Race Day Recap
It’s 530 am and we’re headed down to the race start. The weather is a balmy 60, overcast skies and a cool mist; the water temp was around 65. Lovely day for a tri. Being that my gut was stocked with beer, the ballast should provide enough stability, and my wetsuit enough buoyancy to get me through the swim. And it did; one of my faster times actually. The bike was a 24 mile round trip, boring out and back course. Managed to crank out 18.4 mph; but it was a super flat course so that was to be expected. And I died on the run. Took the first two miles out at a 7:15, and 7:30 before I realized there was no way I was going to maintain that speed. Hobbled across the finish line with an 8:30 average. But I finished, and that’s worth a beer or two.
Brinx Jones Brewing Company (Vineland, NJ)
After the race, we realized that celebratory beers must be had so we went to a new nano that had just opened in the City of Vineland, NJ. You can tell that the city had seen better days, but the owner and brewer believed that with enough hard work, the city can shine again. We sat down with a flight of four at this artsy brewery and learned the story of how Brinx Jones got its name.
During the pet adoption interview, Brinx Jones (a dog) was so excited to be free of the pound and now in her potential forever home that she ran around the house in sheer bliss; knocking everything down including her new owner. There was really no saying “no” to Brinx after that.
Being that Brinx Jones is a new establishment, and they literally just had their soft opening the day before; their beer wasn’t quite perfected yet. The flight of four contained their Double IPA, the Belgian Dubbel, the Belgian Tripel and the Hefeweizen. All four were headed down the right path, but I’m sure they’re not where the brewer would like them to be. There were some off flavors in the Hefe and Dubbel, and the hop blend wasn’t quite right in the DIPA; but breaking in a system and scaling up is tough work.
Since the brewery is so new we’re going to withhold a rating for the time being. This time next year we would love to stop back and check out their progression. If you’re passing through Vineland give Brinx Jones a shot and let me know how their doing.
Continued annoyance of the brewery tour laws
NJ Brewery tour laws are super annoying. In order to skirt the manpower aspect of giving a tour, many breweries choose to play a video, or have an infographic in their brewery with the assumption that you will actually watch or read, and learn. In order to close the self-tour loophole the great state of NJ has seen fit to mandate that newer breweries must give an in person tour by a brewery employee. Such was the case with Brinx Jones. NJ needs to ditch the old ways, because this is getting annoying.
Tomfoolery Brewing (Hammonton, NJ)
There are no fools to be had at our next stop on the way back to Morristown; well maybe the people playing darts who are just a little tipsy? Jokes aside, this 7 barrel brewhouse located in Hammonton, NJ is home to some great brews. Tomfoolery is another ware house brewery with not a whole lot of style put into it, but makes up for the lack of aesthetics with a great selection of brews.
We selected the four most interesting sounding beers and went to work. Blood Orange Kolsch, Eastie Boys NEIPA, Salted Caramel Brown Ale, and the Mole Mexicana Stout. The Blood Orange Kolsch was mildly fruity, but left us yearning for more orange. Overall, the light body and tart aftertaste made for a great summer beer, but if it wasn’t named “Blood Orange” we probably would not have guessed the infusion. The Eastie Boys NEIPA was the run of the mill (delicious) hazy IPA with mosaic and citra for days. I wouldn’t travel for Eastie, but locals certainly do not need to travel for Easties NEIPA peers because Tomfoolery is making the real deal here; averaging a solid 4 out of 5 on Untappd.
Salted Caramel Brown Ale is our first brown of merit of this trip. Light malted body, with a pinch of caramel notes and a sweet and salty profile. If you’re a fan of salted caramel, you should really try it in liquid form. While we certainly enjoyed the previous three beers, none of them compared to Mole Mexicana. The Mole Mexicana is the house Cinco de Mayo beer; a “Mexican chocolate chili cinnamon stout.” The rich and creamy mouthfeel was flanked by a perfect blend of chocolate and cinnamon with a fair amount of heat in the back courtesy of habanero peppers. I’m not going to say it’s a God Complex (The North Brewery), but it’s certainly the closest thing that we’ve tasted thus far in NJ.
Tomfoolery might be a stale environment but these guys know their stuff. Break out the guitars, harps and violin because we’re going to go four rounds of Jarabe Tapatio out of five here.
Three 3’s Brewing Company (Hammonton, NJ)
Literally across the street and around the corner from Tomfoolery is Three 3’s. This brewery certainly had more style and atmosphere than Tomfoolery; but the brewery lacked a common normalcy of flights to keep pace with its name. That’s right, our flight came in a flight of three. Not the most common four, or a slightly less common five. Still slightly better than breweries that do not offer flights; but not by much.
- Midnight Oatin: Chocolate oatmeal stout. Not the best we’ve had this weekend, but not the worst. Perfectly average beer, not much else to say.
- Blueberry Saison: Melissa was really excited for this beer as it had a great color, and it had a good nose. But the blueberry flavor was not there. Not sure if there was never enough blueberry to begin with, or the flavor just dissipated too quickly.
- 3Sum: Literally purchased this beer just for it’s name. This DIPA was made with a triple C threat: Citra, Centennial and Columbus hops. It was best on flight, but not one of the better DIPAs we’ve had this weekend.
We’ve had Three 3’s before, and rather enjoyed our previous tastings. This line up on the other hand was not exactly what we were looking for. Not sure if we just picked the wrong beers, or if our previous experiences made this round feel underwhelming just by comparison. Either way, Three 3’s only receives a 3.33 (repeating of course) out of 5. But it’s proximity to Tomfooley, and our next stop does make it a good stop for the brewery body count; and let me know how your flight was.
Vinyl Brewing (Hamontown, NJ)
Only a few minutes away in the same town as Three 3’s and Tomfoolery (Hammonton) was our final stop of race weekend; Vinyl Brewing. There were a few more potential stops that would be only minor detours on the way home but since we’re cat parents we couldn’t spend the entire day away; it was dinner time after all.
We grabbed some food from the West End Grill (literally across the street) and a flight of four (looking at you Three 3’s). The food from West End Grill really hit the spot so we would like to recommend it if you’re looking for more than just pizza and you end up hungry in Hammonton. I’m glad we got takeout because the beer selection at the West End Grill is certainly not up to standard.
In today’s day and age, a compass isn’t really as useful as a GPS. But here at Vinyl Brewing, we were given the option to go Orienteering Without A Compass; in porter form of course. Well bodied, good flavor, but certainly not as interesting as the Glasstown Big Breakfast. Hooks is a 7%, Azacca + Galaxy IPA. Light body, hazy, with a fruity aroma and flavor. Not juice bomb, but certainly crushable.
Maximum Required Effort is another 7%, but a Belgian Tripel this time. Rich golden color, thick body, and a yeasty overtone. Yes, the 7% is below the normal Tripel threshold, but this beer held it’s own and you could even get a second pint without worrying it would knock you off your chair. Last up was Ged Rad sour ale. Mosaic dry hopped, lactobacillus fermented and a tart treat to finish up the flight. Sitting at 4.5%, the sour beer tasted of lemonade, and was both of our favorites. Perfect lawnmower beer (or post-race beer).
VInyl Brewing had a good range of styles, with average to above average beers but there wasn’t anything too captivating to keep my attention. Overall, it was a good stop and we think you could get through 3.8 extra innings out of 5 if you needed a place to watch the Yankees squeak out another victory. Also, the town of Hammonton is certainly worth your attention if you’re a Beerventurer adding to your brewery count. The three breweries are conveniently located within a tight proximity.
