USA, NJ: Wild Bones Brewing Co.’s variance approved by Morristown’s Board of Adjustment

Four friends are well on their way to opening the town’s first brewery after completing a major step in the process last week, the Daily Record reported on June 27.

The variance for Wild Bones Brewing Co. was approved at Morristown’s June 21 Board of Adjustment hearing.

The brewery will be owned and operated by four friends; Alaine Anderson, 30, a designer for Hofmann Design Build in Morristown; her husband Scott Anderson, 32, an accountant for Kings Food Markets and beer buyer for End of Elm down the road from the brewery; Anthony Necco, 32, a beer buyer for Kings Fine Wine & Spirits, and Steven McConnell, 29, a manager at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The Andersons and Necco live in Morristown, while McConnell lives in Morris Plains.

Alaine Anderson will seve as operations manager, and Scott Anderson will be the tasting room manger, also handling accounting and sales. McConnell will be head brewer (“And mad scientist,” he added), while Necco will also be a brewer and handle merchandising.

“Scott and I have been thinking of opening a restaurant for about 10 years,” Alaine Anderson said. “Once we were introduced to Steven and Anthony and saw what they were homebrewing, and we love craft beer, we decided to go for it with them.”

The brewery’s name came lyrics from two songs from New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem.

“Anthony and I put those two words together a while back when we started homebrewing,” said McConnell, who spent a decade as a touring musician. “And it just stuck.”

McConnell and Necco began brewing after they had trouble getting their hands on rare beers and decided to just make the ones they wanted to drink themselves. They brewed in a garage out of a five-gallon setup that Necco got as a Christmas gift. By the third year, they were perfecting complex India pale ales.

“I tend to sink my teeth really hard into something,” McConnell said. “So once I started brewing, I read 20, 25 brewing books. It was a real jumping off point.”

The 5,000 square-foot space they leased to run the brewery in Morristown, located at 95 Morris St., was previously an auto repair shop.

“We really decided we wanted to do this about two years ago,” Alaine Anderson said. “And when we saw this place we said ‘hey, let’s go for it.’”

While the town had some questions for the quartet, they were open to welcoming a brewery to town.

“Because of the hours of operation, we’re never open past 10 p.m., they didn’t seem to have a problem with it,” McConnell said.

“Looking on social media, there’s a real demand from people for a brewery or a brew pub in town,” Alaine Anderson said.

Mayor Tim Dougherty said the town is thrilled Wild Bones chose to open their brewery in Morristown.

“I have no doubt they’ll find success in our vibrant community, which has its share of beer drinkers,” Dougherty said. “The fact that a group of young entrepreneurs saw this sort of opportunity in an old auto garage leaves me filled with optimism. It is this type of energy that that drives communities forward, which the town will continue to support through public and private investments.”

Wild Bones plans to be a “hop-forward brewery,” focusing on IPAs and pale ales, along with farmhouse ales, which will allow them to experiment with wild yeast strains and incorporate local ingredients into their recipes.

“We also plan to do a lot of barrel-aging, putting stouts in whiskey and wine barrels,” McConnell said. “Everything under the sun that we want to drink, we will make. We’re taking a selfish approach.”

The quartet said they will have one or two flagship brews which will always be available, but the rest of the taps will be devoted to whatever beer they’re in the mood to make. A few ideas already in the works are takes on sorbet and ice cream cones.

Wild Bones still has a long road to opening. They must now turn the auto shop into a brewery and tasting room, completely renovating the space. The entrance to the brewery will be the current garage bay door, which they plan to keep intact. The brew house, on the left side of the building, will be visible from the street when the doors are open. The right side of the building will house the tasting room. A staging area and bathrooms must also be built.

After construction is complete, they will move in equipment for the 15-barrel brew house, only after which will they be allowed to file for a license to brew on site with New Jersey’s Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The limited brewery license allows consumption of beer on-site following a tour. They would not be allowed to sell food, though they could sell their beer to-go in growlers, bottles or cans, and self-distribute to bars and restaurants.

If all goes well, the process will allow them to start brewing next spring, opening in about eight to 10 months, with eight rotating taps available for consumption in the tasting room.

In the meantime, they are registered with the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild and can go to a couple of beer festivals to discuss their soon-to-open brewery, though they cannot share samples.

If Wild Bones takes off like the owners expect it to, they might be the start of a trend for the town.

“We’ve heard of others looking to open a brewery in Morristown,” Alaine Anderson said. “If all goes well we could very well be the start of a brewery town.”

25 June, 2017