The Alementary (Hackensack, NJ)

I thought NJ breweries couldn't have food trucks outside. Maybe it's some kind of special arrangement?

Anyway, this thread has info on them:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bergen-county-nj.298744/

 

Ahh, loopholes.

 

They can have food trucks, they also have a deal with a local restaurant to do deliveries to the tasting room. Beer is very good, i had some samples last week (co-owner works with me).

You should definitely visit when they are open.

 

Anybody check them out today? Thoughts?

 

I haven't been there yet, but all of the untappd ratings seemed to point towards a mediocre brewery. I'll wait a while before I head over there. Hopefully, it works out for them.

 

Yikes. Thanks for the review. I guess I'll wait and see if they can work out some kinks before I give em a shot

 

Before writing off this or any other new brewery on their opening weekend

 

I might actually try their beers a couple of times before writing them off. I'm just silly that way.

 

Seems like the same reviews posted on Demented, Dark City, Brix City and a lot of other new NJ brewery opening weekends. Personally I don't understand opening until you have your act together and are putting out quality stuff, especially with the kind of money these guys are investing. I won't even give a home brew out to friends unless I am happy with it myself. These breweries have to understand there are a lot of options out there and a lot of people won't give you a second chance if they are not impressed right off the bat.

 

Because you have to start paying the bills sometime.

 

I think with any new brewery, you have to give them at least 6 months to a year before you can adequately judge them for the reasons stated above in the post @CassinoNorth quoted. And like @sosbombs just said, at some point you have to start generating revenue as a business.

 

Went last night and here are my thoughts:

The tasting room design is off the charts awesome. Amazing attention to detail and the place has got a real cozy and chill vibe going on. The way they serve flights is actually really smart, too. They hand you a clipboard with the beers listed on a piece of paper that's clipped to the left side and the clipboard has 4 holes cut out that the tasters fit perfectly into. So, you can just lift the clipboard and take your flight with you to where ever you want to stand or sit. Never seen that design before, but maybe that's just me.

Both the owners took a very active role in speaking to each and every person in the place and it wasn't just a, "yeah, how are you, thanks for coming." They actually took the time to speak with each person who was willing to listen about how they built out the brewery (Blake, one of the owners actually showed me before and after photos on his phone) and the goals of the brewery, which first and foremost is to listen and serve the community of Hackensack.

To me, both of them said all the rights things you want to hear. And the build out of the brewery and tasting room truly reflects that these guys are dialed into what works in craft beer.

Now, the product. I was the one of the posters who questioned launching with 8 beers. And I still stand by that. They didn't need all 8, in my humble opinion, as some were significantly better than others. But one of the owners mentioned that their idea was to launch with 8 just for the opening, then dial it back to 5 or 6 as a regular rotation based on the feedback/sales of the 8 from the opening. Honestly, I can 100% respect that answer. In a perfect world, you'd probably want to set up a few focus groups filled to the gills with beer geeks to get those answers before the grand opening, however, as a previous poster mentioned, they probably have hundreds of other pressing issues at hand as they prepped for launch. Sure, you could make the argument of "what's more important than the beer?" and you wouldn't be wrong at all. But unless you've opened a brewery, which I haven't, there so many issues surrounding you that I think you need to make some concessions.

With that said, my opinion is still that they didn't need 8 beers at launch. But hearing them out on why they did, I can now respect and understand the reasons that they did.

So, yeah, the product. Had all 8 of their offerings and the standouts to me were A-Game (IPA), 1st Session and Mr. Stevens (English Mild) with the Lime Gose coming up 4th. The IPA was super solid with a nice fragrant nose and served as a great base for them to expand on and make better. But a nice effort right out of the gate. However, for me, the best hop beer of the day was the Session. Loaded with citra and mosaic, it was crushable and packed with flavor. There wasn't much I would change about that beer. I think they nailed out right out of the gate.

But my favorite beer of the day was their mild. I can't think of one Northeast brewery outside of Yards that does this style and I give them credit for brewing it. It certainly helped that it was right on par with the style - easy drinking, super low ABV, slightly roasty/ashy and dry.

Some misses I thought were the Pale Ale, the Porter and the Kolsch. The Pale had a heavy malt backbone and was extremely bready and copper in color. If the goal was to brew a more traditional, English-style pale ale then the beer was what it was supposed to be. But I just don't happen to love the English style, so I can't really knock the beer vs. saying it just didn't fit my preference.

The porter was too thin. I didn't necessarily have a problem with the taste as some others have pointed out, but I felt it needed some more robustness to it.

And lastly, the Kolsch was probably the biggest miss of the day. The beer was way too light in body, was borderline watery, yet it did have some hints of those familiar German characteristics. So, the base for a good beer in the future is there, but this is one of the one's that probably should have been saved until they perfected the recipe.

Sorry for the book report, but I hope this helps some local BA's out. Net net - these guys have the foundation and the passion for being a great brewery. Like many others have said, let's all just give the time they deserve.

 

I enjoy reading your response and appreciate the details that you call a book report. I don't work for them but I do consider them good friends.And the fact that it is walking distance for me, I am going to agree there is a bit of homerism. Aside from that, thehopkid your opinion is fully understood by me and the fact you are not bashing yet using this site for what its intended for, sharing and talking beer but also respecting it. And that sir is a reason I hope to cross paths with you and share a few one day soon. Cheers

 

@kennylopez glad you enjoyed reading it. I'm sure we'll see each other at The Alementary soon enough. Cheers!

 

I hate that this is something that "breweries" are given lenience on while other places like restaurants and bars have to hit the ground running with from the get-go.

"Give the brewery 6 months and then they will be better."

Why is this acceptable though? We're essentially funding breweries to figure it out until they are ready? As someone previously said, it's the same thing I heard of other breweries. Well guess what, Dark City says they have already mastered their equipment... right around the 6 month mark, so that checks out. Do I think they've mastered it? No.

But breweries that continue to act like this is okay are running the risk of setting precedents where people will show up for JUST opening weekends or 6 months later. What happens with in between? You just hope that the locals surrounding your area have less options or not another brewery close enough?

Now, I've yet to go to Alementary and I had been following them on Insta, but to see two openings this past weekend met with somewhat the same amount of feedback is alarming, specially since this is becoming way more common in the past year. It's terrible practice to say, "It's opening in April, let's go visit in September."

Maybe it's just me ranting incessantly about something that won't get fixed any time soon.

@TheHopBrewKid , I appreciate the honest review. I guess I'll continue to do the same thing I wish I didn't have to... wait a few months.

 

That's because a restaurant can figure out their new ovens in a night or two. Bars can get their systems in place in a night or two. How long does it take to brew a beer? I'm not saying it should take 6 months to a year, but it does take longer to dial everything in.