USA, NJ: Invertase Brewing Co. targeting October 10 for its grand opening

Phillipsburg will officially have a brewery this fall, lehighvalleylive.com reported on August 18.

Invertase Brewing Co. is targeting Oct. 10 for its grand opening. The brewery at 51 N. Broad St. has been under development for months as it transforms from a former daycare into a literal beer laboratory.

Owners Stephen and Karen Zolnay, of Stockton in Hunterdon County, are scientists as well as homebrewers – he worked as a biochemist for 25 years, she as a diagnostic virologist at a children’s hospital in Boston. Karen Zolnay is the brewery’s yeast expert and will have a lab to experiment with the ingredient inside the brewery.

The brewery is named after invertase, an enzyme that starts the fermentation process. The logo is a stylized version of invertase’s molecular structure.

Stephen Zolnay said Invertase this week passed its health inspection and got its certificate of occupancy. They anticipate getting a manufacturer’s permit from the state within days so they can begin brewing, and a permit to sell within the next month.

The October grand opening is being planned in conjunction with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, which picked a date well enough in advance so Invertase can tackle any problems as they start up. Stephen Zolnay said there will be a soft opening ahead of the formal ceremony.

The Phillipsburg brewery will start up just a few months after the Lehigh Valley lost a brewer.

Salmon Pants Brewery in Allentown announced in July that it was getting bought out. It closed at the end of the month after a private event with friends and family to finish off the remaining beer.

Partners Jonathan Rotger and John Patello sold the Salmon Pants name and pledged to invest in other local projects, according to a Morning Call report.

Salmon Pants was in operation less than a year: It opened in November 2018 at 100 E. Susquehanna St. It marketed its brews – which included a lemon drop Czech pilsner and porters in flavors like coconut, tiramisu and lychee – as “new age” alternatives to hop-heavy IPAs.

19 August, 2019