![]() It’s a crowd-pleasing beer that will satisfy casual beer drinkers with hints of citrus, the aroma of bananas and sweetness from the Belgian Abbaye yeast. The Gloria Belgian Blonde was one of their debut beers that quickly became one of their flagships. “We knew everybody loves IPAs and that’s what’s going to sell, but the reason we bought a five-barrel system was so that we can brew a large variety of beer: lagers, Belgians, stouts, porters, rauchbier, IPAs, sours.” Eventually, Reuther interned at Chelsea Brewing in New York to learn brewing on a larger scale. We forced ourselves to make and appreciate everything” said Delcalzo. When it came time to upscale their homebrewing, they wanted to brew what they liked - which was everything. But they were welcomed with open arms by the mayor of Little Ferry, who helped them secure the proper licenses for a production facility in a small industrial park off Moonachie Road, which also is a 15-minute drive from MetLife Stadium. Thus, the two wanted to honor that heritage by calling their brewery Brix City, a play on Newark’s nickname, “Brick City.” Brix is also a unit of measurement for sugar and water.Īlthough it wasn’t economically feasible to set up shop in Newark, they signed leases in Lodi and Hackensack, only to be denied licenses from local authorities. What they learned was that Newark was once the beer-making capital of the East Coast from post-Civil War to Prohibition. To get started, the two amassed a small library of beer books - not only on brewing, but also beer history. “They were making amazing beer that everybody in the beer world loves on a five-barrel system.” ![]() “We saw at Hair of the Dog that you didn’t need a huge brewing warehouse with massive tanks to get going,” recalled Reuther. Respected craft breweries like Three Floyds in Indiana, Big Sky in Montana and Hair of the Dog in Oregon informed their business plan. It wasn’t until a cross-country road trip to visit breweries in 2012 that the duo solidified their desire to start their own. “We both have strong work ethics, so we treated homebrewing as a full-time job we did after our day jobs.” “After working for others, we knew that we had to be our own boss,” said Delcalzo. The idea of starting a brewery was floated along with other businesses the two could start. That culture of drinking beer as a respectable adult drove the two as they started homebrewing back in New Jersey. “I realized that you can drink a beer at lunch and it’s perfectly acceptable as an adult. If you go to the Rhineland, they drink Bitburger,” he said. ![]() “Each area had their own specific style and flavor. After graduation, Delcalzo studied at Ramapo College for accounting while Reuther took advantage of a $10,000 signing bonus and joined the Army.Īs a 19-year-old stationed in Germany, Reuther discovered the beer culture (treating beer as a beverage, not as a means to get drunk) while taking advantage of the legal drinking age of 18. Digital/Promotional Services for Local Businessesīefore Delcalzo and Reuther could put pen to paper and mash to boil, they needed to get life experience under their belts.Hot Topics in NJ Presented by Caucus Educational Corporation.
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