TINTON FALLS, NEW JERSEY
Tucked away in the Tinton Falls Center, a delightful mini-mall just off the NJ Parkway on the way to Point Pleasant, JUGHANDLE BREWING COMPANY opened on Father’s Day 2016. A nifty open Industrial space perfect for small batch brewing, Jughandle’s serving tanks, aging liquor barrels, brewery equipment and malted hop ingredients deck out the left side while wooden community tables and cool metal stools are situated near the right side 14-draught serving station.
On initial hot Saturday afternoon April 2017 visit, quaffed 14 well-rounded selections handcrafted by brewmasters Chris Hanigan and Peter Artherholt.
Delectably sessionable moderate-bodied opener, Hefeweizen brought banana-clove sweetness to lemony orange tang above cereal wheat malting.
Spritzy Firepit Belgian Wit loaded carbolic pep upon lemony curacao orange tartness, mild herbal hop bittering and politely spiced pale malts.
Amiable Mosiac Pale Ale let its mildly fruitful Mosaic hop profile shine with tangy yellow grapefruit, mango and orange tropicalia.
Brisk West Coast-styled India Pale Ale allowed citric Cascade hops and woody Chinook hops to combine for a tangy grapefruit, orange and lemon thrust punctuated by mild pine tones.
Stylishly soft moderate-to-medium-bodied Double India Pale Ale gained honeyed malt sweetness alongside pineapple, peach, clementine and grapefruit juicing.
Robust Black IPA contrasted black-malted Bakers chocolate bittering and molasses-soaked pumpernickel rye sweetness with less pronounced grapefruit, black grape and pineapple illusions.
Inviting Belgian Dubbel brought dry-fruited malting to the fore above musty fungi yeast, dewy peat graining and herbal hops as candi-sugared plum, raisin and banana sweetness increased.
Just as fine, Dunkleweizen coalesced crystal-malted cocoa and chocolate sugaring with tingly banana sweetness, tobacco-roasted crisping and dainty spices.
Lactobacillus-laden sour ale, Berliner Weiss, gently parched the tongue with oats-dried lemon rind bittering, light vinous grape esters and torrified wheat (?) malts. Adding raspberry syrup allowed subtle raspberry tartness to enhance the lemony grapefruit tang and lower the sour pucker. Quite nice.
Dry Calypso-hopped Pothole #2 Brett Pale Ale added light brettanomyces bacteria to affect its sour lemon pucker, herbal lemongrass-chamomile conflux and teasing tropical fruiting.
Peaty Scottish 70 Shilling Mild Ale offered dried tobacco crisping, desiccated orange tartness and mildewed basement dankness.
Earthen grains gave Partigyle Stout its earthen grounding as bittersweet black chocolate, dried cocoa and espresso tones overrode dark cherry snips.
Another dry dark ale, Irish Stout, retained a soft flow as bitter chocolate, milked espresso and day-old coffee tones proved sturdy.
Even better, Booskerdoo Breakfast Stout plied fresh roasted coffee beans to whiskey-soaked oak chips and gained a prominent brown chocolate and vanilla sweetness to soak up the whiskeyed coffee pleasantries.
During late September ’17 visit on the way to Long Beach Island Chowderfest, quaffed another nine previously untried and diversified brews.
Sessionable Kolsch placed sour lemon next to zesty grapefruit and bitter orange rind atop chamomile tea-like cadences.
Fruit-lacquered Curves Ahead! Peach Pale Ale sunk peach cobbler sweetness into bitter hop musk as dainty passionfruit notions and latent lemongrass herbage helped secure its peachy keenness alongside docile apricot, pear and apple undertones.
Rapturously “effervescent” Golden Strawng hid its bold 8.6% ABV beneath honeyed banana sweetness and mellow lemon-spiced alacrity, picking up nectarine, cantaloupe, pineapple, peach and orange illusions above its candi-sugared crystal malt bed.
Debonair 2017 Wet Hop Harvest Ale brought lemony yellow grapefruit zest to the surface as mild hop resin and light wood tones dovetailed across herbal notions that contrasted its lightly creamed crystal malting.
“Alpha hopped” A Hop Has No Name brought earthen florality to lemony grapefruit tanginess and ephemeral chamomile tea daubs.
Dry Citra-hopped Ryes N’ Shine let piney wood tones secure rye-malted peach, pear and apple illusions as well as lesser grapefruit, orange and lemon snips.
Tropical delight, 4057 Double IPA, regaled honeyed mango, peach and orange tanginess with dank reedy wood tones, scant spicing and herbal nips.
Bringing the heat, hybridized saison, Beasty Bee Sting, leavened its up-front honeyed lemon zest with floral lavender dalliances before ‘stinging’ Seranno and Thai chili peppering seared the tongue.
Malleably off-dry Party Guy Stout scurried blueberry, raspberry and strawberry tartness across mild chocolate chalking, sedate coffee tones and earthen Glacier hops.
www.jughandlebrewing.com