Asbury Park Brewery

Went for a quick stop on saturday.

Both of the pale ales were tastey, and my preference was toward the XIPA. held the 6% under teh radar.

Much better then dark city offerings if you ask me at this point.

The space is large with tons of room to grow. Management was very kind and accommodating.

 

I had the First Time around Pale Ale at Brickwall after the Chevelle and Bush show on Friday and didn't think it was anything very exciting.

 

You aren't setting the bar real high. Next thing you will be saying they are better than Beach Haus

 

It's a very cool space. I did leave with a growler of XIPA

 

Dark City's beer is very subpar and it still is usually very crowded. Shows how badly Asbury Park needed a brewery.

 

Stopped in Friday night. Wasn't very crowded. Beer was mediocre at best. Stout was the best of the group for me but nothing special. More or less on par with dark city but with kane less than 10 minutes away the choice is easy.

 

... But did they have a nice deck?

 

haha

i would question sitting outside with some of the lurkers i saw in the parking lot.. after dark it is still a sketchy area

 

They've been open for what, a week? Let's give them time before we expect ANTEAD

 

This, right here. I do not understand why people expect a brewery to be top-notch as soon as it opens. I generally find that they start to find their groove (if they do) after 6-12 months. There is a steep learning curve going from homebrewing to production levels - it is not a one-to-one ratio for adding ingredients.

That said, I thought all three offerings were solid, which is far better than I expect of a brewery on its first day. The stout was what it should taste like and the other two brews were on-point for their styles. Did they have a wacky Swedish Fish Gose on? No, but what they did was very good for day 1. Staff also was very friendly and helpful. I will go back.

 

Didn't expect Antead. I went and tried their beer and posted my opinion which was the beer wasn't anything special as of now. If I see something new on tap from them around Asbury I'll definitely give it a try but as of now if I'm spending money on local beer I'll go to Kane.

The space and staff were really nice, location isn't the best area. I talked to Eric I think his name was about their plans for the future. If they planned on getting into barrel aging down the road since they have a ton of space. He said that wasn't their plan but who knows.

 

I did the same before the Lumineers show on Saturday. I actually like it but it is way more lager tasting than Pale Ale in my opinion. Made me interested to try the rest of their offerings. As has been said definitely gave me a better first impression than Dark City did

I didn't even know the brewery was open yet or else I would have went there

 

I don't think anyone was saying saying they need to be brewing 077XX and Regular Coffee day one. And I understand there is a big difference between home brewing and commercial brewing. But I expect that they would do numerous test batches to get their recipes straight.

If they are selling the beer then they are ok with that beer being a representative of what they do. If that representative is weak that is their fault. I expect that when they open they are serving a beer they are proud. If they are proud of a mediocre beer than I don't need to support them.

 

That is a fair viewpoint that I see expressed here regularly. I only mean to say that craft beer is not easy to make, on a large scale, with new equipment. It is also not cheap. Many people could tell you that a world class beer like ANTEAD was not always as well regarded as it is - it was tweaked over the course of time. Statements like "with kane less than 10 minutes away the choice is easy" could be easily extrapolated to say "with OH less than 45 minutes away the choice is easy", and suddenly we have no more new breweries in NJ! A flight costs less than 10 bucks everywhere in Jersey. I am of the mindset that I will give every brewery a try,and if I don't love it, wait until it's a totally new taplist, and try again! Two poor experiences . . and maybe head to Kane instead.


EDIT hope I don't come across as too scatterbrained - I have had too little coffee today

 

According to previous local articles/interviews:
1. “We’re here for the mainstream beer drinkers who are diversifying their choices a little bit and trying craft and local beers rather than going for the esoteric beer geniuses who really like the barley wines and the very heavy IPAs and the sours and that kind of thing.”
2. They hired a guy who has a pretty long history in the brewing industry.

sources:
http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2015/04/asbury_park_brewery_expected_to_open_this_year.html

http://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2015/08/26/asbury-park-brewery-opening-fall/32108493/

 

The Dude!!! Why didn't you guys say so?!

 

“We’re here for the mainstream beer drinkers who are diversifying their choices a little bit and trying craft and local beers rather than going for the esoteric beer geniuses who really like the barley wines and the very heavy IPAs and the sours and that kind of thing.”

Sorry but the owner sounds like an idiot to me. Why would you try to insult potential customers before you even open your doors up?
Hopefully for their sake they have a nice deck.

 

So they will never make a barley wine or good ipa. This is why brewers or anyone starting a new company should just say bare minimum when interviewed, he total just said a bunch or garbage that you know he won't hold true too as time goes on