The devil is up the creek in South Jersey

       I rolled into Devil's Creek Brewing Co. in Collingswood, New Jersey a day after their third birthday party (the same day my granddaughter Ella was turning five!).  No beer for Ella but plenty was flowing at the brewery's taproom.
      Collingswood is a dry town; the fancy restaurants on the main drag are all BYOB.  The only exception to the local prohibition law in the Garden State is an establishment for the manufacture of an alcoholic beverage.  The brewery is allowed to sell what they make here, by the glass, the growler, or cans to go.  No  guest taps, no wines or ciders, no food made on the premises, no TV screens, or anything else that seems pub-like.  But when they opened three years ago, Craig the bartender said

the lines went two blocks back. The novelty of getting a foamy mug without BYOB is still going strong.

   The 7-bbl fermenters need a double batch from the 5-bbl brew kettle in order to fill.  The production space and the taproom out front have the corner suite of a new building called The Lumberyard (what the space was for eighty-odd years, until Lowe's and Home Depot did it in).  The owners, Kathy Ganser and Anthony Abate, are actively involved in the business--she brewed one of the IPAs and applied her graphic arts background to designing the distinctive artwork here.
     Well.  My first four-oz flight had to be Birthday Cake (4.3%, 12 ibu), a cream ale putting out intense notes of raisins and cinnamon.  They made this for the second birthday in 2018 and had to bring it back.  A cleansing sip of water before the second taste, a delicate Pear Gose (5.1 %, 6 ibu).  Round three of the four flights was Caramel Apple Brown (5.4 %, 20 ibu), a malt-forward ale that delivered apples to the nose and caramel to the tongue--a medal-winner at a recent festival in Atlantic City.  The last was McBeer, an Irish take on the brown ale style (4.5%, 22 ibu) with honey for alcohol and sweetness.

The devil supposedly seen in the area in the 19th century looked a bit like a dragon, a chicken, and a kangaroo, according to art director Kathy.  I was delighted to find, among the glassware for sale, a pint in this curvy shape.  Most breweries sell tumblers, tulips, maybe pilsner glasses but this shape is a personal favorite.
Cheers to New Jersey!

(Visited 05/19/19)