New Jersey Brew News and Releases (2021)

You... are a bad influence. But I had not considered that. And that Czech 10 has been in my dreams for quite awhile.

 

Hahaha! Yeah, I haven’t had that one yet either but Hallertau Pils was magical and I’ll definitely be buying more. Gonna have to make a run over there this Friday.

Oh and it gets much worse: Tired Hands Fishtown location, St. Oner’s is only like 5-10 mins from HR. Trendler Pilsner is pretty fresh now and helles other people as well (3/26 & 4/6 respectively). Needles to say, my wife hates it when I go to Philly (unless I stop and one of those little girly shops for her....bribery is key here)

Apologies for thread derailment: continue with NJ discussion!

 

Damn. I would get into that.

 

Unfortunately, they do not distribute their in-house lagers (hybrid in this case) much...their recent take on Schwarz was also in-house

 

Man, that figures.

 

I buy the DN Pilsner and Vienna all the time in cans at regular retailers - are they not brewed "in-house" ?

 

Their smaller batch/limited in-house releases, outside of the core offerings. Some leeway for experimentation (e.g. black Kölsch); nonetheless, the Vienna and Pils do get sent out

 

Gotcha - So, "In-house" refers to where it is sold, not where it is brewed.

 

I feel like they never have an accurate tap list anywhere. Once and a while it seems to be posted to social media but it is not often.

Do you know if they are filling growlers again? In most cases a simple call would work but a downside to them is I’ve never been able to call and ask these questions.

 

I don’t think they’re doing growlers...but I wasn’t really paying attention. I’m pretty sure they’re still doing crowlers though?

 

I’m gonna piggyback this thread and ask the good BAs of Jersey a quick question…my younger daughter has a dance competition in Teaneck in 2 Saturdays and was wondering what the best local shop is to there? I see Brix City is close, but I’m more interested in variety than a bunch of IPAs. I’d like to find things like Cape May, Carton, Tonewood, Twin Elephant, etc if possible. Thanks in advance.

 

Glen Rock bottle king if that's not too out of the way. Biggest local selection. Huge fridge of it. They usually carry a lot of tonewood, including non IPAs.
https://glenrock.bottleking.com/

 

Twin elephant does not do distro. They should have the best selection you'll see otherwise, as they have all the other breweries including their non ipa offerings depending on distribution schedules etc.

 

I mapped it out, it might be a little too far. I’m new to this whole dance shit so I don’t know how much time I’ll actually have. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Follow the Gull returns to distro next week! I know there’s lots of us that love that one.

 

looks like Drowned Lands is seeing some NJ Distro

 

Thank you for the heads up! Missed out on this one last year. Hoping to have better luck this time around.

 

any specific locations ?

 

I don’t know anything about them but I’m guessing @mumbles44 is referring to hunterdon distributors new releases for this week. So they could end up far and wide, depending on how much they got I guess.

 

You are correct on that one. They stuck out. I am in Morris County so if i see this in the wild I wil lreport back

 

Congratulations to Cricket Hill Brewing 20 years of brewing

CRICKET HILL CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

We made it -- 20 years of making the Best Beer on the Planet Earth! When Rick and Patti founded the brewery in 2001, Cricket Hill was just one of only 12 breweries / brewpubs in New Jersey. Today, the number is over a hundred and growing all the time.

Ed and Gwen joined Rick and Patti back in 2009 and together, we've grown the brand to include many new brew styles, added the tap room, live bands, private rental space, and in August 2020, moved packaging to 16oz cans. Today, we brew over 20+ different beers.

Our 20th anniversary will be paired with the release of Cricketfest 20th Year Marzen Style Lager both in cans and on tap! Join us in celebrating this milestone of brewing with this unfiltered lager. Our dark, golden beer, made with German Munich malt and Sterling hops, has a bready, malty and sweet flavor with a hint of spiciness. It finishes clean and slightly dry, with rich aromas of lightly toasted malt and mild hop character. 5.8% ABV. We'll be canning Cricketfest on May 11th.

 

A bit more on how the program came about, from NorthJersey.Com:

(Now, can I make the "3" on my Vax Card look like a "5"...
Wonder whose bright idea that was, to limit it only May vaccines - the State's or the BG's?)

Also, after a split in 2018, the NJ craft brewers had two organization, this Brewers Guild and the old New Jersey Brewers Association, which I guess is defunct, since the previous URL https://njbeer.org now takes one to The Alementary's website?

 

I knew I should have waited to get the vaccine...!

 

The NJBA is still running, not sure what is up with the site redirect. Giving away free beer is actually illegal in NJ, but the State gave the Guild approval to do so as an incentive/push for people to get vaccinated, not as a reward for getting vaccinated (cause the reward for getting that earlier is you have immunity earlier, and can relax sooner). I am a little concerned about people taking advantage of this.. I mean, it is only about 6 bucks a person is saving, but that could pile up pretty fast for a brewery that may have been taking a financial hit over the past few months / year. I hope people realize that a lot of breweries (especially the small guys represented by the NJBA) can't afford to give away free beer right now. Just my $.02 on it.

 

I think they're assuming most people will buy something else, a crowler, draft, some cans. My guess is most people will. Moreover it gets people more comfortable going out. So pretty sure it'll be a win for breweries.

 

Agree with post above. Anyone who is incentivized by this promotion is likely already familiar with at least some of these breweries and is likely a patron anyway. I don't see any real financial downside for the participating breweries here.
Get vaccinated!

 

No brewery is being made to take part in this. You can assume the the breweries owners that do take part think it's worth doing.

 

100% agreed. My post was more in the vein of "don't be upset if a brewery doesn't participate". Seen a little of that sentiment other places.

 

Totally agree with you, sorry if my posted seemed like I was against it. I just think the messaging of how it was announced can / has led to some confusion (I mean, most of the breweries in the state weren't even aware of it until the Governor posted online, before the special ruling came out). Saw other places online (not here), people mad that it wasn't for people who are already vaccinated, or that their local place isn't doing it, and I just hope that it doesn't become a mess for what otherwise is a great thing.

 

If you're into dark czech lagers,
Fervor & Defiance by Wild East brewing is phenomenal. I picked it up at Joe Canal's in woodbridge. They also had stuff from that brewery like German pils , ESB and an IPA

 

When I saw this I didn't know if it was a joke or real. Ill get the shot if I get a free sixtel of ddh head high

 

Looks like fresh drop of Heady and Focal in NJ

 

Grabbed some Heady, Focal & Drowned Lands Sour IPA today @ Garys Madison...

they told me it all arrived this AM

 

So far Shoprite Wharton and Buy rite kearney

 

So…I don’t know where in Teaneck I’m exactly going but that Glen Rock bottle king is actually closer than I thought. I started following their IG page which looks very promising. I just wish there was a better way to check their inventory because I really just want NJ stuff, not looking for the quote-unquote boffo shit. Their website is kind of a nightmare to navigate.

tl/dr: Glen Rock is my best option?

 

That's the only place going in that area I'm aware of, and has been recommended by people I know repeatedly, but I'm not from that area of NJ so to be fair I don't have a bunch of hidden gem stores in my back pocket. I used to just search by brewery and see what they had I wanted. Can't imagine they outdo your local spots in LI if you're looking for special out of state stuff, but they seemed to get most of the distributed NJ stuff and keep it cold unlike lots of places.

 

Check out Total Wine in River Edge. Not the greatest prices but they have a decent selection.