Zed's Beer / Bado Brewing

One of the best microbreweries in South Jersey. Brewmaster keeps it pretty conventional without getting crazy with ideas so that they manage to have some of the best beers around! Cool bar and outside seating area.

Vibe: Comfortable vibe when you enter. In the back is the brewery in full display, which comes with your state mandated tour. 5 shiny conicals in front, enough to make any homebrewer jealous, with the kettle and tun in the rear is very neatly organized and space friendly. A service bar seats 10-12, with tables situated in the middle of the room and a long sectional bench gives this an almost coffee house feel. At one end is board games, to keep patrons and I’m guessing tag along kids occupied. The space is well open, with a full floor to ceiling window, nestled into a small strip mall housing. Old time black and white pictures hang on the wall behind the bar of Zed, and various bar time activities was nice and nostalgia like. Also a crowler station and merchandise are displayed behind the bar.

Quality: Beer quality was good, everything was well balanced, aimed at drinkability with a European style casual consumption. The atmosphere quality was nice, background music playing, very clean and organized. A place to relax, with good drinkable beers.

Service: Excellent. Came during opening when the owner was only present, but gave me the grand state required brewery tour and explanation of how beer is made. I always like to talk about the small nuances of the brewing business. Customers filtered in and out, a lot of regulars it seems. Always quick to acknowledge, but of course, again this was 12:00 on a weekday, not sure how busy this gets, but was told not unusual for 50-75 on a weekend night.

Selection: A very wide variety of beer styles and quantity was present. Favorites of course like
the west coast ipa style along with several variations of their flagship pale ale. There was also a cream available, as well a irish dry stout, blonde, Hefe, Berlin-weiss, Fruit beer, and a roasted peanut stout. In all at time of my visit, 12 beers on tap, with at least half a dozen styles, a very good selection and quantity for a small operation, as well as shandies available.There is even a tap for designated drivers labeled free beer (minus the hops, yeast, malt and alcohol of course). Still looking for that Zedweiser Lager on tap.

Overall: The owner, Geoff, is a member of the Barley Legal homebrew club who turned his passion into a business and makes what he calls approachable craft beers with complex flavors in the session abv range ͠ 5.5%. I like how he focuses on the malt aspect of the beer instead of just utilizing the same bill and varying the hops and tries to do something different with each beer. IE one of his beers, the summertime ipa, has multiple combination of caramel/speciality malt that gives it an almost American brown style backbone, with a toasty warmth and toffee like appeal. An almost hoppy brown, while another ipa will utilize his base malt. He also goes as far as specializing the water condition for different styles. The roasted peanut stout I had had nice nuances of carnival roasted peanuts with a soothing roasted malt blend that was easy to consume. You wont find many gimmick beers here, just honest approachable session styles that come with good conversation. With their blonde and cream they even have something for that friend who may not be a big craft drinker. All in all, a good experience, good time, and honest made beer with a malt focus worthy of trying and supporting. Drink local. Cheers.

Mad props for not having an entire tap list filled with hoppy beers. Great mix of multiple styles, at least 7 unique styles at the time of my visit.

Located in a small strip mall, it has a warehouse feel to it. High ceilings, brewing equipment in the back, and lots of tables and a bar that can seat about 8 folks. Lots of glass and light colors keep it bright. Blackboard lists the 10 beers that were on tap for the day. They have crowlers and 32 oz growler fills for $12. $8 for a flight.

The beers I had were solid and of good quality. Great version of an English style Best Bitter which was my favorite. No big hop bomb beers on list. Service was quick and friendly. Defintely will be stopping by next time I am in the area.