Beer lovers have distinct tastes: a Coors Light fan won't touch a Sam Adams, and if you're a Bud fan, well, as they say, nothing else will do. If you're a member of the contingent of true beer lovers who just can't find a beer that satisfies their quench perfectly, help may be just a short drive away.
"The Brewer's Apprentice" is a brewery that does something no bar or liquor store can do: it allows the customer to be the brewer. The search for the ideal brew may not have been the force behind Wall Township resident JoEllen Bianchi's brainstorm to open the brewery, but with help from her mom, Brielle resident Barbara Hamara, and her sister Penny van Doorn, Aberdeen, this family affair is at the very least a unique business.
The brewery, you see, is one of a kind in New Jersey. It holds the first and only state-issued Alcoholic Beverage Control license permitting the activity. Make no mistake, this is not a bar or restaurant or drinking hole, it is a factory of sorts, a factory created for one reason: to make delicious beer.
And, for any beer fan who's attempted to create the perfect beer at home, the Brewer's Apprentice may solve more than the age-old "satisfy my taste buds" dilemma.
Take a walk through the Brewer's Apprentice, snuggled in the rear of Metro Plaza, Freehold, and see for yourself just how much equipment and time are necessary to make the perfect "brew for you".
Mrs. Bianchi, Mrs. van Doorn, and Mrs. Hamara do more than just take customers step by step through the brewing process, they welcome and encourage people - whether it be college buddies, couples or fellow beer drinkers - to enjoy the fun in brewing one's own beer. Making it fun and easy works well for this team of mom and two daughters, who never imagined they'd be in the beer making business until last year.
Mrs. Bianchi first came up with the idea to open a business, motivated mostly by a kind of boredom with her career as a teacher-waitress.
All three owners hold college degrees, but Mrs. Bianchi was the one looking for a career change. "I started drinking different beers at microbreweries. I got interested in it and started reading beer publication magazines, but home brewing seemed very different..." she said.
"Then I read about BOP's [brewing on premises] and I sought one out. I found one in Pennsylvania, went there and did it for myself. I thought 'what a great idea' for New Jersey," Mrs. Bianchi said.
The only problem was licensing; at the time, in May 1995, New Jersey did not offer such a license.
Then, in August, 1995, the legislation changed and the licenses were available.
"That's when we seriously started to write a business plan and applied for a license, which was granted."
And after one year of paperwork, searching for an ideal location, and about a $250,000 investment, on Dec. 7, the Brewer's Apprentice opened its doors. The first thing the owners found out, is, as Mrs. Bianchi puts it "no one knows what this will be like."
"The Brewer's Apprentice is a place where an individual comes to brew their own beer for their own personal consumption. We provide a kitchen for beer brewing," Mrs. Bianchi said.
The first thing all customers need is approval to brew beer - a home brewer's license - which is granted by the State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The six-question application requires a name, social security number, age, place of birth, address, and verification of possible beverage license ownership, followed with a signature.
The applications are simple to acquire; the Brewer's Apprentice has them readily available for customers. There is a $10 application fee required; response time for approval is about one week.
The brewery has a license for the premises, those brewers who use the premises must also have licensed approval.
The license remains valid for one calendar year, which equates to each brewer making 200 gallons of beer.
Once the application process is complete, brewers make an appointment to come into the Brewer's Apprentice ready for the two-hour process which will eventually lead to the creation of custom-made beer.
The first step is picking the recipe from the beer recipe book, which includes a tremendous variety of different type of beers.
For those who don't know the difference between pale malt and crystal malt, the ladies will sit with you and help match your tastes with a beer recipe.
"We ask you what you drink and what you buy when you're out and help you pick a recipe," Mrs. Bianchi said.
The brewery can not offer light beer in terms of calories, but there are recipes which match the taste of light beers.
The Bronze tap offers a wide variety of lagers including dry lagers and popular American styles including Bavarian Dry, Beechwood lager, Cerveza Buena, Czech Session Pilsner, Dobie Brown Ale and Dutch Gold Lager.
The silver tap consists of premium lagers and ales including Abbey Weizenbock, Aussie Lager, Bison Cream Ale, London Porter, Oktoberfest Lager and Red Brick Ale.
The [formerly] top-of-the-line gold tap recipes include Bilbo's ESB, Billy Goat Bock, Coal Porter, Gnarly Barley Wine, New England Chestnut Brown and Oclassen's Oatmeal Stout.
The licensed brewer is the only one allowed to brew, but that person can bring friends and family to watch and enjoy the process, Mrs. Bianchi said.
Each brewer is given a recipe sheet, which outlines the very, very simple instructions to make beer. More than one person can brew at a time; the shop has 6 kettles lined along the wall with plenty of room in the warehouse-type garage to work.
Once instructions are given, one of the Apprentice's workers will stay with brewers all throughout the process, if necessary.
Brewers first measure the malt, then measure the grains and grind them together. The ground is added to the kettles which hold 30 gallons of 160-degree water.
The grain-malt mixture is placed in a suspension basket, which is dropped in the kettle for one-half hour; once removed "you've made tea," Mrs. Bianchi said.
Extracts, such as glucose, are measured and added to the mixture which is now placed in a liquid vat, where the grains are removed. The mixture must then cook for two hours.
The recipe then moves to the hops, each type has a different acidity level and certainly a very distinct smell. The hops are boiled for one-half hour, while the beer mixture cooks. You then have what's known as wort, a pre-beer liquid, which must be cooled down before the yeast can be added.
When the beer comes out of the system, it is flushed out into a 20-gallon fermenter; each unit has a sterile plastic liner.
Once done, the customer goes home, asked to return in two weeks, when the beer will be done.
But the work doesn't stop there.
The beer, now bottled in the fermenter, is taken to a 68-degree temperature controlled vault-type room.
It goes into an air lock, which allows the substance to produce the beer product without any airborne pathogens.
The product is then moved into a similar room, this one much colder, to ferment and go through the cold filter process.
Once done, the beer is transferred into a steel keg and recarbonated for 24 hours.
As the beer process continues, so does the production.
Mrs. Hamara uses the two-week leeway to create the customer's choice of labels, personalized with the brand name of one's choice.
The customer then comes back for packaging. The beer produced in the process is enough for six cases of beer, 72 22-ounce bottles.
The customer washes the bottles provided by the brewery and fills the bottles via machine. Another machine allows the customer to cap each bottle and put a label on each one.
The capacity is triple what most home brewers are capable of doing in smaller confines with less equipment, Mrs. Bianchi said.
So far, the ladies said, the customers have been "very pleased" with their creations. Once enjoyed, for many there's no going back.
The brewery is not allowed to brew the beer for sale; nor are the customers permitted to sell their beer, but many come in groups and exchange bottles or cases for variety.
"We tell people to come and see what we're doing here. Some people think it's a supply house; some people think it's a restaurant. Everyone's so pleased with their beer," Mrs. Bianchi said.
Prices for brewing range from $125 per brew to $145 per brew. The fee is all-inclusive and includes everything but the $10 licensing fee, which is refunded to first-time customers.
For more information on the brewery, call 1-800-903-BREW.
"There isn't a taste you can't please; there is a beer for everybody here," Mrs. Bianchi said. "We have it all."
Posted: 02/06/97