Easygoing golden ale nestles muted floral citrus spicing with sugary pale malting to its soft biscuity base. Resinous wood-dried Simcoe/Amarillo hop pungency stays mild.
VON TRAPP DUNKEL LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, earthen cellared fungi drapes toffee-spiced brown breaded molasses sweetness and distant fig-pecan-walnut scheme to its dewy wet wood bottom. On tap at Seven Lakes Station 2023, raw-honeyed mineral graining spotted.
HACKENSACK ADVANCE ROMANCE HOPPY LAGER
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, soft-toned yellow grapefruit tang with pine-dried floral perfuming and grassy Noble hop astringency advances above dry oats-flaked maize base.
KCBC STRAP LITE LIME RICE LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, impossibly light-bodied pale yellow rice lager lets dry lime wedge its way into rice-flaked pilsner malts and floral-herbed Hallertau hops in mildest manner possible. A sour limey spritzer.
COHO BREWING COMPANY
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NEW JERSEY
Just off Route 9 inside a red cinder-blocked, bay-doored, light industrial warehouse in Cape May Court House, COHO BREWING CO. celebrated its first anniversary January ’20 (and became Whale Tale Brewing with new recipes during 2014).
Situated only a few miles from Cape May Brewing and 7 Mile Brewery, Coho crafts some of Jersey’s finest, well-rounded beers.
The creation of 1982 Wildwood High grads Karen Buckingham and retired cop Mike Johnson, their simple concept was to get non-beer drinkers to enjoy approachably flavorful fare. Buckingham had hired Johnson in the past to do barbecues when he was a kitchen-bound home brewer.
She asked the reluctant Johnson, “If I buy big boy toys, will you brew for me?”
Thereafter, Coho Brewing came to fruition. Brewmaster Justin Low (formerly of Dock Street and Westchester’s Iron Hill) stepped onboard to set up equipment and was key to coordinating development. He’ll soon help in the Imminent expansion thru Coho’s right side wall.
The cement-floored pub house features an L-shaped fifteen-seat bar with fourteen centralized tap handles, three wood community tables, overhead door and high ceilings. The brew tanks are set up next to the serving station and a TV hangs from the front mezzanine.
Taking a cue from the Court House moniker and Johnson’s stint in law enforcement, Coho’s beers often have criminal justice system tag names.
My wife and I explore Coho while conversing with Buckingham-Johnson as the pub packs up on Saturday afternoon Leap Year ‘ 20.
Respectfully “duping” Prism Shandy Blonde, Spatter Pattern Blonde Ale utilized sweet ‘n sour blood orange puree to elevate its lemon candied Radler-like soda fizz and ripe tangerine tang above white-sugared pale malt spicing. Previously, Spatter Pattern’s Blonde Ale base underscored 5-0 Pineapple Ale (while a future offshoot, Apple Cinnamon, is in the works).
White-peppered banana, bubblegum and clove saddled moderate-bodied Hung Jury Hefe, bringing slight vanilla creaming upon sweet orange peel and earthy herbal subsidies.
Crisply clean Finnish farmhouse ale, Chalk Outline Sahti, stayed subtle as rye-honeyed pale malts gained peppery banana-clove subtleties and mild juniper berry bittering.
Caramelized vanilla creaming engaged Nineteenth Amendment Dubbel, a candi-sugared delight with dainty Banana’s Foster, crème brulee, stewed plum, spiced fig, spruce tea and toffee illusions.
Combining Hung Jury Hefe with Splatter Pattern Blood Orange Blonde Ale created Mistrial, a spritzy Radler with sweet honeyed wheat, lemon bruised ginger and wispy banana-clove tones relegating its blood orange tartness.
Merlot wine-barreled blonde ale collaboration (with nearby Jesse Creek Winery), Thin Blue Vine let tannic purple grape esters pervade oaken cherry, white pear and lemon-soured blackberry wisps.
Dewy floral citrus pleasantries daintily suffused Indian Trail Pale Ale, buttressing limey orange-dried coconut and pineapple tropicalia with dank wood dryness.
Approachable yellow-hazed flagship, Hazeas Corpus NEIPA, a concise Cascade-Mosaic-Citra-hopped moderation, brought coniferous pine needling to juicy grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine, mango and peach tang as well as salted orange spunk.
Quirkily unconventional stylistically, floral-perfumed cologne spicing and sprucy juniper bittering inveigled zesty lemon-limed orange juicing for muskily bold Juror No. 1 NEIPA, leaving herbal lemongrass, candied grapefruit and pine oil on the dry pale malt back end.
Aged in white oak staves and soaked in Back Bay Bourbon, Speakeasy Blonde Ale retained a rummy bourbon vanilla lilt for its lemony white wine spritz and delicate dry pale malts.
Aged in rum, embraceable spice ale, NOI-Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity, let mild spruce-tipped juniper bittering contrast vanilla-creamed Jamaican allspice as well as ginger-snapped cocoa residue.
Dark-roast chocolate and dried coca nibs fortified Overruled Porter, sweetened by hazelnut-glazed maple oats at the richly dense mocha finish. By the way, mixing vanilla cream soda with Overruled Porter creates a deliciously creamy milk chocolate shake with molasses, toffee and gingerbread snips.
LUDLAM ISLAND BREWERY
OCEAN VIEW, NEW JERSEY
Inside a gray aluminum warehouse right off the NJ Parkway in Ocean View, LUDLAM ISLAND BREWERY opened its doors in 2016. A wood sign with baby blue Ludlam Island emblem guards the entrance to the large-scale microbrewery.
There are large brew tanks serving the silver-topped serving station in the meager cement-floored pub room (featuring five bar stools, slight center table wall seating). Ludlam Island began canning recently. My wife and I tossed down eight worthy brews that displayed colorful flavor profiles on a cool Friday evening, February ’20.
Soft-toned floral citrus tang rode atop herbal oats-dried German pilsner malting for Lawn Chair Hoppy Pilsner, picking up mild melon-guava-gooseberry souring and leathery barnyard acridity.
Easygoing orange-juiced lemon zesting and yellow grapefruit tang fronted Fish Alley IPA, an amber-hazed moderation with sticky pine resin coating its dry pale malt spine.
Lactic vanilla-creamed strawberry bluster hoisted yogurt-soured yellow grapefruit bittering to contrast tangy tangerine juicing for Creamsickle-like dessert treasure, Thickie Strawberry Milkshake IPA, leaving Peach Melba, strawberry shortcake and vanilla cake illusions in its wake.
Tangy yellow grapefruit spicing and light wood dankness marked sunny moderate-medium body Water Guns & Rainbows IPA.
Tropical-fruited DIPA #2, a yellow-hazed New England India Pale Ale, laced tidy gooseberry-guava souring with nestled juniper bittering to contrast mango-salted pineapple, peach and grapefruit tanginess.
Ashen walnut and salted peanut roast gained sour dried fruiting for Bay Muck Brown Ale.
Creamily decadent Double Polar Bear Smoked Vanilla Porter (10% ABV) allowed smoky vanilla beans to serenade hazelnut-glazed brown chocolate sweetness and dried cocoa powdering.
Spectacular Whiskey Barrel-aged Polar Bear Vanilla Porter brought lusciously silken bourbon vanilla sweetness to brown chocolate, dark cherry, toasted coconut and hazelnut pleasantries.
THE REFEREND BIER BLENDERY
PENNINGTON, NEW JERSEY
A magical place for sour ale heads looking for aggressively sophisticated and spontaneously fermented oak barrel-aged wonderment, THE REFEREND BIER BLENDERY began its journey to success in 2016 (moving to Kutztown PA in 2024). Creating authentic Old World lambics in a professional brown stucco Industrial complex at the one mile square mid-Jersey borough of Pennington, The Referend is the brainchild of its master bier blender, founder James Priest.
A Chicago native whose past includes a stint at Maine’s Baxter Brewing, Priest works in conjunction with local brewers to produce wort for Referend’s cellared sour ales, using locally sourced fruits for several intriguing coolship-inoculated offerings.
A beer bottle collection lines the centering metal crossbar and exposed pipes fill the black ceiling of this small barrel-decked tasting room (with one community table and two wood laminated four seaters). There are five tap handles and three casks at the makeshift bark wood serving station and bottles are available to go.
Barrelhouse blues piano artists of yore play on the stereo while I indulge my senses during an initial February ’20 draught perusal.
I’d like to recommend The Referend to any serious wine lover as well since many ‘blends’ create fermentable sugars, sparkling grape esters and tartly puckered malic acidity.
For starters, grabbed spontaneously fermented witbier, The Blue Book, a sharply sour blueberry-fruited ale with mild chamomile florality seeping into vinous Sauvignon Blanc/ Cabernet Sauvignon resonance and mild pinot noir sedation above oats-flaked pilsner malting.
Its unique red grapefruit hue gave leathery oaken cherry-soured A Ghost Is Born a distinct visual aspect to go alongside its cognac barrel-aged brandy, rosé and Grand Marnier subtleties.
Utilizing sour cherries and tart raspberries, ruby red-hued Berliner Messe: Kyrie brought lactobacillus acidity, horseblanketed barnyard acridity and dry oats-spelt graining to its puckered cherry-raspberry piquancy and whimsical lemony cranberry tinge.
Serene sour saison, Mont Sainte-Victoire guided muskily leathered white wine acidity and lemon-soured orange juicing into dry buckwheat-rye malting.
Spontaneously fermented golden ale, Ice-Nine Riesling, brought brisk white grape-perfumed Riesling ice-wine juicing to acidulated pilsner malts in a mildly acidic setting.
TROON BREWING
HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY
Inside a white back house with green trim on the bucolic Double Brook Farm grounds, TROON BREWING came to fruition during 2015.
Though Troon is a microbrewery, there’s no onsite taproom. Instead, its fulsome brews are available at Brick Farm Tavern – a cavernous Old World manor on the cavernous Hopewell estate with exquisite wood furnishings, upscale cuisine and classy liquor selection.
Gathering all the pastoral splendor western Jersey has to offer, I quaffed four tapped Troon’s at Brick Farm Tavern, February ’20, grabbing a tabled seat at the bar in front of the large stone hearth.
Conditioned on lemon zest, wonderful lactic kettle-soured Aviaphobia brought salty mango and strawberry adjuncts to piquant orange-juiced pulpiness above tart yogurt-milked acidulated malts.
Succulent hazy beige-yellowed Caught In The Trees IPA, conditioned on vanilla, maintained a pastry-like powdered sugaring for its sweet orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess, leaving orange-caked pineapple frosting on the flaky fruit pie-crusted finish.
Sharply citric-spiced, saffron beige-hazed It Fell On Deaf Ears Imperial IPA brought fresh pine needling to juicy lemon, grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess.
Lovely milk chocolate sweetness pervaded confectionery dessert, Humdrum Existent Imperial Stout, bringing subtle cream-sugared coffee, burnt caramel, toffee and dried cherry illusions along for the cheery chocolate finish.
RIVER HORSE BREWING COMPANY
EWING, NEW JERSEY
Just a few miles from Referend Bier Blendery, Ewing’s RIVER HORSE BREWING COMPANY expanded into this space from nearby Lambertville in 2013 (see old factory site pictured below). One of Jersey’s first microbreweries, starting out during 1996, River Horse changed ownership in 2007 and became the state’s second largest brewery behind Flying Fish.
Residing in a pristine beige-stoned professional Industrial warehouse with pressed aluminum top, head brewer Chris Rakow operates the eleven 40-barrel fermenters, four 100-barrel fermenters, a cold-filter water tank and bottling-canning system at the roomy high-ceilinged backspace.
Celebrating ancient Egyptian brewing heritage with its hippo-laden beer designs and logos, River Horse’s popular, diversified lineup is led by Belgian-styled flagship, River Horse Tripel Horse (reviewed in Beer Index). Now distributing bottles and cans into New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, their new 25,000 square-feet facility has capacity for even more expansion.
During my sunny February ’20 afternoon jaunt with wife and dog, discovered a few new River Horse elixirs while seated at one of the seven barreled tables fronting the small serving station.
Briskly rustic German-styled The Peoples Lager brought grassy oats-dried minerality and mild barnyard leathering to lemon-rotted herbal astringency.
Brewed specifically for onsite quaffing, Imperial Oatmeal Milk Stout upped the rich brown and dark chocolate syruping and burnt caramel fudging for its maple oats-sugared hazelnut sweetness, picking up slight black cherry tartness in 14% ABV setting of luxurious full body.
Creamy brown chocolate fudging contrasted bitter hop-charred dark cocoa syruping for bold mocha treat, Chocopotamus Stout, a delightful nightcap.
CONCLAVE BREWING
FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY
Moving from its mall-bound digs in Raritan to a sterling gray aluminum-sided Flemington warehouse fourteen miles west in January 2020, CONCLAVE BREWING has seen an increasing demand for their crisp elixirs since getting licensed five years hence.
Conclave now joins Lone Eagle as a Flemington brewery fixture. Several community tables dot the midsized Edison light-fixtured pub space. The marbleized amber concrete floor glazes the interior and the compact serving station features at least sixteen tap handles. The large high-ceilinged left room brew tanks climb towards the sky and further expansion in this gargantuan microbrew space seems inevitable.
On my February ’20 stopover, I enjoyed four previously untried goodies.
Perfectly centrist flagship, Gravitational Waves New England IPA, posted a punctual tropical fruit-spiced Galaxy-Citra-Mosaic hop blend that allows mild floral pining to soak into juicy grapefruit, pineapple, mango, orange and peach zesting.
Floral-perfumed citrus zest brightened Taiji IPA, as mildly creamed crystal malting glazed crisply clean yellow grapefruit-embittered orange tanginess.
Heady dark candi-sugared quad, Artaban Belgian Dark Ale, received a spicy dried fruited barrage of golden raisin, plum, prune and dark cherry.
On the dark side, bittersweet cocoa nibs and vanilla beans enhanced Liquid Velvet Imperial Porter, pervading its syrupy dark chocolate malting with decadent delight.
WET TICKET BREWING
RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY
Right in downtown Rahway not far Union County Performing Arts Center and a historic Jersey reformatory, WET TICKET BREWING started slinging suds at its Main Street location December ’16.
Inside a store-windowed neighborhood shop, Wet Ticket’s friendly serving center belies its huge gray-floored operational brewing backspace (with three community tables between tanks, stout barrels and kegs).
There are fourteen taps at the rustic stainless steel-topped, metal-seated, L-shaped serving station while the opposing left wall features a surfboard and snowboard and mod art. Front window seating is also available at the friendly town pub.
Brewer Tim Pewitt’s brusquely robust stylistic endeavors included two yummy stouts and a porter alongside three briskly clean IPA’s, a distinct kolsch and easygoing pilsner this sunny February ’20 afternoon.
Sessionable clear-paled light body, Perfectly Played Pils, placated its gentle oats-dried pilsner malting, delicate maize-dried leathering and sweet rice nicety with modestly herbaceous Noble hop musk.
Just as smoothly tranquil, Kolsch Ale, sustained a crisply clean watered flow with subtle lemon-dried tartness linked to freshly mown grassy hops, mild lemongrass herbage and frisky fungi fringe in a briskly incisive manner.
Well-balanced amber-bronzed Imperial IPA, Dream Ticket, thrusted forth with zesty grapefruit and orange peel sunshine, allowing perfume-oiled pineapple, peach and tangerine tropicalia to seep inside dewy pale malts.
Polite amber-hazed New England IPA, Fully Juiced, revealed zesty grapefruit, orange and pineapple vibrancy for its wispy vanilla yogurt milked souring.
Lactose-aided NEIPA, Galaxy Shaker, lifted salted mango-grapefruit zesting and floral-tinged pineapple-peach-passionfruit tang above vanilla-creamed pale malt sugaring (leaving an herbal tinge on the juicy fruited finish).
Richly dark-roast nuttiness anchored Pecan Porter, contrasting cedar-seared walnut char with maple molasses-sugared tobacco roast over dark chocolate bittering.
Black-peppered cocoa nibs serenaded Mexican Chocolate Stout, a maple oats-sugared mocha treat with ashen hop bittering and warming cinnamon cocoa finish.
Nutty cocoa-driven Imperial Oatmeal Stout let sweet milk chocolate goodness and maple oats sugaring contrast embittered Blackstrap molasses-draped dark chocolate syruping in fulsome mocha setting.
JACK’S ABBY BOURBON BARREL-AGED COUSIN MAKER BARLEYWINE
On tap at Plank Pizza, exquisite barleywine takes bourbon-aged dark lager on fantastic voyage. Sweet bourbon vanilla warmth spreads across whiskey-toned burgundy and brandy wining as well as bruised cherry, rum raisin, toasted almond, molasses taffy, salted pineapple and spiced fig undertones.
