Goin’ with the Flow

It’s summertime, so I’m “Goin’ with the Flow” with my post today. Seems like the brews are flowing lately. Turned out I did get a chance to visit Gusto Brewing Company in Cape May sooner than I thought. I’m one of those busy retired folks, but I’m definitely not complaining. First up: Gusto Brewing Company.

Gusto Brewing Company is located at 3860 Bayshore Road in North Cape May. It is a stone’s throw from Turdo Vineyards & Winery and Cape May Winery & Vineyard. They are located in a strip mall with other vendors that include food vendors, so they are not permitted to sell food or have food trucks in the parking lot. However, they encourage patrons to order from local merchants or bring your own food.

Their menu of beers (above) includes eight brews of various styles from saison to Pale Ales and from IPA’s (and DIPA’s) to Hefewizens and Oatmeal Stouts (and even a Strawberry Cream Ale). My wife and I did a tasting of four of their brews (you can only taste two per person per session). While I am not sure of the rationale for this policy (I have started to become used to quirky NJ policies about breweries), but we had other fish to fry (wineries to visit, actually). So limiting our brews here was a wise, if sad reality.

Our four samples (4 oz. pours) included:

• Switch Pop Shove-It:Azacca-A Variant of the West Coast IPA Style – Citrusy; 6.7% ABV
• Little Spoon-Oatmeal Stout-typical chocolate and coffee notes; very tasty. 4.5% ABV.
• Regular Sized Rudy-Single hop Pale Ale; 5.6 ABV
• Of Course it’s Cashmere-IPA brewed with White Wheat; 8% ABV Unique, smooth, esp. given the ABV

My personal favorites were the Oatmeal Stout and the interesting Of Course it’s Cashmere.

What else was flowing this week? Earlier today I visited Neck of the Woods Brewing in Pitman. It is located at 614 Lambs Road, Suite 7. Neck of the Woods Brewing Started by four friends and staffed at various capacities by them and their wives. Frank Price is their Head Brewer and Paul McIntyre is their other Brewer. All four of the owners come from interesting, if somewhat unrelated backgrounds.

The brewery is an attractive space in the ever expanding sports complex known as the Total Turf Experience. It houses diverse indoor and outdoor sports such as soccer, batting cages, volley ball and pickle ball.

While they cannot offer food to patrons, they can and do offer lists of local eateries who deliver and you are welcome to bring your own food.

Tasting flights are $10 for four 5oz pours of your choice. With my four choices and my wife’s overlapped choices we were able to taste six different brews. They were:

• PTP Porter-A delicious version with chocolate and roasted malts; 7.5% ABV
• Session IPA-A decent IPA with 4% ABV and a nice balance of malt and hops
• Swans Way IPA-Another IPA; this one with 5% ABV
• Stay in the Car, Frank-Yet another IPA, this one a New England version with 6% ABV
• Pale Ale-A mellow, easy to drink version with a 4.5% ABV
• EdSpiration-A New England Double Dry Hopped Double IPA with an 8% ABV

My favorites? The Porter was easily my favorite, but I also really enjoyed the Pale Ale and the DIPA.

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Coming Soon: A new way to get your copy of New Jersey Uncorked (cheaper and a signed copy, but limited in quantity). Details in next week’s blog.

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Upcoming Winery Events of Special Note

• Wine Down Summer at Riverwinds in West Deptford is on Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25. Some super wineries will be there. I’ll be attending. How about you?
• The Winemakers Co-Op Portfolio Tasting at Beneduce Vineyards on Sunday, September 22. Find out more about this event and purchase your tickets on the Beneduce website: beneducevineyards.com Then click on Current Events. This event is a DON’T MISS winery happening.

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