New York Time's-States Brew Pubs Enjoying Golden Days

States Brew Pubs Enjoying Golden Days By TAMMY LA GORCE THOSE who would place brew pubs on a list of 1990s relics with oxygen bars and salad spinners havent stopped by Kroghs here lately. The seasonal stout they make here, its like ice cream its so good, said Tom Corbett, a product manager at Panasonic who on a recent Monday evening was one of a dozen or so regulars at the brew pub an establishment defined in New Jersey as a restaurant with a brewery on the premises. And the pale ale its dry and hoppy, said Mr. Corbett, who lives in Sparta. It reminds me of Ireland. I like the way it smells. Thus, Mr. Corbetts nickname among the locals and out-of-towners who frequent the 3,000-square-foot, tavern-style restaurant for its selection of seven handmade ales and lagers: Pale Ale Tom. Like-minded beer drinkers better known by their chosen brews than their full names can be found at any of New Jerseys brew pubs, which are thriving after a shakeout in the industry that Adam Rechnitz, the owner of the 10,000-square-foot Triumph Brewing Company in Princeton, likened to the dot-com bust. There was this carnival atmosphere in the 90s, he said. People were making terrible beers and giving the industry a black eye. Eventually, they got handed their hats. The ones operating now are doing pretty good beer, said Mr. Rechnitz, who opened Triumph in 1995 after working for the enactment of a 1993 law allowing brew pubs distinct from microbreweries in New Jersey because they cannot sell their beer wholesale. Its like with any business, he said. The people who are passionate about what theyre doing do well. People who are in it hoping to make a quick buck dont. That may be especially true now. While the latest strain of foodie the locavores scour farmers markets for just-picked ramps, and coffee connoisseurs stray ever farther from Folgers and Maxwell House, beer drinkers have also been busy refining their palates. A study by the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo., shows the market for handmade beers grew 12 percent in volume and 16 percent in dollar sales last year nationally. Major breweries like Anheuser-Busch and Coors have even gotten in on the action; Coors makes Blue Moon, a Belgian-style white beer, and Anheuser-Busch produces a variety of seasonal beers and specialty brews. Accordingly, while Pale Ale Toms have become commonplace at New Jersey brew pubs, Budweiser Bobs may be on the wane. Still available among the guest beers, however, at the 3,500-square-foot Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant in South Orange are Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft, both in bottles, said Dan Soboti, brewer and co-owner. Gaslight, which opened in 1998, regularly brews the flagship varieties Bison Brown, Pirate Pale Ale and Perfect Stout in addition to the nine other homemade beers, including seasonal specialties, it offers on draft. When we first opened we sold a lot more of the bottled beer, Mr. Soboti said. Sales of our house beer have gone up dramatically, and it continues year after year. People are still very much into beer learning about it and pairing it with food. To that end, brew pubs no longer fit into the category of restaurants that dole out plastic cutlery and Wet-naps with meals. Reservations are recommended for dinner at the 11-year-old, 6,000-square-foot Trap Rock Restaurant and Brewery in Berkeley Heights, where Charlie Schroeder, the brewer, is on view behind a 220-gallon copper vat making one of the restaurants eight lagers and ales in a tiled-floor space the size of a toddlers bedroom. The restaurants dinner entrees, all in the $25 range, include organic chicken breast from Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff and day-boat scallops with saffron risotto. At the 5,000-square-foot Harvest Moon Brewery/Caf in New Brunswick, which opened in 1