E-Malt.com News article: USA, NJ: Bolero Snort opens as the first craft brewery of Bergen County

Bolero Snort will be the first craft brewery of Bergen County, one of several cropping up in New Jersey as the state becomes an increasingly hospitable place for brewers, nj.com reported on February, 27.

Right now, Bolero Snort's Ridgefield Park facility serves only as a distribution center. The brewing is being done on a contract basis at High Point Brewing Company in Butler, where Greg Zaccardi has been brewing Ramstein Beer since 1994.

"They have a really great reputation, and we kind of look at this as our mentoring phase," Bob Olson, one of the partners, said. "So why not learn from one of the best?"

They will start out with two offerings: Ragin' Bull, an American amber lager, and Blackhorn, an American black lager.

"We kind of decided to cater to the everyday drinker with the amber ale," Olson said. "It's a classic style, but we have a couple different malts in there that sets it apart, kind of our own unique spin on the style.”

"The American Black Lager is our more creative beer. You don't see that kind of style as a flagship—a lot of people do it as a seasonal or one-off."

At events all this week, they'll be offering special versions of the beer — Blackhorn aged on coffee beans and vanilla, or Ragin' Bull with hazelnuts, depending on the night and location. The beers are their own take on classic styles, and Olson and Maiorana refined the recipes while collaborating on homebrews.

Andrew Maiorana is the company's brewer, though, moving from homebrewing into a six-month program run by the American Brewers Guild. Olson describes himself as the more experimental brewer, quick to throw anything on the boil, while Maiorana leans more traditional. But they say the two styles meet in the middle.

"You can have a crazy beer, but if there's not that foundation to build upon, it's going to fall apart," Olson said.

Permitting costs for breweries in New Jersey are among the highest in the nation, and it's had a chilling effect on their footprint here. A 2011 census done by the Brewers Association ranked the Garden State 42nd in the U.S. for breweries per capita, with just 26 breweries in the state — one per 338,150 residents.

But things have been changing for Jersey brewers.

Until last January, you needed a $15 permit to brew your own beer at home. Until September, craft brewers — defined as those who produce fewer than 6 mln barrels a year — faced a host of antiquated regulations limiting their ability to give samples or sell beer on site.

"The laws that got passed back in September really show the state's commitment to the industry," Olson said. "I think we're just starting to see the ground break for the craft scene in the state."

Slowly, the tides for breweries in the Garden State are turning, and New Jersey's craft beer scene is being buoyed by a nationwide trend toward the consumption of better beer.

Bolero Snort hopes to capitalize on the state's growing thirst.

"As densely populated as the state is, there's nothing but room for growth," Olson said. "And I think the industry's sentiment is that it's not me trying to take away the tap line from another craft brewer: It's us trying to educate the consumer and giving them that experience that there's more to beer than Bud, Miller, Coors."

Right now, the brewery is juggling the beers between a single 30-barrel fermenter at High Point's facility, and they expect to crank out around 300 barrels in 2013, starting with draft-only and eventually graduating to bottles.


06 March, 2013