Over the years, Uno Chicago Grill & Brewery has staked out territory as a champion of real ale, annually staging spring and fall cask events.
The most recent one at the Middlesex County brewpub last March saw a healthy crowd polish off 60 gallons of Jersey-brewed cask beer in about four hours.
Now Uno's brewer Chris Percello is presenting a first-ever summer cask event on Saturday, with another Garden State lineup that this time stirs newcomer Bolero Snort Brewing into the mix. (Bolero launched as a contract beer company back in January, with its beers made at High Point Brewing in Morris County.)
Which came first, homebrewing or craft brewing?
The best answer may be that they're twins – not quite identical, certainly more than fraternal – arriving ever so close together, with craft beer growing a little faster than homebrewing, yet homebrewing never existing much more than a whisper away.
And like any close family tie, especially among twins, one preternaturally knows what the other's thinking and doing.
More practically, it's safe to say homebrewing helped launch the craft brewing industry, and virtually on a daily basis it creates new commercial brewers, while the taste for craft beer helps attract people to the hobby of brewing at home.
For Brett Mullin, the carboys in the garage of a home where he was helping redo a basement begged the question.
What are those?
From where, exactly?
Home. Yes, you can make beer in your garage, the homeowner said.
Impressed and curious, Brett, then barely past his 18th birthday, was hooked on the idea and decided to give making beer at home a shot.
The Garden State Craft Brewers Guild returns to the battleship USS New Jersey for the 17th incarnation of the organization's festival.
As followers of the home-state brews know, this event at the Camden waterfront is the only beer festival in the state to exclusively feature Jersey-brewed beers.
This year, the guild has added a VIP session ($55, tickets are limited) stocked with a dozen cask-conditioned ales, in adition to the regular admission ticket ($45).
Admission includes a tour of the battleship (find tickets here). Music again is the Cabin Dogs.
Last year saw the lineup of breweries at the festival increase by five, reflecting the growth in the state's craft beer industry. You won't find any new brewery additions this go-round; none of those in development were licensed in time. Nonetheless, if you're going to the festival, keep your ears open because you're likely to hear about new breweries in development.
Bragging rights are always part of the prize whenever you're named a contest winner.
For winning homebrewers who claim a top prize of making beer on a professional brewhouse, those bragging rights get some extra lift when the beer you eventually make gets tapped for public consumption.
Such was the case Wednesday night at Iron Hill brewpub, with the tapping of Buccaneer's Bounty, an American brown ale dressed up with coconut and coffee that Gloucester County homebrewers Shawn Kaderabek, Mark Furfaro and Martin Webb brewed to take first place in this year's annual Iron Brewer contest.