Who is left in Jersey?

Reads 3165 • Replies 31 • Started Saturday, June 11, 2016 3:27:59 PM CT

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Message beastiefan2k P beers 5014 º places 294 º 19:24 Mon 6/20/2016 I believe Climax has no debt. I remember a decade ago hearing that the owner of Climax being very happy to no longer be in debt. So, if you are semi-retired or don’t need income, selling enough beer to pay the bills is pretty easy. I doubt their space costs a lot. Originally posted by peepthesot The Dad in the father/son team that started the brewery apparently passed away recently. very said to hear. To be fair, I have no idea how a lot of the Jersey breweries survive. No one really cared about them a decade ago and few care now. I’m talking about breweries like: Trap Rock, Tun Tavern, J.J. Bitting, Harvest Moon, Basil Ts
Message beastiefan2k P beers 5014 º places 294 º 19:26 Mon 6/20/2016 btw, I ask b/c I am moving to North Maryland. Wondering if there are any NJ folks down south, near Delaware.
Message peepthesot beers 10 º places 6 º 11:23 Tue 6/21/2016 Originally posted by beastiefan2k I believe Climax has no debt. I remember a decade ago hearing that the owner of Climax being very happy to no longer be in debt. So, if you are semi-retired or don’t need income, selling enough beer to pay the bills is pretty easy. I doubt their space costs a lot... ...To be fair, I have no idea how a lot of the Jersey breweries survive. No one really cared about them a decade ago and few care now. I’m talking about breweries like: Trap Rock, Tun Tavern, J.J. Bitting, Harvest Moon, Basil Ts I agree with you about Bitting, Harvest Moon, and Basil T’s...they are, after all, only brewpubs and 30+ years on the road all over the USA and Canada has taught me to be wary of brewpubs since they generally make pretty lousy beer. Harvest Moon did have a pretty good period making some excellent beer in the latter part of the ’90s when one Jim Watson (I’m pretty sure that was his name) was briefly on board as the head brewer , but before and ever since after that, forget it. I even live within easy walking distance of one of the brewpub/restaurants mentioned, and avoid it, opting instead for other bars in the area. The only brewpub in NJ that I actually like and don’t mind the long-ish drive to is the very first NJ brewpub, The Ship Inn. Some people seemingly don’t like it because they feel it’s too ’traditional’ with regard to the Brit style brews (as if that was bad thing)...but except for one visit when a newly hired brewer had just taken over the kettle, it has never let me down with either the ale or the food. It remains a favorite destination. I can take or (mostly) leave all of the others since beer that is brewed and served in a 6 day cycle is rarely decent beer (and it’s usually out and out crap).

Message spacecoyote 12:18 Tue 6/21/2016 Love, The Ship Inn.
Message beastiefan2k P beers 5014 º places 294 º 19:20 Tue 6/21/2016 always wanted to get out there but its not near anything. I’ll make it a priority once I am back in the area.
Message WanderinCelt87 beers 197 º places 5 º 19:51 Tue 6/21/2016 I thought harvest moon produced some good beers when i was there for the oceanus releass. Granted the onlynother brew pubs ive been too were kroghs and triumph.
Message spacecoyote 20:09 Tue 6/21/2016 Originally posted by beastiefan2k always wanted to get out there but its not near anything. I’ll make it a priority once I am back in the area. There’s camping, climbing, biking, and day-hiking in the area. And it’s not far from Lambertville/New Hope, which are filled with great shopping and eating establishments.

Message jtclockwork beers 21132 º places 554 º 01:06 Wed 6/22/2016 Harvest Moon has been pretty good last few years and Oceanus was world class in opinion. They also do a lot of business just being in New Brunswick and near Rutgers.
Message peepthesot beers 10 º places 6 º 22:46 Wed 6/22/2016 Originally posted by jtclockwork Harvest Moon has been pretty good last few years and Oceanus was world class in opinion. They also do a lot of business just being in New Brunswick and near Rutgers. Glad you enjoyed it. I was actually there about a year ago as part of a birthday celebration (which I pretty much _had_ to attend). I had a sampler flight to reacquaint me with their range and found found the beers to be full off off flavors and very ’green’ and young tasting...neither is a desirable characteristic. I kept my mouth shut, since it’s bad form to pontificate about the shortcomings when among friends in a celebration. I did, however, quietly switch to wine when the food came. I think the Moon was really at it’s best (at least beer-wise) between 1995 and 1999. I will say that judging from this visit, they seem to have made some significant improvements to the food and overall service. But there are far better places all over downtown New Brunswick for beer. The Moon does seem to do a healthy amount of business, so kudos to them for that...and I’m certain that the proximity to Rutgers U probably does help a lot. Fortunately for the Moon, craft beer drinkers have definitely become a lot less discriminating with regard to quality than they were in the past, so I certainly don’t see the Moon shuttering the operation any time soon. I’ll give them another shot at some point in hopes that the beers will have improved.
Message jtclockwork beers 21132 º places 554 º 22:51 Wed 6/22/2016 Did you have Oceanus?