Five Dimes Brewery

It’s in the middle of the county not easily gotten to. I made the ‘new brewery Sunday’ adventure having seen the folks and then run 304 to the state line NJ and Kinderkamack continued through town after town after town after town before hooking that lazy right turn and parking. It’s the easily spotted large brick façade on the strip, Westwood…

It used to be an old five & dime, is why it’s called that. Long and deep, and seemingly a double wide. Side walls of big brick, light gray painted play to the rear and upstairs, and the front done up arched windows above 6 panel roll up doors over the sidewalk; 4 to one side of the door and 2 to the other. Brick pillars down center, wood plank floors, & black painted ceilings with blended I-beams. Ductwork going this way and that, a center row of spinnys, drop filament bulb pan lamps about the floor, a pair of steel barrel band candle bulb chandeliers over the bar, & pillar mounted pear bulbs.

‘L’ shaped bar to the left, varnished wood plank top, panel base, and a railroad tie foot bar. Seating for 16 on squared stools. Barback holds a dozen logo handled taps on center stainless piping fronting a patterned tile wall piece, and shelving to both sides recessed with merch glassware & steins, growls, crowls, hats, snacks, and board games. A flat above shows boring ass golf with horizontal LED draft boards to both sides listing beer, style, & ABV. Crowler crimper on the corner of the barback, a ‘No politics’ sign on the end, (probably a good idea about now), and more shelving & cooler space below.

Shared cut tree hightops to the rear, down center off the bar, and forward horizontally & vertically + a few shortys alongside the sunken brewery & fronting the brewery near the cushy couch corner set up & stone fireplace. Front corner merch shelved and a to-go can cooler. Shorty table shuffleboard to the rear.

Off to the right side, a sunken brewery behind glass and a chill raised seating area above it with some mural wall action, old signage, a buncha tables, & some cushy couch seating. It’s the ‘on the way up’ to the event space (seating and its own bar) & rooftop deck (from which you may survey all that is yours. 8 picnic tables, Battleship style, umbrella’d up or not). Did I mention there were 6 tables out front of the place curbside? Well, there are.

Large logo piece on brick wall forward the bar, an old ‘L.N. Grand 5 & 10 cent store’ sign from a previous tenant of this space, a retro Palisades Park Surf Bathing poster, a vintage cigarette machine, a framed ‘one of us’ print, this crazy old b/w Coney print with like a zillion people at the beach, that ‘we want beer’ Prohibition print, and a bicycle, motorcycle, & scooter above the rear entrance with old soda crates on the ends.

My initial visit caught 12 taps live; 9 beers (A Sunny Day, American IPA, 5.8%; A Hazy Place, NE IPA, 6.5%; Pascack Pilsner, German Pilsner, 5.3%; Nickel Stout, Nitro American Stout, 5.8%; Sulak Sour, Peach Sour, 5.6%; Kinderkamack Kolsch, 5.4%; More Good News, Belgian Blonde Ale, 9%; Lo Cinco, Mexican Lager, 5%; Clever Goldfinch, DIPA, 8.5%), + a seltzer, lemonade, & root beer. They also blend to make mules & shandys, if that’s your jam. It’s a good mix of styles, all in all. Servings in pint, 13oz, & sampler size shorty.

Pascack Pilsner was just okay; Kinderkimack Kolsch was better, good fruity esters; Nickel Stout was Nitro smooth, pleasant; and then did a few shortys; A Sunny Day American IPA (solid), A Hazy Place NE IPA (turbid, bitter as actual fuck, tasty tasty), and tasters of Sulak Sour, Peach sour (tart, a nice sour), More Good News, Belgian Blonde Ale (Belgian candy sugar sweety, real nice), and the Clever Goldfinch DIPA (resin, stone fruit, citrus, damn!). Clever Goldfinch DIPA, More Good News Belgian Blonde Ale, & Kinderkamack Kolsch for the wins.

Flatscreen to the rear showing the (dirty) Mets, but the Yankees are on upstairs? What? Why?. Good Sunday crowd. I’m parked at the bar talking with Elsa & Kath, who 3 minutes are asking why I’m not married. Well, that’s right to the point (It’s Sunday, I’m at a brewery, figure it out).

Stumbled in on karaoke night on a very recent revisit. I was silent singing in my passive way at the bar and almost got reeled in to the big show, but no. Some of them people were pretty good. Some of them people were pretty not good.

And I got into a few. LeGoff Saison, Farmhouse Saison with Lavender, 7%, over the top lavender. I was hoping for Southampton Cuvee Des Fleurs but got Avery 16, IYKYK; New School Cool, American IPA, 6.3%, just too malt forward; Happy Honey Slammer IPA, Honey IPA, 6.8%, dried out nice, was okay; Fest Bier, Octoberfest, 5.2%, my god, this was perfect, good malt backbone, actual fire; Marzen, German Lager, 6%, easy drinker, it was goods; Helle Yeah!, German Helles Lager, 5%, yeah, nailed it. Octoberfest & Helles for the wins.

Some goods here and they can Lager.

This brewery is located in the heart of downtown Westwood with parking behind and at the shopping plaza across Westwood Avenue. It's a large venue, including three floors of drinking space. The 3rd floor has its own bar and opens on to a large roof deck. Each floor has its own vibe. The first floor wall facing the street is lined with garage-type doors that open during warm months. The space is very well-conceived and appointed with a semi-industrial vibe. When I visited the clientele was upscale and young; I've never seen as many infants, toddlers, and young children in a brewery. There are numerous local food options and while we were there several patrons brought in pizza. The staff is friendly and the beer ranged from okay to quite good. Five Dimes is clearly well-capitalized and is definitely worth the visit.