Bolero Snort Brewery

Mid sized joint, with some outdoor seating, large parking lot takes care of that issue. This business is just a few minutes from the Giants and Jets football stadium, Met Life, and it j=huge parking lots ands sometimes huge parking jams.

Anyway this place is staffed by friendly and informative people. The pump out loads of NEIPA, sour NEIPA, Milk shake fruity NEIPA, milkshake sour NEIPA, plus plentiful imprerial stouts in waxed bottles…Lots of interesting and worthy beer options to stay or to go in cans n bottles. Sometimes they have food trucks, at other times feel free to bring in your own chow….Interesting industrial park kind of location, plus the proximity to the stadium and major highways….worth a visit for the interesting brews.

Nice enough space, but it was EMPTY at 6:30 pm on a beautiful Monday evening. Even when a few people came in, it was very sedate. The service (one staff member at the “front” of the house) was good, and the bartender knew the beers well. Nice mix of lagers, hops, sours, and stouts on tap and a lot of “to go” options. Worth a visit, IMHO.

 

I remember when I first heard the name some years ago. Office in Ridgefield Park or something; think they were brewing at Highpoint upon a time, I don’t know. But now working down in the ‘Caucus; after work beerz are in order so I guess I have to know. Can’t explain where, just follow me on up. Big ass corner building off the stadium 120 backside in the long grass, Meadowlands…

Enter into the tasting room and then, it being closed and you not belonging in here during Covid life, leave, walk around the backside, head up that ramp there (me, pointing), and enter in. And by ‘in’, I mean, inside the actual brewery space and a kid at the table says ‘this is the list’, you order, you pay, you go away, for now anyway. A pair of 4 tap towers on a jockey box unit on pallets for the ease of moving; a show I saw last time I was here when they moved it to the loading dock and then to the parking lot. Gift shop/can & bottle booth next to the shirt & swag wall, and oh yeah, a 30bbl brewhouse.

They’ve taken some real estate along the parking lot and made a tented outdoor space of it, with a cubic shit ton (actual metric measure) of rocks poured for groundwork, and 6 picnic tables & 5 barrels for the stand arounds under it. Strung single bulb lighting to the corners and 2 flats on the far end showing game (Jets losing at the half, shocker, and the Giants tied). Upwards of a dozen and a half stand around barrels along the tent perimeter, some hugging heat lamps, others all umbrella’d up. Rent-a-fence border with “Beware of Bullociraptors” and ‘Bolero Park” Jurassic play signage. Blow up dinos in the long grass there. Bring in your own damn food!

My first time out was Halloweenish (not this past one but the one before) with Kyle. There were a lot of beers with things in them. I had the Ragin’ Bull Amber Lager & Meadowlands Lager cans. The Amber Lager was the better of the two.

Out a month or so later with (Evil) Davo, we found 8 taps up (Not So Mild Bergen County Bull Stout, BBA Imperial Stout w/roasted Pecans & toasted Coconut, 10.3%; Bergen County Dude Stout, BBA White Russian Imperial Stout, 10.5%; Golden Bulls, Golden Grahams inspired Golden Stout with honey malts, brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee, & cocoa, 6%; This is the Whey, DIPA w/Galaxy, Bru-1, & Cryo Idaho-7, 8.3%; Moodern Art, IPA w/Nelson, Cryo Simcoe, & Amarillo, 7.5%; Mue: Shake, Cattle + Roll, Milkshake IPA w/Sabro, Cryo Mosaic, Suitana, & Vanilla, 7.3%; Fluffy Double Reinbro, Pineapple & Passionfruit fruited sour w/Skittles & Marshmallow, 6.3%; Bulliner Vice Charged, Strawberry & Pink Guava Berliner Weisse, 5.5%), + 3 cans (Hooffa Pils, German Pils, 5%; Ragin’ Bull, Amber Lager, 5%; Meadowlands Lager, American Lager, 5.1%), and a frozen peppermint hot chocolate stout.

The aforementioned Bergen County Dude Stout (White Russian) is the current rotating Bergen County Bull Stout, but they also do French Toast & Peanut Butter varietals. It’s a 5oz pour and I have a ‘can’t look away from the car wreck’ curiosity about me just now but I will not go there. The adjunct/additive thing is just soooo not my breakfast cereal fluff raspberry jam (pun intended). Davo went with the Golden Grahams Stout which we felt lacked roast (so what’s the point?), while I went with the Moodern Art, IPA, which was good, and better than the This is the Whey, DIPA. And then the Hoofa Pils & Ragin’ Bull Amber Lager cans again. The latter was a sweety for the WIN.

And now, a verrrrry recent revisit finds the tasting room open. ‘L’ shaped black slab topped rounded bar seating upwards of a dozen, vertical corrugated base, & foot rail. 2 dozenish taps across a pair of logo handled rows over stainless on the horizontal wood barback wall, with glassware shelved in between and below. Logo glow piece above center and taps listed on sheets of paper to both sides clipped (beer, style, descriptors, ABV, serving sizes, pricing, & to-go). Crowler crimper on the barback, a goddamn slushie machine to one side, and an events board on the end.

Gray walls & concrete floors, black rafter ceiling with blended ducts. Drop pan lamps and single bulbs caged tracing the bar. Roll up door opens over a small outdoor space barrel perimeter chained. A few shared hightops on squared stools, barrel tables, and the forward wall bar counter ledge over horizontal wood slat lowers. Flatscreens, merch, to-go cooler action, tunes, brewery views. Wandered about upstairs, the space there holds a few picnic tables, a small bar, & views of the brewery space from up high.

Shortied a few. Lucky Buck, Irish Dry Stout, 4.7%; Legally Bullazed, West Coast DIPA, 7.9%; Frau Bear Blanche, Wit, 4.7%. The stout was roasty and light and pleasant, the Wit was as Wit does, and the WC DIPA was boozy but clean and did not suck.

It’s an additive house gone wild, with a few clean lagers (thank you) and some other things I can drink that were done well.

Stopped in for a quick beer after leaving MetLife Stadium. For a Tuesday night at about 7PM, there were quite a few people at the bar in the taproom. Very open and airy feel, with garage-type doors on one end that lead to a small outdoor patio area, which is probably enjoyable in the nicer weather. Pretty large beer selection on tap, as well as can offerings. Bartender was very friendly. Small merchandise area off of the taproom at the entrance to a rather large, industrial-looking brewing area.

 

After many years as a gypsy brewer, Bolero Snort finally opened its brewing facility and tasting room in Carlstadt, in New Jersey's Meadowlands. It's a new, large structure in an industrial area. It includes a large production area and tasting room. It's industrial in appearance but bright, airy, and appealing. There is a second room upstairs equipped with taps. It's family-oriented and the brewery provides lots of board. The staff is friendly. Bolero has a lot of brewing experience and its beers range from okay to very good; it's had a reputation for inconsistency. However, I am confident that having a permanent home will enhance the overall quality of the beer.