NEPTUNE CITY, NEW JERSEY
Named after a basenji painted on the outside left wall, quaint five-barrel pub, LITTLE DOG BREWING COMPANY, is the brainchild of experienced Jersey brewmaster, Gretchen Schmidhausler. Inside a beige-creamed glass-fronted corner warehouse lot (with maroon and yellow apron) at a quiet semi-Industrial neighborhood, Little Dog came into existence during November 2014.
As my wife and I visit in late August ’19, Gretchen’s getting ready to open shop. A well-traveled brewing veteran, she originally worked at Red Bank Brewery starting in ’96, a large brewery that closed down before America’s Craft Beer Renaissance mainly because the “timing wasn’t right.” She settled into Basil T’s thereafter, establishing a fine line of some of Jersey’s finest beer, including award-winning Maxwell’s Dry Stout.
We grab a seat at the wood-lacquered serving station to try six pleasant draughts from the maroon-backed silver tap handles. One community table and three black plastic tables fill out the front room while the back space contains the brew tanks.
Much like long-time Jersey brewer, Dave Hoffman (Climax proprietor in Roselle Park), Gretchen prefers to craft soft-toned ales that flow gentle on my mind. Each delicately textured elixir features a distinct illusionary design made to be influenced by complementary cuisine.
Mildly creamed banana tartness, bubblegum sweetness and clove spicing invited herbal lemondrop minting to caress light-bodied Steinerweiss Hefeweizen.
Classic American pale ale, Duck Boy, brought dewy pale malt spicing to orange pekoe tea-like dryness and light lemon riffs in soft-tongued fashion.
Flagship altbier, Gesundheit!, provided brown tea-like splendor for its lollipop-candied tartness, dried fig stint and baked bread cushion.
Easygoing English-styled IPA, Jasper, let dry pale malting and mossy dew infiltrate grassy hop astringency while retaining mild fruit seduction.
Cologne-perfumed lemony herbage fronted spry blonde ale, Local Girl, a whimsical delight with pithy fennel, ginger and pencil shavings illusions.
Dark chocolate syruping sweetened the milk-sugared coffee flow confronting subtle ground coffee bitterness above charcoal-stained hop oiling for Seafarer Dry Stout, leaving weedy black tea musk upon its mossy bottom.
Returned to Little Dog, July ’25, enjoying six previously untried easygoers and a nifty alt flagship variant.
Sessionable Mexican Lager let lime zest linger into mild green peppered chipotle heat, dainty hibiscus flowering and subtle chamomile sweetness.
Conditioned on lavender, Local Girl With Lavender, a floral-daubed blonde ale variant, retained sedate ginger sweetness over pale malt sugaring.
Smooth Brit-styled Kevin Extra Special Bitter, caressed light toasted breading with sweet peat mossing and honeyed tea herbage.
Dry Karneval Kolsch placed lemondrop tartness and slight herbage into freshly baked French breading.
Soft-toned roggenbier, Rudel Rye, plied peppery rye spicing to desiccated orange musk, leaving wispy pumpernickel-breaded wattleseed nuttiness.
Another softie, Area 141 IPA, seeped tart orange-yellow fruiting into muted pine resin and dry pale malts.
The strong, dry-hopped alt, Gesundheit! Uber, retained an earthy amber grain bottom for its dry bourbon-prune-fig resonance and gentle mulled spicing.
www.littledogbrewing.com
