New Jersey never took kindly to Prohibition. It was one of only three states that refused to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment (until it was a fait accompli). As tax attorney and beer aficionado Michael Pellegrino recounts in his new paperback, Jersey Brew: The Story of Beer in New Jersey, (Lake Neepaulin Publishing, 2009; $19.50), an estimated 800 illegal beer pubs operated in Trenton, including one across the street from a police station, and about 40 percent of all illegal alcohol sold during Prohibition entered the United States through Newark. Patrons of a restaurant in Oradell raided by the feds for serving beer and cocktails grew so incensed they slashed the agents’ tires.
After Prohibition, in 1935, the Krueger Brewing Company of Newark became the first in the country to distribute beer in cans. One pleasure of Pellegrino’s 154-page book is looking at the photographs of old beer cans and labels from brands such as Feigenspan (Newark), Trommer (Orange), People’s (Trenton), Holland, Jersey Gem, Old Bohemian (all Hammonton), and others. He takes the story nearly to the present, when Jersey has thirteen brewpubs and three microbreweries. You might also enjoy his 2005 book, Tax Lien$: The Complete Guide to Investing in New Jersey Tax Liens (Lake Neepaulin, $19.95)—though you may want to crack open a beer first.