two brunets.

See the source image

Flounders initial flagship brew, easygoing Belgian-styled Hill Street Blonde Ale seeped orange blossom honeyed lemondrop tartness into mild candi-sugared citrus spicing and delicate crystal malting, curbing its herb-tinged grassy hop astringency in a fizzy mix.  

Lightly beechwood seared brown ale, Smoked Colonial, let peaty cornmeal-floured Colonial yeast, toasted rye breading and nutty tobacco-roasted cocoa coalesce.

Smooth java-bound Espresso Brown Ale brought light-roast coffee tones to milked espresso serenity for fine breakfast fodder.

TONEWOOD BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

tonewood 2

Tangent 4-Pack | Tonewood Brewing

OAKLYN, NEW JERSEY

Inside a tan-bricked truck depot just off Oaklyn’s main drag, TONEWOOD BREWING came to fruition in the summer of ’17. Initially inspired by German beer culture, brewmaster Eli Facchinei, honed his craft in Colorado before setting up shop five miles east of Philly here in Jersey’s Camden County.

Tonewood’s comfy red brick-walled interior features milled wood community tables, bark-topped barrel seats and bark lacquered serving station (with 12-plus tap handles and colorful slate beer listing). The 15-barrel brew system near the overhead back doors contains a few large vats and many smaller silver tanks. An outdoor biergarten offers further seating.

A certain elegant warmth and easygoing atmosphere suited this cheery neighborhood pub upon my January ’21 sojourn.

Tonewood Brewing Opens in Camden County - Eater Philly

Juicy yellow grapefruit-embittered orange zesting and tangy pineapple salting rode above mildly resinous pine bittering and lingered grassy hop astringency for All In Time Double India Pale Ale, gaining a vodka-nipped citrus crisping at the icy finish.

Easygoing Chardonnay-barreled Honor Wagon Mixed Culture Barrel Aged Saison let sour green grape esters bring oaken white wine flourishes to lemony peach-pineapple whims, mild grapefruit rind bittering and far-off banana wisps in brettanomyces yeast setting.

Endlessly expressive Bourbon-aged Belgian Dark Strong retained a mellow groove as light molasses-sapped dried fruiting picked up rum-sugared bruised banana sweetness to counter oaken vanilla esters above brown chocolate malts. Plum-dried fig souring, currant-like raisin intensity and dark cherry tartness perk up the back end alongside sherry, burgundy and bourbon wining.

Still Night - Tonewood Brewing - UntappdBelgian Dark Strong [Bourbon Barrel Aged] - Tonewood Brewing - Untappd

Tarry hop-charred Blackstrap molasses bittering rampaged thru cocoa-powdered medium roast coffee frontage of Still Night Session Stout, leaving latent peanut-shelled walnut, cola and hazelnut snips.

DEVIL’S CREEK BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Devil's Creek Brewery | Collingswood, NJ | Beers | BeerAdvocate   Image result for devil's creek brewery

COLLINGSWOOD, NEW JERSEY

Situated at a red brick corner spot in the bustling downtown of Camden County’s Collingswood, DEVIL’S CREEK BREWERY opened its glass doors in 2016 (and closed 2023).

Its rustic interior includes a lacquered wood bar with corrugated siding and twelve aluminum-walled tap handles serviced by the rear right side brew tanks.

A cool black dragon insignia decorates the raw wood back wall and the black ceiling and Edison lights add an art deco sensibility.

My wife and I grab a seat at one of the community tables to try a few middling samples after dinner during a frigid February ’21 night. 

Brisk moderation, Nobody Puts Pale Ale In The Corner, brought lemony grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering, dark-roast hop char and herbal musk to its smoked barley spine.

Powder-sugared cinnamon apple sweetness glazed Helles Harvest, a spicier pale malted German lager with ancillary herbal hop musk and dry cocoa powdering.

Chocolate-malted dried fruiting led Dunkel Bock, letting honeyed plum, raisin and fig tones shakedown brown-leafed hop foliage.

Brown-sugared caramel apple sweetness doused Caramel Apple Brown Ale, a pastry-like afternoon treat with maple molasses, spiced toffee and buttered hazelnut wisps.

Orange-peeled coriander spicing, tart green grape esters and fried plantain grit sat atop the blunt pale malt dryness of Crushable, a slightly offbeat Belgian pale ale.

Coffee walnut-caked Velvet Porter picked up rich chocolate rye flouring and crisp tobacco snips in splendid fashion.

Caffeinated Papua New Guinea coffee beaning provided dark-roast furor for the ashen nuttiness, black grape tartness and dried prune swoon adorning No Sleep Till Brooklyn, a bitterer coffee stout with raw molasses latency contrasting pipe tobacco sweetness.

TWIN ELEPHANT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

CHATHAM, NEW JERSEY

Open June 2016, Chatham, New Jersey’s TWIN ELEPHANT BREWING COMPANY retains a ruggedly rustic train-tracked neighborhood ambiance further enhanced by its interestingly carved wood fixtures.

Inside an old cement-floored tan stucco white brick warehouse with a black-doored entrance leading to a mid-space grain storage room then the main bar area, this unfinished space boasts a high aluminum ceiling with exposed pipes and dapper lighting.

There are twelve tap handles centering the reclaimed wood serving station and colorful old pallets rise above the bar. Railroad tie-planked benches and an angled community table fill out the dank interior. A tile-floored side deck utilizes barreled tables and strung Edison lights. Brew tanks are at the left overhead side door.

Crowding up Friday afternoon ’round four (August 2, 2019), the majority of Twin Elephant’s rounded fare stayed smoothly delicate and just a tad beyond stylistic tangibles.

Herbal lemon-rotted souring contrasted spritzy orange-candied sweetness for The Waiting Saison, a wet-grained farmhouse ale with peppery earthen whims.

Summertime lemonade alternative, I’ll Be Dat, a sophisticated collaborative with Melovino Meadery, spread orange blossom-honeyed lemon puree across sweet lemon-limed candy sugaring, ‘honey-doughed pilsner malting and mild cologne musk.

Boxing legend, Chuck Wepner, got celebrated with Bayonne Bleeder, a sharp Imperial Red Ale with tangy pineapple zest, honeyed orange spicing, grassy hop pining and ascending lemondrop souring.

Sunny grapefruit-peeled orange spritz and woody hop astringency stayed mellow as spicy pineapple-mango-guava tropicalia and sweet vanilla wisps brought sweet ‘n sour embrace to soft-toned True Believer IPA.

Steadily sharp Citra hop bittering serenaded tangy grapefruit-orange zesting as raw-honeyed pasty malts, lemon meringue tartness, herbal lemongrass snips and minor wood tones delicately underscored Dude…Maintain, a busy West Coast Double IPA.

Lactic milk-sugared Diamonds & Pearls Coffee Stout let its lemon-twisted coffee bean roast settle above dankly nutty barley-toasted Maris Otter malting, picking up smoked chocolate modesty.

Upon late February ’21 one-hour stopover, tried five more Twin Elephant offerings.

Approachable ‘Smoothie,’ Fuzzy Duckling Mango Banana, maintained a slightly sour fruited tartness and musty compost waft that differed from usual sweet weizen profile, leaving mango-caked banana cotton candy residue upon putrid lemon-rotted plantain dryness.  

Stylishly bold, murkily golden-hazed, NEIPA-derived Lil Shimmy Ye Pale Ale couched its zestful Citra-Mosaic-hopped grapefruit, mandarin orange, peach and nectarine tang with dry English ale yeast, biscuity pilsner malts and herbal whims.

Zesty citrus tanginess picked up subtle lactic milk sugaring for The Synclavier Pale Ale, placing lemony orange-tangerine-grapefruit juicing, peachy mango-cantaloupe snips and herbal whims above oats-honeyed pale malting.

Briskly cryo-hopped Chicken Break IPA saturated its zestful grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering with lacquered pine resin and dainty floral herbage.

Gooey milk-sugared Poison The Well Imperial Porter lifted voluptuous caramel-chocolate richness above toasted coconut and vanilla bean adjuncts as lusty marshmallow, pecan chew, hazelnut paste and creme brulee sweetness fortified decadent dessert treat.

My brother-in-law, Chris, a local Chatham resident, got me a crowler of superb Diamonds & Pearls Sout, a lactose cream-sugared coffee roaster with caramelized bourbon influence, maple oated brown chocolate syruping and barley roasted Maris Otter malting. It went well with Christmas Day ’22 dessert.