So it seems as if there is not much appeal or desire for NJ brews whether its because people don't know the brews or haven't had them. Are there any highly sought after brews from NJ breweries?
I often reflect on this as i wish i had something made in NJ that i could trade to people in other states that had what i was looking for. It would make trading a lot easier for rarer beer. I have high hopes for Flying Fish or Kane to hopefully produce something that gains some serious national recognition and desire as they seem to be the best chance for it. Not many breweries in out state are producing AND bottling their more unique beers. I guess there is always Captain Lawrence.....
I think Kane growlers will get you anything short of whales. Iron Hill Kryptonite, when it comes out is also sought after. And NJ has the best distro in the country. Plenty of great brews available to you in NJ that will get all but the whaliestTM things.
I see Flying Fish taking the path that Victory did: volume over small batch specialties. They don't go balls out enough with their Exit Series. Kane and Carton have done some amazing things, I think that Carton's Monkey Chased the Weasel is a great foreshadowing of possible small-batch rare brews that could stir up some desirability from our part. I know it's tough throwing out trade threads offering up a ton of amazing brews that we get in distro, and all that anybody is ever looking for is Dark Lord, KBS, Darkness, Black Tuesday, and all the other awesome stuff that just doesn't it here. It's frustrating, but them's the breaks. If you have the time and money to make the trips to Vermont and Captain Lawrence, it's worth your while in getting your allotments that you can drink yourself and trade some of the spares away, as those regions pull on some other beers that midwesterners and Cali folk pine for, but in-state, it's going to take some time. And for chrissake, can some of these NJ Breweries bottle and distro around here more? Kinda sick of Beach Haus....
Most of the Flying Fish Exit series beers I've tried have been seriously good. They should focus more on the series and do (bottle) some barrel-aging, experimentation, etc.. Edit: Beaten by YaKnowBrady. Damn you!
I feel like River Horse could also be a contender as their stronger spiced beers are really good. But like the comparison of Flying Fish to Victory, I see them as caring more for mass production than craft. Their brewery's reserves are decent but could be more extreme. I also love the marketing of RH, they could easily make a witty label for special beers with their design language.
You could definitely do some decent trading with growlers from kane or carton, but that's really the only locals that i can think of. We DO however get a ton of distro for limited shelf beers, which can land plenty of the more popular beers people typically look for. Otherwise, take a road trip for a beer release and load up. I drove out to Cleveland for BA Blackout in 2010 and my trading pretty much went crazy from there. You could also make orders to Belgium for lambic, which people go crazy for, or try to get involved in the Bruery reserve society with a trustee. There's plenty of different ways to get access to rare or limited beers.
I totally understand how awesome of a distribution we get in NJ, as well as the ease of going to NY or PA for what we don't... but I think the point of the OP was about some homegrown love. I wish we had something really awesome to share form our state because we have great brewers, great bars and a great BA community and with that having something equally as great to enjoy ourselves or to trade would round out what we can define as the NJ craft experience.
you hit the nail on the head. I mean i love kane and river horse and a some of the others but it doesn't get a lot of exposure even in our own state.
