Beer Variety from New Jersey

Just what New Jersey beers are people drinking these days?  What are the post popular styles that are coming out of the Garden State?  In a previous post, I outlined what 6 bottled Jersey beers I would give to someone to represent New Jersey (kudos to Bryan from This Is Why I'm Drunk for the blog collaboration idea).  In this post, I'm going to look at NJ beers a little differently.

To get a good sense of the NJ beers people are drinking, I could call up each bar and liquor store around and see what their top selling brands are, call the breweries to see which is top grossing, or see what beers are top rated on any of those beer rating websites.  A quicker and easier way to achieve this, I believe, is to simply look up Untappd check-ins!  The beer rating websites may give you each brewers top-rated beer, but won't give you top selling.  Untappd may be a very small sample size compared to the real sales numbers, but I feel it suits this purpose quite well.  

First, let's look at breweries (those brewers in the state that send their beer via keg/bottle to liquor stores and bars, and only have a small taproom at the actual brewery).  I have listed each NJ brewery and their top 2 most checked in beers on Untappd.  Let's see if we can extract some useful information for the chart.

Note:  I didn't include any seasonal offerings.

Brewery	Beer	Style / ABV	Untappd Check-ins
Boaks	Monster Mash	Imperial Stout / 10%	513
	Two Blind Monks	Belgian Dubbel / 7%	439
Bolero Snort	Blackhorn	Black Lager / 6.5%	627
	Ragin' Bull	Amber Lager / 5%	564
Cape May	Cape May IPA	American IPA / 6.1%	532
	Honey Porter	English Porter / 5.2%	401
Carton	Boat	Session Ale / 4.2%	5205
	077XX	Imperial IPA / 7.8%	3052
Climax	India Pale Ale	American IPA / 6%	553
	ESB	ESB / 5.5%	358
Cricket Hill	Hopnotic	American IPA / 5.2%	2292
	East Coast Lager	Helles Lager / 4.2%	1133
Flying Fish	HopFish	American IPA / 6.2%	6163
	Exit 16	Imperial IPA / 8.2%	4413
High Point	Ramstein Double Platinum Blonde	Weizenbock / 7%	528
	Ramstein Blonde Wheat Beer	Hefeweizen / 5.5%	367
Kane	Head High	American IPA / 6.5%	3403
	Overhead	Imperial IPA / 8.2%	1722
New Jersey Beer Co.	Hudson Pale Ale	American Pale Ale	498
	Garden State Stout	American Stout	391
River Horse	Tripel Horse	Belgian Tripel / 10%	3562
	Hop Hazard	American Pale Ale / 6.5%	3231
Tuckahoe	Steelmantown Porter	Porter	309
	Marshallville Wit	Belgian Pale Ale	140
Turtle Stone	Green Snale	Herbed/Spiced / 5.5%	94
	American Stout	American Stout / 6.5%	87

Of the 13 breweries listed, 6 have an IPA as their most checked in product.  3 breweries (Kane, Carton and Flying Fish) have the top 2 spots dominated by an IPA and an Imperial/Double IPA.  I was quite surprised when I saw River Horse's top checked in beer was their Belgian Tripel, Tripel Horse.  I would have guessed either Hop Hazard, Hopalotamus or Special Ale.  Out of the 26 top checked in beers, 17 are a distinct style (~65%).  That's a lot of variability, and I can't wait to see how that changes as more and more breweries open up (as of this writing, 17 breweries are in planning).

Now let's take a look at New Jersey's brewpubs and their top checked in beers.

Note:  I did not include Iron Hill or Triumph, as they have also have brewpubs in Pennsylvania.

Brewery	Beer	Style / ABV	Untappd Check-ins
Artisan's Brewery and Italian Grill	West Coast IPA	American IPA / 6.2%	33
	Light Ale	American Blonde Ale / 4.2%	27
Basil T's	Maxwells Dry Stout	Stout / 5%	97
	Rosie's Tail Waggin Pale Ale	American Pale Ale / 5.25%	72
Gaslight	Perfect Stout	American Stout, 4.8%	42
	Eliminator	Bock, 8.5%	40
Harvest Moon	Full Moon Pale Ale	American Pale Ale / 5.6%	170
	Jimmy D's Firehouse Red	Irish Red Ale / 5.5%	140
JJ Bittings	WHALES IPA	American IPA / 7%	289
	Avenel Amber	American Amber / 4.7%	164
Krogh's	Alpine Glow Red Ale	American Amber	126
	Old Krogh Oatmeal Stout	American Stout	90
Long Valley	German Valley Amber	American Amber	161
	Lazy Jake Porter	American Porter	153
Ship Inn	Best Bitter	English Bitter	96
	ESB	ESB	77
Trap Rock	Ghost Pony	Helles Lager / 4.6%	164
	Hathor Red Lager	Marzen / 5.3%	150
Tun Tavern	All American IPA	American IPA / 6.8%	240
	Devil Dog Pale Ale	American Style Pale Ale	182
Uno Chicago Grille	Ike's IPA	American IPA	93
	Uno Amber Ale	American Amber	66

In the brewpubs, the IPA is still quite popular, being the most checked in beer at 4 of the locations. In total, there are 11 different styles of beer out of the 22 top checked in beers (50%).  Great diversity, if you ask me.

This is definitely just a small snapshot of the beers offered throughout New Jersey.  Driving around the Garden State, you may be surprised what you will find.  If you're traveling the Jersey shore in Monmouth County, you can find an wild ale brewed with mulberry at Carton Brewing or an imperial porter brewed with locally roasted coffee at Kane Brewing.  Head out west to Milford, and you'll find yourself in a British style pub, and swear you were in Cardiff.  Heading down to Cape May?  Stop in Tuckahoe Brewing and Cape May Brewing for a smoked porter and a cranberry wheat using Pinelands cranberry.

There's tons of great beer in New Jersey, and it's only getting better.  Keep posted, as I will be taking a look at these Untappd stats every 4 months or so.  Cheers!

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