What's Happening in NJ? Releases, News, Gatherings

[Timmush1]

Timmush Is bringing bottles to Conclave to share frowned upon or looked favorably upon?

Asking for a friend.

- Joe

Depends... Will I be getting some

 

[Timmush1]

Thanks for the visit today you South Jersey TB'ers

 

[screwyouguys]

Thanks for the visit today you South Jersey TB'ers

Hello of fun.

ajfa531 just tell em u know me

 

[DigDug1810]

Thanks for the visit today you South Jersey TB'ers

Thanks for the hospitality, awesome operation you have going and ******* kickass beers! Thanks for everything, truly one of the best beer days I've had in a long time.

For any TB NJ guys who have not yet gotten to Conclave, do yourself the favor and get over there ASAP!

Everything is so on point it's beyond on point! Everything that is right with beer is on display for your neckbeard pleasure.

I so wish i was in a closer proximity to this NJ gem! I'll certainly be back the next opportunity I have to make the trek.

 

[Stewmeister91]

Just got back from my first trip to the Alementary in Hackensack. I'm definitely on the other side of grizzled when it comes to new breweries and hype, but was very impressed. The two beers i tried were superb and it's a cool tucked away spot (if that's possible in Bergen County).

Look forward to a more thorough trip in the coming weeks.

 

[jtclockwork]

Just got back from my first trip to the Alementary in Hackensack. I'm definitely on the other side of grizzled when it comes to new breweries and hype, but was very impressed. The two beers i tried were superb and it's a cool tucked away spot (if that's possible in Bergen County).

Look forward to a more thorough trip in the coming weeks.

I also liked Alementary. They are already doing goses. That's an easy way to win me over.

 

[Os]

XP from FB event page:

Seeing as the event and cause are NJ based, we thought it would be great if we could get a brewery to do something special for us for this event. We took it a step further and involved some of our favorite brewers/breweries/people from NJ in a special collaboration brew day.

We were lucky enough to be involved in a group discussion to create a recipe with the help of Dennis from Carton (who led the way), Tim from Conclave Brewing, Doug from Demented Brewing Company, and Michael from Kane Brewing Company.

On Sunday, May 15th, Augie opened his doors at Carton Brewing for us to make this happen on the Tippy system.

We are all excited to try this beer and it will be on tap for the event.

Thanks to those who came and showed their support this past weekend: Augie and Dennis, Tim and Carl, Doug and Tom. (and Mike Kane for being there in spirit and yeast)

 

[TheEmpyrean]

XP from FB event page:

Seeing as the event and cause are NJ based, we thought it would be great if we could get a brewery to do something special for us for this event. We took it a step further and involved some of our favorite brewers/breweries/people from NJ in a special collaboration brew day.

We were lucky enough to be involved in a group discussion to create a recipe with the help of Dennis from Carton (who led the way), Tim from Conclave Brewing, Doug from Demented Brewing Company, and Michael from Kane Brewing Company.

On Sunday, May 15th, Augie opened his doors at Carton Brewing for us to make this happen on the Tippy system.

We are all excited to try this beer and it will be on tap for the event.

Thanks to those who came and showed their support this past weekend: Augie and Dennis, Tim and Carl, Doug and Tom. (and Mike Kane for being there in spirit and yeast)

Looks like a really fun brew day - im sure there was tons of good convos

Unrelated: What is everybody's favorite drinking beer here in NJ, talking lagers/crisp ales (minus points if they aren't readily available)

I love Sit Down Son, Dune Fruit, Rammstein Imperial Pils, Fat Tire (newly available for us!!), Pivo Pils, Boat Beer..

Two recent additions:
Dark City's Margarita Summerfield was FANTASTIC and Twin Elephants Brewing in Chatam make a Kolsch called "On the Off Chance" that I crushed a pint of in all of 3 minutes - if you have a similar beer taste to mine and haven't checked those two out I highly recommend them.

Anyways - just wondering if there is anything super drinkable im not taking advantage of in the garden state and thought id share my tastes with potentially likeminded beer jockeys

 

[Os]

for NJ beers I'm all about Boat and love when Ripple comes out... wish Kane Hop Lab Citra was year round... also wish I could find Sit Down Son more frequently.

I have yet to visit Twin Elephant. Hope to soon

Pivo is one of my favorite pils... and I still go to All Day IPA frequently

 

[Ben1]

Anyone planning on going to Magnify for their Anniversary this Saturday?

I will be away but wanted to get some Imperial Vine Shine, let me know if you're going and will have extra. We can work something out.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

XP from FB event page:

Seeing as the event and cause are NJ based, we thought it would be great if we could get a brewery to do something special for us for this event. We took it a step further and involved some of our favorite brewers/breweries/people from NJ in a special collaboration brew day.

We were lucky enough to be involved in a group discussion to create a recipe with the help of Dennis from Carton (who led the way), Tim from Conclave Brewing, Doug from Demented Brewing Company, and Michael from Kane Brewing Company.

On Sunday, May 15th, Augie opened his doors at Carton Brewing for us to make this happen on the Tippy system.

We are all excited to try this beer and it will be on tap for the event.

Thanks to those who came and showed their support this past weekend: Augie and Dennis, Tim and Carl, Doug and Tom. (and Mike Kane for being there in spirit and yeast)

A true NJ collab. I bet that was a fun day.

 

[TheEmpyrean]

Anyone planning on going to Magnify for their Anniversary this Saturday?

I will be away but wanted to get some Imperial Vine Shine, let me know if you're going and will have extra. We can work something out.

Hey Ben im thinking of heading over there, what town you from?

 

[PubGrubTrub]

Looks like a really fun brew day - im sure there was tons of good convos

Unrelated: What is everybody's favorite drinking beer here in NJ, talking lagers/crisp ales (minus points if they aren't readily available)

I love Sit Down Son, Dune Fruit, Rammstein Imperial Pils, Fat Tire (newly available for us!!), Pivo Pils, Boat Beer..

Two recent additions:
Dark City's Margarita Summerfield was FANTASTIC and Twin Elephants Brewing in Chatam make a Kolsch called "On the Off Chance" that I crushed a pint of in all of 3 minutes - if you have a similar beer taste to mine and haven't checked those two out I highly recommend them.

Anyways - just wondering if there is anything super drinkable im not taking advantage of in the garden state and thought id share my tastes with potentially likeminded beer jockeys

If I could get it all the time (i.e., drive 10-15 minutes from my house to pick it up), I'd have Boat as my house beer. I can drink that like water.

Haven't had the Dark City or the Twin Elephant offerings you mentioned but hope to try soon. Had a Dark City porter over the weekend and I thought it showed definite potential.

Had Conclave's Hop Ritual for the first time last week and really enjoyed it. Similar to Boat, if I could have it all the time I would.

I agree with Os, if Kane Hop Lab Citra was year 'round I'd be a happy guy. That beer is tremendous.

 

[Os]

Conclave's blonde is really good too

 

[PubGrubTrub]

Once I get through Memorial Day I have to pay them a visit. I've already planted the idea in my fiancee's head.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

I think Os mentioned this recently but Lone Eagle continues to come along in Flemington. Looks like they'll be open this summer. Here's an article from NJ.com about them hiring a former Dogfish Head brewer.

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon/index.s...ogfish_head-trained_b.html#incart_river_index

 

[Ben1]

Hey Ben im thinking of heading over there, what town you from?

I am up in Bergen County, but I am more then willing to meet up anytime/where that works for you. Boonton is only like 20 minutes down 287 for me.

 

[TheEmpyrean]

I havent tried Conclave's blonde, I need to get over there to check it out - love alot of the hoppy stuff ive had the pleasure of trying from them. Hearing good things about the Alementary as well.

Ben nice, yeah we could meet at Poor Henry's or something. Prefer to text for stuff like this if you dont mind shooting me a PM w your number.

 

[Timmush1]

Kane tap takeover (Morning Bell) will be on at the Tap Room in Warren/Basking Ridge Thursday night starting at 6 for anyone in the area. I'm going to try to stop by at some point

 

[Timmush1]

Looks like a really fun brew day - im sure there was tons of good convos

Unrelated: What is everybody's favorite drinking beer here in NJ, talking lagers/crisp ales (minus points if they aren't readily available)

I love Sit Down Son, Dune Fruit, Rammstein Imperial Pils, Fat Tire (newly available for us!!), Pivo Pils, Boat Beer..

Two recent additions:
Dark City's Margarita Summerfield was FANTASTIC and Twin Elephants Brewing in Chatam make a Kolsch called "On the Off Chance" that I crushed a pint of in all of 3 minutes - if you have a similar beer taste to mine and haven't checked those two out I highly recommend them.

Anyways - just wondering if there is anything super drinkable im not taking advantage of in the garden state and thought id share my tastes with potentially likeminded beer jockeys

Prima pils is my summer beer

 

[Newmoneyloons]

Kane tap takeover (Morning Bell) will be on at the Tap Room in Warren/Basking Ridge Thursday night starting at 6 for anyone in the area. I'm going to try to stop by at some point

Let me know I might be down for that.

 

[glennl]

Kane tap takeover (Morning Bell) will be on at the Tap Room in Warren/Basking Ridge Thursday night starting at 6 for anyone in the area. I'm going to try to stop by at some point

I will be there, come say hello if you make it.

 

[mikey711]

I stopped by Twin Elephant last Friday and have to say I was disappointed. I will chalk that up to growing pains for now since they just opened, and hopefully that is the case as they are located less than a mile from my office.

I arrived at 4:00 when they opened hoping to get a quick sample flight and two 32 ounce growlers since they have a 64 oz growler limit given their size. I was maybe 9th or 10th in line. It took a little more than an hour for me to get to the front of the line and place my order. From what I could see during this time, they had significant carbonation issues with a few of their draft lines. Pints were served with about 3/4s beer and 1/4 foam that did not dissipate. They were regularly running to the back trying to fix the carbonation issue, but it persisted and caused significant delays. I was by myself, but could hear both people in front of me and behind me complaining of how long it took just to place an order, as the line length did not justify the wait time. I noticed that several people behind me in line simply walk out rather than wait for the beer.

The beer itself was very underwhelming. There was little hop presence in the IPA, the saison was over powered by yeast flavors, and each of the beer suffered from over carbonation making it difficult to actually drink the flight pour. Each of the beers suffered from muted flavors, as well as thin and watery mouthfeel.

I did bring two growlers home (saison and IPA) hoping that if I let some of the carbonation out and let it mellow, there would be improvement, but there was not.

This is only meant only for the purposes of constructive criticism, but there is no reason you should have people walking out on a line that way. Also, I think it was a bit ambitious on their part to have seven beers on tap at once considering their size and equipment, rather than focusing on and fine tuning a few core beers. These are fixable issues, and I will stop by again in a month or so since it is close by to see if there have been improvements, because the staff was nice and the bar is very cool looking.

 

[TheEmpyrean]

I stopped by Twin Elephant last Friday and have to say I was disappointed. I will chalk that up to growing pains for now since they just opened, and hopefully that is the case as they are located less than a mile from my office.

I arrived at 4:00 when they opened hoping to get a quick sample flight and two 32 ounce growlers since they have a 64 oz growler limit given their size. I was maybe 9th or 10th in line. It took a little more than an hour for me to get to the front of the line and place my order. From what I could see during this time, they had significant carbonation issues with a few of their draft lines. Pints were served with about 3/4s beer and 1/4 foam that did not dissipate. They were regularly running to the back trying to fix the carbonation issue, but it persisted and caused significant delays. I was by myself, but could hear both people in front of me and behind me complaining of how long it took just to place an order, as the line length did not justify the wait time. I noticed that several people behind me in line simply walk out rather than wait for the beer.

The beer itself was very underwhelming. There was little hop presence in the IPA, the saison was over powered by yeast flavors, and each of the beer suffered from over carbonation making it difficult to actually drink the flight pour. Each of the beers suffered from muted flavors, as well as thin and watery mouthfeel.

I did bring two growlers home (saison and IPA) hoping that if I let some of the carbonation out and let it mellow, there would be improvement, but there was not.

This is only meant only for the purposes of constructive criticism, but there is no reason you should have people walking out on a line that way. Also, I think it was a bit ambitious on their part to have seven beers on tap at once considering their size and equipment, rather than focusing on and fine tuning a few core beers. These are fixable issues, and I will stop by again in a month or so since it is close by to see if there have been improvements, because the staff was nice and the bar is very cool looking.

Thats surprising, I was there on opening day unfortunately (i hate crowds) and the place was packed. This might have been an isolated event or something because my experience was very different. I agree the IPA is nothing to write home about but I did enjoy the saison. The kolsch was my favorite so maybe go back and try that. On opening day they had lines of about 10 people at the bar and 30 people in the bar area, with about 10 waiting by the door for space to open up and things ran smoothly. Glad to hear you are open minded and giving it another shot.

In my experience the beer was good and it seemed a well run operation. Happy to have them around the area

 

[jtclockwork]

Hey Mikey! I was at Twin Elephant the day after opening day. Took me only about three to five minutes to get my flight. I think there was one person in front of me. I thought the beers were decent enough. Not amazing by any stretch, but pretty good for a place that just opened and hasn't dialed it in yet. No over carbonation issues that I recall. They had a coffee milk stout on, which was my favorite of the flight even though it tasted essentially like straight coffee. It still wasn't great, but I liked it enough.

 

[Stewmeister91]

Hey Mikey! I was at Twin Elephant the day after opening day. Took me only about three to five minutes to get my flight. I think there was one person in front of me. I thought the beers were decent enough. Not amazing by any stretch, but pretty good for a place that just opened and hasn't dialed it in yet. No over carbonation issues that I recall. They had a coffee milk stout on, which was my favorite of the flight even though it tasted essentially like straight coffee. It still wasn't great, but I liked it enough.

Every brewery opening has become a huge promotional opportunity. To me i'd rather, they just open the doors and work out the kinks without the crushing presence of 200 people on a single day. But hey, it's competitive out there, and got to make a name quick nowadays

I would also assume these breweries can get by with the "average" beer drinker and the ardent beer enthusiast is still just 5% or so of their audience.

 

[CoinStarChange]

Every brewery opening has become a huge promotional opportunity. To me i'd rather, they just open the doors and work out the kinks without the crushing presence of 200 people on a single day. But hey, it's competitive out there, and got to make a name quick nowadays

I would also assume these breweries can get by with the "average" beer drinker and the ardent beer enthusiast is still just 5% or so of their audience.

This so much. This goes for restaurants too. Some restaurants have 3,000 likes on Facebook before they open their doors and then when the time comes to open, they can't accommodate the crowds and the food is average at best.

Let your beer/food draw crowds, not your marketing, if you're really interested in what you do. Of course you have to market, but when restaurants have yelp reviews and Facebook reviews before the doors open, give me a break.

 

[Timmush1]

This so much. This goes for restaurants too.

Let your beer/food draw crowds, not your marketing, if you're really interested in what you do. .

Agree...

 

[blur72]

yeah, with Twin Elephant on Friday at 4:30pm - not even opening weekend - it took 25 minutes to get thru 7 people in line ahead of me. carbonation issues seemed rampant that day as well. the Shimmy Ye and brown ale were both very odd tasting -- lacking carbonation and were not cold. I talked to several people who went and they agreed that the Shimmy Ye had something really off about it, "very water-y" was what I heard more than once.

It's early, but I was surprised at the lack of quality with the beers, considering the brewers said they had been homebrewing for many years. The IPA, as was mentioned, completely lacked any hop presence. was extremely watery and thin with no body whatsoever, and fairly under-carbonated. I did enjoy the milk stout that ran through the coffee, though - that was very nice. But the two beers that were advertised to be "hoppy" - Shimmy Ye and Juicy Busey - were complete misses. Busey was just yeasty and over-carbonated. minimal hop presence. it's quite easy to put out a middling red ale and milk stout, so I was hoping for more, since those styles are easy to get anywhere.

not to mention, at $6.50 a pint for basic styles ranging 4-7% - it's safe to say they are NJ's most expensive brewery per pint, so the beers sorta need to be of a certain quality for me to return consistently. I get that it's the Chatham area, but Trap Rock is 10 minutes away in an equally expensive area and charges $6.50 for 22oz of one of their beers. yeah, small system - I get it - but again, if it's a small system that should provide for greater experimentation or closer quality control at least. I don't see the need for two red ales on tap if you don't have one hoppy beer down pat yet.

very friendly staff though. I'm rooting for them, and will certainly return, but - living a few minutes away - I was hoping they'd be able to do hoppy beers well (getting fresh hoppy beers is my favorite part of a brewery), but so far it looks like hoppy beers aren't their calling card :/

they seem to really like their malty beers, so if one's a big fan of reds and browns I think they'd be inclined to be more impressed by the offerings.

as far as the opening weekend, there are basically no other breweries in this area (which is full of craft beer fans and people who don't mind spending $$), so this place was gonna be PACKED regardless of the beer being served. heck, the only real bar in Chatham is across the street, and it's pretty small. hopefully it starts getting less crazy as the weeks go on, but I think they'll do fine sales-wise regardless of the beer quality, for better or worse.

 

[Stewmeister91]

yeah, with Twin Elephant on Friday at 4:30pm - not even opening weekend - it took 25 minutes to get thru 7 people in line ahead of me. carbonation issues seemed rampant that day as well. the Shimmy Ye and brown ale were both very odd tasting -- lacking carbonation and were not cold. I talked to several people who went and they agreed that the Shimmy Ye had something really off about it, "very water-y" was what I heard more than once.

It's early, but I was surprised at the lack of quality with the beers, considering the brewers said they had been homebrewing for many years. The IPA, as was mentioned, completely lacked any hop presence. was extremely watery and thin with no body whatsoever, and fairly under-carbonated. I did enjoy the milk stout that ran through the coffee, though - that was very nice. But the two beers that were advertised to be "hoppy" - Shimmy Ye and Juicy Busey - were complete misses. Busey was just yeasty and over-carbonated. minimal hop presence. it's quite easy to put out a middling red ale and milk stout, so I was hoping for more, since those styles are easy to get anywhere.

not to mention, at $6.50 a pint for basic styles ranging 4-7% - it's safe to say they are NJ's most expensive brewery per pint, so the beers sorta need to be of a certain quality for me to return consistently. I get that it's the Chatham area, but Trap Rock is 10 minutes away in an equally expensive area and charges $6.50 for 22oz of one of their beers. yeah, small system - I get it - but again, if it's a small system that should provide for greater experimentation or closer quality control at least. I don't see the need for two red ales on tap if you don't have one hoppy beer down pat yet.

very friendly staff though. I'm rooting for them, and will certainly return, but - living a few minutes away - I was hoping they'd be able to do hoppy beers well (getting fresh hoppy beers is my favorite part of a brewery), but so far it looks like hoppy beers aren't their calling card :/

they seem to really like their malty beers, so if one's a big fan of reds and browns I think they'd be inclined to be more impressed by the offerings.

as far as the opening weekend, there are basically no other breweries in this area (which is full of craft beer fans and people who don't mind spending $$), so this place was gonna be PACKED regardless of the beer being served. heck, the only real bar in Chatham is across the street, and it's pretty small. hopefully it starts getting less crazy as the weeks go on, but I think they'll do fine sales-wise regardless of the beer quality, for better or worse.

The Red Ale is the proverbial Red-headed stepchild of the craft beer community. Nothing will get my juices flowing less than a malty-ish red ale.