Craft breweries and brewpubs—the kind that make high-quality, small batch, artisanal beers—love colorful names. Jersey’s include Flying Fish, Cricket Hill, Gaslight, Triumph, Trap Rock, Harvest Moon, and River Horse. Now joining them is the New Jersey Beer Company (njbeerco.com).
Say what? Founder and president Matt Steinberg explains he chose a straightforward name because he’s, “not creating a marketing company. I’m brewing good beer and just want to relay what it is and where it comes from.”
The brewery sits in a large warehouse at 4201 Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen—several blocks from Steinberg’s home and a mere four miles from New Jersey’s first brewery, built in Hoboken by Aert Tewnissen Van Patten in 1641. New Jersey Beer Company launched in May with three beers: Hudson Pale Ale, Garden State Stout, and 1787 Abbey Single, named for the year that New Jersey became the nation’s third state. Steinberg adds real Belgian dark chocolate and raisins to his Garden State Stout, and his Abbey Single ale is an old-world style that many other brewers have overlooked.
“I think we’re doing some exceptional classics focusing on traditional beers, but not ones that are done all day, every day in most places,” Steinberg says. “We are also very creative and starting to play with some unique ingredients to bring into our bigger beers.”
With help from Hunterdon Distributors of Philipsburg, the new beers will be available throughout the state. So far, people are sampling NJBC products at about twenty locations, including the Copper Mine Pub in North Arlington, Daddy O in Brant Beach, the Farnsworth House in Bordentown, and the Iron Monkey in Jersey City. NJBC is doubling capacity to 4,000 barrels per year—a third of Flying Fish’s capacity.
Steinberg for now is retaining his full-time job as an information technology consultant. He founded the company with about $500,000 from savings, a Small Business Administration loan, and contributions from a few investors. He consulted with Matt Westfall of the New England Brewing Co. to help formulate his recipes, and he hired brewmaster Pete Velez from the Gordon Biersch brewpub chain.
“We can’t compete on a cost basis with the multinationals like Bud, Miller, and Coors,” he says, “but we brew a more distinctive product, focused on quality, freshness, and flavor.”
According to the American Brewers Guild, in 2009 craft beer was one of the fastest growing segments of the alcoholic beverage industry. Sales by craft brewers grew 7.2 percent, while the major brands suffered a decrease in sales. Steinberg says being located in Hudson County, the most densely populated in the state, bodes well for his enterprise, because most craft beer is consumed near where it is made. “As the only brewery in Hudson County,” he says, “I think we are in a great position to grow as the economy recovers.”