Heavyweight....Worth the Trip!

Beer stores are a frugal place. The environment for shelf space is very competitive. The Beer stores only want to stock their shelves with products that they can sell in volume, thus all the Budweiser and Coors Light. In a perfect world, you would be able to walk into any beer store and find the best microbrewed beers in the country. Sadly, this is not the case and one of the best brewery's in the country is not even stocked at my local beer store. Thankfully, on a recent road trip, I stopped at a beer shop in a different part of the state and found a few styles of beer from my favorite local brewery, New Jersey's own Heavyweight Brewing Company. Heavyweight makes some great beers. I remember the first time I tried a bottle of their Belgian style ale, Lunacy. I went back to the beer store the next day and special ordered a case. Incredible beer. Then there was the time I went to Firewaters Pub at the Tropicana Casino and found Heavyweight's Porter, Perkuno's Hammer on tap. This is one of those richly, dark, creamy beers that makes a stout lover drool. This sampling caused another special order of a 24 bottle case.

But, I digress. My recent road trip found me staring at the shelves at two other Heavyweight styles. Old Salty and Stickenjab. Old Salty is a barley wine. I love barley wine. The extreme warming sensation of a barley wine will cheer you up on the dreariest of winter days. Old Salty is probably one of the best Barleywines I have ever tried. The maltiness is second to none. I even tried a taste test comparison with Young's Old Nick Barley Wine from England. No comparison. Old Salty beat Old Nick hands down. I have a collection of Old Salty 12oz bottles from 2002 and 2003. I am aging them for a few years to see how they turn out. Barley Wine is supposed to "ripen" with age as time brings out even more character in the beer.

The next beer, Stickenjab, is a German style Altbeir. This beer is bottom fermented and cold stored for four weeks. My wife pretty much only likes one kind of beer. She loves Guinness Stout. That doesn't stop me from offering her a sip of every beer I try. When I gave her the Stickenjab, I almost didn't get it back. Her comment was, "I could drink this beer, this is good." After I did get the beer back in my hands, I agreed with her. Stickenjab was very drinkable at 6.4% alcohol by volume. I enjoyed this beer and kept the pint glass away from my wife. Afterall, who knows when I will be able to get another one.

Heavyweight Brewing is located in Ocean Township, New Jersey. Visit there website at http://www.heavyweightbrewing.com/ .