While spending three weeks in Southern Jersey I got to visit a few small, local breweries in the area that I would like to share with everyone. Below are the breweries I visited in order:
1. Cape May Brewing Co.: Cape May, NJ
As we were driving to the brewery, I kept thinking the GPS was steering us the wrong way because it was leading us toward some small warehouses right near the tiny Cape May Airport. Come to find out that the GPS was leading us in the right direction as we spotted the brewery. This place is tiny, working out of a small warehouse the size of a two story apartment, maybe 1200 sq. ft. Their pricing went as follows: $11 for a souvanier pint glass and 4 samples or $5 for 4 samples in a plastic cup. My two siblings and I opted for the $11 deal. In order to make room for the number of visitors, they opened the back garage door, which lead to an open area covered in grass and a food truck.
The first sample we had was the Cap May Wheat, an american pale wheat. It was a decent wheat, although I never understood the point of pale wheat ales. If you are looking for something light and refreshing, why not just pick up a good lager/pilsner or a kolsch. Like most pale wheats, the flavors and aroma were subdude, but I could pick up some banana and coriander.
The next sample was their Honey Porter. I know I wouldn't be too fond of this brew right off the bat since I am not a fan of honey. But to much of my surprise, it was a delicious porter. I ignored the honey taste I was getting and just concentrated on the other ingredients. It had nice roasted malt, strong coffee notes with a little bit of chocolate. The hops lingered throughout, but came through towards the end as it finished dry with some tart and bitterness.
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| Inside Cape May Brewing Co. |
The third sample was their Centennial IPA. This was a beast of an IPA, weighing in at 100 IBUs! This beer was a hop explosion. Sharp, resiny pine needle hops hit right away with strong cirtus and flowery hops in the background. While the malt did a decent job of balancing the brew, the brewers clearly wanted the centennial hops to shine. This beer was on the border of being a double IPA, in my opinion.
The last sample was their Beach Plum, or so we thought. This was yet another american pale wheat with added plum flavoring. We were then informed that the keg was kicked, so they let us have another sample of their other three beers. Me being a hophead, opted for another sample of their IPA.
2. Tun Tavern and Brewery: Atlantic City, NJ
I am not going to comment any more than listing their beers. The food was supbar, the beer was atrotious and the environment was depressing. Stay away from this place if you ever visit Atlantic City.
1. Devil Dog Pale Ale
2. All-American IPA
3. Leather-Neck Stout
4. Bullie's Brown Ale
5. ESB
6. Crimson Ale
All watery and lacking flavor.
3. Tuckahoe Brewing Co.: Tuckahoe, NJ
And I thought Cape May Brewing Co. was small. This place was half the size. It too was set up inside a small warehouse about 800 sq. ft. Since we visited during week, we were the only ones there for the tasting/tour. So we got to sample their beers while having a conversation with them as they were in the middle of brewing. They are four high school teachers that decided to team up and start the brewery, all while still teaching full time. I loved that! All of them couldn't be nicer people. The best part: samples were free.
The first sample was their DC Pale Ale. A medium-bodied pale ale with slightly bready and caramelly malt. Hops were grassy and floral with moderate bitterness. Mouthfeel was a little too carbonated, but otherwise a decent pale ale.
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| Inside Tuckahoe Brewing Co. |
Next up was their Porter. The night before, I had their porter for the first time at a local restaurant/bar and it was not good. Not at the fault of the brewer, as it was very phenolic (tasted like band-aids and plastic). The restaurant either didn't rinse that draft line or glass after cleaning it. Boy, was it better at the source. Creamy and full-bodied with very sharp, almost burnt malt, with more chocolate notes than coffee. Finished dry and roasty, similar to a stout. I let them know about the poor quality of their porter at the restaurant. Hopefully they will do something about it.
The last one was their Wit, a Belgian pale wheat. This one was pretty good. Medium body with notes of honey and lots of orange. The Belgian yeast spiciness was subdued, which I welcomed. I wasn't really in the mood for the strong Belgian yeast of a typical Wit.
4. Yards Brewing Co.: Philadelphia, PA
Last but not least was Yards Brewing Co. Now this is a real microbrewery. Huge tasting room with pool tables, shuffle board, fresh food and a full bar. The enitire room was covered in wall paper consistining of all their beer labels. They had a total of 9 beers on tap. Four of their base beers, 4 specialty beers and their pale ale on cask. First up was a flight of their 4 base beers:
1. Brawler, an English dark mild ale. It felt as if I was sitting in a pub in London while drinking this one. Loads of toasty, sweet, caramel malt and mild fruity hops. Medium-bodied with a slightly sweet finish. A good session brew.
2. Philadelphia Pale Ale. The name says it all. Lightly-flavored pale malt with a hint of sweetness and unexpectedly hoppy. Hops were citruisy, floral and somewhat tropical with a pretty light body.
3. India Pale Ale. A good, balanced IPA between bready, caramely malt and citrus hops. Hops start citrusy, but then turns into more of a pine flavor. The finish is dry with a bread and pine on the palate. Medium body with pretty good head retention.
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| Yards Brewing Co. Tasting Room |
4. Extra Special Ale (ESA). Again, floral and earthy hops blended well with the toasted malts, caramely malts and dark fruits. A pretty flavorful bitter ale. It has a creamy, medium body with light carbonation, like a bitter should be.
Flight #2 (These are their specialty, limited beers)
5. General Washington's Tavern Porter. Tasted toasty, malty and bittersweet with a big molasses punch. It then progressed to a more bitter taste with roasted coffee and chocolate at the finish.
6. Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale. As you would expect, it is malt forward with buttery caramel, toffee notes and some nuttiness. Despite having a nice dose of hops, this beer is pretty sweet. Relatively thin body for the style, but it wasn't thin at all taste-wise. What is interesting about this one is that it is based on Thomas Jefferson's real beer recipe. Yes, Thomas Jefferson did indeed own a brewery and created his own recipes.
7. Love Stout. Dry and roasted with abundant chocolate adding sweetness to work against the roasted malts. Its a small, sessionable stout, so its not going to have huge flavor profiles. But it is a simple, straight froward and balanced stout. Served on nitro, so it is undoubtably creamy and smooth.
8. Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale. The taste is sweet, tart, and really piney with some notes of molasses and wood. The body is light with moderate carbonation. I'm not big on herb beers, so this one was my least favorite from Yards.
9. Philadelphia Pale Ale on cask.
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| Inside the brewery. |
(For those of you who do not know what cask beer is, I'll fill you in. A cask is a wood barrell, like wine casks, which were used in English pubs to serve beer in the 1800s and early 1900s, before direct carbonation came into play. Instead of waiting for the beer to completely ferment and condition before bottling and kegging, like most beers today, brewers fill the cask with beer and let it continue fermenting inside the cask. So this creates light carbonation and a cloudy appearance from the fermentation taking place within the cask. The beer is then hand pumped from the cask when serving, which creates a decievingly thick, creamy head. Casks are also never refrigerated, but served at room temperature. Cask beers are the best! But you have to love beer in order to enjoy it.)
Back to the beer itself. The cask edition of their pale ale included an edition of grapefruit zest. Man, this beer was good. You have pretty much the same flavors as the draft version of the pale ale, but the malt sweetness and hop bitterness stand out more and are more pronounced. The grapefruit zest added even more bitterness and tart to balance the malt, and contributed to the dry, tart finish. Body was creamy and lightly carbonated (see previous paragraph) with a thick, one finger head.
And that concludes my Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia beer trail. Next time I am in the area, I plan on visiting Victory Brewing Co., Dogfish Head Brewing Co. and Flying Fish Brewing Co. Man, this is a great time for craft beer!
