The Westville Brewery is a great little local brewery. It used to be the home of the Westville Firehouse. The brewery has been open about six months, but they are already making 12 different brews, with a diversity of styles and something to satisfy almost any beer lover. While they don’t offer a Belgian-style, they have hit upon most other styles from Red Ales to IPAs and Porters to Stouts. You can click on the photo above to scan their present menu of 12 beers.
I confess I totally related to their early history: buying a kit, bottle capper, and of course, Charlie Papazian’s classic, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Al Jenan, Mike Gordy, Mike’s wife Pam and friends John Metz and Chuck Eckert started Westville Brewery about six months ago. From their early 10 gallon batches, made from extract, they have come a long way. I used to make five gallon batches and was proud of my early efforts, though these folks are now way out of my league, making large quantities of high quality brews. Like making good wine, making good beers requires both science and creativity.
The ambience at Westville Brewery is a little light on decor or atmosphere, but if you want a decent selection of good craft beers, making and serving them in your local neighborhood, this one just might fit the bill. The servers are friendly, knowledgeable and eager for you to try their beers. They are also more than happy to have you bring in your own food or order from several local establishments, including my favorite, Speranza (a great Italian restaurant, with some of the best thin crust pizzas in South Jersey). They even provide menus from these restaurants.
My wife and I had a Groupon for our visit on Friday. We paid $15 for it and got the following in return: two flights of four 4 oz pours and two pints of our choice of any of their 12 beers on tap.
My personal favorite here was the Nitro Oatmeal Stout. Subtle notes of chocolate and coffee augmented this smooth and attractive brew. I would be happy to come back for a pint of this Stout. However, I did not think it would pair well with my pizza so I opted for the Experimental IPA (Exp. RIP 101 IPA American)-a good choice.
If you like IPAs you’re in luck. They have three different versions; In addition to the Experimental American IPA I had with my pizza, they make a West Coast Time Machine IPA (6.4% ABV; 70 IBU) and Time Peace (East meets West) IPA (6% ABV; 33 IBU).
I also want to single out the Irish Uppercut-a red ale with 6% ABV and 36 IBU (International Bitter Units). I am not a big Red Ale fan, but this one was quite good.
I would definitely return to the Westville Brewery. It has all the basic ingredients for me: A good local brewery with quality beers and a wide assortment of styles to choose from. To sweeten the pot, they are located directly across the street from a very good restaurants that will deliver to the brewery. My one request would be to have one or two brews with a little more octane-maybe an Imperial Stout. Presently the highest ABV is the Magnet Foot Nitro Oatmeal Stout at 7.8% ABV.
This was a nice way to kick off my big birthday weekend. I’ll leave out the number and significance of that number; after all age is just a number, right? Life is good. Every day is a gift. Some gifts are better than others (my corollary).
Westville Brewery is located at 201 Broadway, Suite B (08093, for those using their GPS). They are open on Thursdays from 5:00-9:00 PM; Fridays from 5:00-10:00 PM; Saturdays from 1:00-10:00 PM; and Sundays from 1:00-5:00 PM.
“On the Way to Cape May…” Cheers!
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You can also get the ebook instantaneously on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone via the Apple iBook app for $12.99.
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