WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY
It finally happened. Northern Bergen County issued a license for a brew pub over a decade after the craft beer boom started! And it’s a good one with completely massive crowds comin’ in every night til the tanks finally temporarily ran out of beer in May.
Opened during April ’22, FIVE DIMES BREWERY represents the small village of Westwood. Across from the post office just off Kinderkamack Road in a very busy part of town, this multifarious red brick pub features, among other things, a floor-to-ceiling right-walled open hearth (with cozy couches), several bark-topped community tables and walled bike ephemera. The windowed mezzanine tanks store the efficiently varied suds crafted by brewmaster Mc Lain Cheney (fresh off his stint at Peekskill’s River Outpost Brewing).
Owner Chris Alepa went for a Munich beer hall style when he first decided to go forth and break ground at this former variety store where a large buffalo mural establishes Five Dime’s bovine logo. Retaining a rustic Industrial warmth, its 20-seat, red brick-walled bar spotlights a resilient tiled draught station and a few TV’s (for sportsbar enthusiasts). Plus, the reclaimed wood furnishings add an exquisite feel to the overhead-doored pub.
But that’s not all. There’s also an open air upstairs beer garden plus 2,500 square-foot indoor private party room (with several draught lines).
So successful was Five Dimes that after a few weeks in business they had to shut down to replenish its liquid stock.
In the near future, Mc Lain will no doubt bring his love for sour ales to the fore and experiment further outside stylistic boundaries.
After a few springtime ’22 visits, I was able to consume nearly all initial public offerings of the conservatively creative craft beer.
Crisply clean light body, Pascack Pilsner, left a light herbal-hopped grain musk upon salted floral-daubed lemony grapefruit glee.
Perfect for celebrating Cinco De Mayo, muskily grained lemon agave spicing leveraged the salty green peppered herbage of brisk aluminum cleared Dortmunder Lager, Lo Cinco, an offbeat Mexican styled spinoff.
Spritzy lemon spicing fizzled above the gentle white wheat base of easygoing Wampus Wheat, unfurling crusty pilsner-like French breading.
Wondrous candi-sugared Belgian strong ale, More Good News, spread subtle white-peppered coriander spicing across zesty lemon thyme, bruised banana, sweet tangerine and tangy navel orange, picking up modest cellar fungi to counteract its mildly creamed vanilla-daubed flaked wheat.
Roasted amber grain sweetness and dark floral resin contrasted the mildly pungent dry-hopped grapefruit and pineapple bittering darting thru dewy Savvy Cardinal Red IPA, leaving red apple, bosc pear and lychee snips.
Sedate grapefruit-orange-tangerine spritzing settled alongside the dry grassy meadow surfacing for Sunny Day IPA, retrieving mild pale malt muskiness.
Waxy citrus fruiting paced crisply clean hazy golden NEIPA, Hazy Place, furnishing salty lemon-seeded grapefruit rind bittering to contrast sweet orange peel zesting.
Tart raspberry saddled slightly acidic Sulak Sour, bringing barnyard acridity to ancillary strawberry rhubarb, white peach and oaken cherry tartness.
Softly creamed nitro-infused Nickel Stout, replete with nutty coffee-roasted dark chocolate goodness and dark roast hop char, recalled famed dry Irish stout, Guinness.
Revisited on stormy eve in July ’22 and met Chris Alepa, the local chiropractor whose Five Dimes Brewery has become a cherished local spot. Discovered a quaint India Pale Ale and a kickass kolsch along the way.
Though retaining a stylishly dry grassy-hopped lemon zesting, Kinderkamack Kolsch also pursued a creamier vanilla froth to match its sweeter corn sugaring.
Sessionable hazy IPA, Afternoon Fog, a lightly creamed soft-tongued delight, tossed subtle lemon curd tartness, pineapple tanginess, grapefruit bittering and mango salting at its delicate cereal-grained torrified wheat backbone.
A few days later, thoroughly enjoyed Peach Sulak Sour, a thickly golden bronze hazed fruited sour with tart peach puree persistence nestling candied grapefruit-orange-pineapple conflux in mildly acidic setting.
During August ’22, discovered newly ‘draughted’ Clever Goldfinch Double IPA – a golden glowed medium-full body with creamy vanilla froth thrusting affluent mango, guava and peach tanginess plus orange-peeled tangerine, clementine and tangelo auxiliary thru dryly resinous pine zone contrasting its sugary crystal malt persuasion.
On a cold November night ’22, quaffed both excellent autumnal offerings.
Gingerbread-snapped nutmeg, allspice and clove seasoning crept into pumpkin pie-crusted flouring and tingly orange peel sweetness for Pumpkin Ale, leaving powdered sugar residue on its backend.
Brisk orange oiling provided fizzy pep to the leafy hop astringency, herbal perfumed spicing and phenol dried fruiting of Festbier, a resilient Oktoberfest with crisply clean water base.
Back again, December ’22, tried Tatanka Brown Ale, a middling full body with depleted black caramel-spiced chocolate nuttiness and molasses brown breading fading into nebulous dark-roast hop char.
Better bet: Home For The Holidays Peppermint Porter, a distinct chocolate mint candied confection with dry cassia bark and black anise spiking its refreshing green leaf minting.
On a seasonably warm February ’23 night, tried two rather luxurious nubians.
A marvelous bourbon vanilla collab with Conrad’s Confectionery, Five Dimes Milkshake IPA let vanilla marshmallow fluff seep inside milk-sugared ambrosia fruit salad resonance. Caramelized bourbon influence upstaged by zestful orange marmalade, lemon meringue, pineapple cake, red grape, mandarin orange and coconut fruitiness rising above its creamy yogurt-soured oated wheat base.
Sweeping English barleywine, One Louder, gathered jammy red grape, black cherry and raspberry tartness plus muted burgundy-licked plum, date and fig sweetness (and wispy bourbon whiskey snips) over toasted chocolate rye molasses buttering.
At early July ’23 one-hour pizza and beer orgy, sucked down three new Five Dimes concoctions.
Dry lemony grapefruit and orange tanginess sat above the peppery rye spine of Rooftop Pale Ale, leaving mild pine resin on earthen barnyard acridity.
Sweet banana-clove-bubblegum expectancy gained briskly sour lemon fizzing for eclair-headed Valley Hefe, leaving a hint of vanilla on the floury sourdough pilsner malt backbone.
Lemony yellow grapefruit, pineapple, orange and tangerine tanginess embraced the limey guava bittering of Garden State Haze NEIPA, letting its creamy oated wheat base absorb ethyl vodka whim.
Chilly December ’23 perusal found two more worthy Five Dimes entrants.
Dry West Coast-like IPA, The Cold Shoulder, pranced lively floral-spiced citrus pining and mildly pungent juniper licks atop dehydrated pale malting, maintaining its bitter grapefruit-peeled orange rind ascent.
Deliriously utopian One Louder: Barrel Aged Barleywine integrated sweet whiskey and rum warmth (13% ABV) to dark chocolate-syruped bourbon vanilla serenity, picking up splendidly rich caramelization and mild candied toffee, brandy, burgundy, bruised cherry, spiced fig and sarsaparilla licks.
Owner Chris Alepa was on hand February ’24 as I sunk two new spunky dark ales.
Fluffy tan-headed Mi’ Amore Chocolate Cherry Stout, a nitro-injected full body, draped tart cherry tannins upon smoky dark chocolate richness then smoky day-old coffee gunk and lemon-peeled espresso bittering.
Dark-roast black patent malting embittered the creamy vanilla sweetness centering Midnight Malt Vanilla Porter, leaving polite hop charred nuttiness at the unsweetened cocoa finish.
Spreading their wings to a new brewpub (with canning line) 90 miles south in Red Bank, Five Dimes continues to maintain its momentum up in its initial Westwood pub. I grabbed another five previously untried suds on a sweltering Tuesday evening, June ’24.
Adding blackberry syrup to the original Valley Hefe gave the triumphant moderation an added dimension as its blackberry pureed sweetness and wispy raspberry-boysenberry snips outdid banana-clove conflux above gluier white wheated pilsner malt base.
Straight-ahead pale ale, Penny Pincher, let polite lemony orange tang stay brisk against mild hop astringency as sedate floral sweetness delicately embraced its pale malt sugaring.
For eccentric witbier, Orange Lunatic, lemon-rotted raw honey souring slipped away as sweet orange peeled coriander spicing and white peppered chamomile herbage as well as tropical grains of paradise, pineapple and guava riffs surged forth.
Laidback summertime moderation, New School Cool, a tidily conventional dry-hopped IPA, draped floral orange-peeled yellow grapefruit tanginess and salty pineapple-mango snips thru mild grassy-hopped pining above lightly creamed caramelized oats.
A veritable NEIPA-styled fruit salad, Pow Bang Zoom! raced orange marmalade, lemon meringue, diced pineapple, tart passionfruit, tangy tangerine and waxy crayon fruiting thru cannabis-oiled minty evergreen atop dry pale malts.