Over the last year, New Jersey’s Magnify Brewing Company has emerged as one in a small but growing group of beer makers across the country producing IPAs, particularly in the New England style, that enthusiasts will queue up for hours to acquire.
A far cry from the hokey corporate bars that market themselves with surfboards and beach themes, authentic surf culture has shaped a growing number of breweries across the country—from the company ethos to the beers themselves.
Each beer in Cape May’s Barrel Aged series is named for a different part of a boat. The illustration for The Skeg, a golden sour ale, features the fin-like structure on the bottom of the boat.
In states with farm brewery licenses, adding a brewery gives farmers the ability to use their crops in a product that they can sell directly to consumers, thus creating a new revenue stream, bringing tourism to the farm and forging a sense of community.
Michael Kane started making beer in college. The summer after his sophomore year, he traveled throughout Europe and became enamored with cask-conditioned ESBs, Lambics, Hefeweizens. Back in the US, weekend pilgrimages to newly opened breweries cemented his career aspirations.
When Hughes arrived at Flying Fish a decade ago, the brewery was producing 4,000 barrels in a year; now, it’s on track to top 18,000. Almost all of the brewery’s growth has been local.
Jersey City hasn’t always been a craft beer town—more of a “beer and a stab” town, a phrase used by beat cops during the rougher years. These days though, craft beer bars are popping up on every corner, and events organized by the local homebrew club aren’t hard to come by either.
KettleHouse Brewery pulls back on distribution in Montana; Alpine Beer Company takes action against illegal beer trading; Louisiana brewery changes name to avoid conflict; and new legislation brewing in New York, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Alabama.
North Korea airs beer commercial; genetic science and beer bellies; beer tastings to become legal in North Carolina; Flying Fish Exit Series; Hoosiers campaign for freedom of choice.
Every time a can of beer is cracked open, it spits out a little bit of history. The can—our handy, standard, aluminum homie—has enjoyed a long and manifold history.
