Brix City Brewing, Little Ferry, NJ

Moved to Little Ferry, NJ from Westchester County, NY back in August '14 and I'm beyond psyched that these guys are opening soon. This area needs something like this desperately and I live right down the street, which a beautiful thing.

http://www.brixcitybrewing.com/

99.9% sure this will be Bergen County's first true craft brewery with an actual brick and mortar brewery/tasting room.

If anyone has any info on these guys (i.e. potential opening date, etc...), that'd be awesome. At the very least this thread could help fellow BA's in the area know what's about to drop right in their backyard.

 

Yeah man, I can't agree more. From what I can tell on their Facebook page, it looks like these guys are pretty dialed in to current trends (photos of some barrels being prepped for what I assume to be a barrel program), which is definitely a good sign. The brewhouse looks super small, though. Based on their photos, I'm thinking it can't be more than a 5 bbl system.

Anyway, they just announced a launch party at Dog & Cask in Rochelle Park for this Friday. Will definitely hit that up and see what they have to offer. Really hope their good as having them so close to my house would be a real blessing.

 

Nice! (for the beer fridge, of course...haha). If you make it on Friday, I'll be there most likely wearing the same hat in my profile pic...lol. Would be happy to buy a fellow BA a beer and toast to Brix City's success.

 

@ColdOne Zingers about NJ are always welcome! Funny enough, it's basically one right turn off of Route 46, which can be accessed from the GWB, then a quick left turn to the brewery. Yep, you read that right. A LEFT TURN. It's glorious.

I'm working on putting together a NJ brewery tour that I hope our usual crew would be interested in doing one weekend this summer. Each brewery is a bit spaced out across the state, which means we'd probably require an entire weekend, but I'll try and make it as manageable as possible.

 

But back to Brix City, I read an article on NJ.com (I think) that said they were going to focus on higher ABV beers like IPA's/DIPA's and Stouts.

For all you Bergen County BA's, what particular styles would you like to see from these guys?

Personally, I'd love to see a killer DIPA added to the NJ fray as there isn't much locally other than Odub and Overhead (both amazing beers, IMO).

Would also love to see a BA stout added to the mix to give ANTEAD a run (tough task, for sure.) And lastly, would love to see them do some farmhouse saisons. I can't think of one NJ brewery that's doing them right now...at least doing them well.

 

@dymmig89 Absolutely agree with you. I happen to love Carton's staples (BOAT, Odub, GORP, etc..), but they definitely have swung and missed a few times with the experimental stuff (their attempts at sours, other than Monkey Chased the Weasel, haven't been very good).

Though I have to say, they've really up'd their game in the last year or so regarding the more culinary inspired stuff. Gilded Lily blew my mind and Regular Coffee and Irish Coffee were both awesome. Interested to try that chili, saffron beer they recently released.

With that said, I think you nailed it with a great stout and porter. Other than Kane's offerings, I cannot think of one NJ brewery that produces those styles well. And I think you're right, it doesn't even need to be BA or anything. Just a solid porter or stout would fill a real void.

My favorite brewery of the last year has easily been Trillium. And I'd love to see someone close to home follow their model. Yes, they do a ton of double dry hopping and stuff like that, but really they just focus on producing KILLER yet simple IPA's, DIPA's, Porters and Stouts. Most of their stouts are not BA, instead they're usually brewed with some type of cold pressed coffee, and all of the one's I've had have been simply awesome.

 

@Fezzik1970 great call with Shipwreck! Totally forgot about it. And, yes, have had both BDG and Carton of Milk.

I was probably being a bit unfair when I said that I didn't know another NJ brewery outside of Kane that was doing those styles well. Because I'd put BDG and Carton of Milk in the "good to very good" category. I guess I should have said that I think we could use some more "great" stouts and porters. And when I think of great NJ beers within those styles, Kane's ANTEAD, Morning Bell, Sunday Brunch, and even Port Omna to a lesser degree, are the only one's that fall into that group for me. But that's just my opinion, which I've been told is dead wrong from time to time

@SRBush1974 You're very welcome! Like I said, the point of this thread was to let fellow Bergen County BA's know about what I hope becomes an awesome addition to the NJ craft beer scene. And I'm 100% with you regarding Citra/Nelson. Single hop IPA's/DIPA's are all the rage right now and for good reason. Some of the best IPA's I've had recently were all of the single hop variety. If they made a Galaxy IPA, I'd probably lose control of my bodily functions.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say I mean't "big" stouts, I was just speaking about the style in general. You can drill down each style these days to the point of minutiae. Regardless, I totally get what your saying, especially with the BOAT comparison. With that said, I just don't happen to think of Carton of Milk as a great beer, session stout or not. It's good, I like it, so different strokes for different folks. In the end, all that matters is we like what we like. Everyone is different.

As for Rinn Duin, haven't had their stuff yet but I believe they are specializing in English/UK styles. Which is cool considering no one else in the area is doing that. And if helps them carve out a niche in the more crowded by the day world of craft beer, more power to them. Looking forward to trying their stuff when I get the chance.