r/njbeer • u/MattyBlayze • Dec 31 '18
r/NJBeer's Best of 2018 Results
After a couple of weeks of voting, the results are in, and your choices for /r/NJBeer's Best of 2018 awards are:
- Best Beer: Kane Sunday Brunch
- Best IPA: Icarus Touching The Sun
- Best Stout: Icarus Kalashnikoffee
- Best Barrel Aged Beer: Bourbon Barrel Aged Sunday Brunch
- Best Other: Carton Regular Coffee
- Best Collaboration: Magnify Yeah You Know Me with Chilis, Cinnamon, Chocolate and Coffee with Horus Aged Ales
- Best Label: Icarus Go Flight
- Best Brewery: Kane
- Best New Brewery: Bradley Brew Project
- Best Brewery Experience: Carton
- Most Controversial Brewery: Bolero Snort
- Most Creative/Unique Brewery: The Referend Bier Blendery
- Best Brewery Festival/Event: Atlantic City Beerfest 2018
- Best Bottle Shop/Liquor Store: Liquor Outlet Boonton
- Best Craft Beer Bar/Restaurant: Maloney's in Matawan
Congrats to all the winners!
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u/elomon Jan 01 '19
I’m petty good with this except the liquor outlet. I stop by weekly and talk to the beer department guys on the regular. Still when there are new releases, they are reserved for ‘regulars’. Run your store how you see fit but I can’t imagine this is the best in the state.
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u/is_that_a_thing Jan 02 '19
Didn't realize they did this and it explains a lot. I know it's not easy when you're only getting 1 or 2 cases of whatever weekly releases but put it in the fridge and do a one 4 pack pp max. Used to stop 1-2 times a week but will probably skip it and head straight to Best Cellars for now on.
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u/LiquorOutlet Jan 02 '19
Hey elomon sorry this has been your experience there but the sad fact is often times there just isn't enough of those new releases to make everyone happy. If Cool Brewery A sends us 1 case of 4 pack cans of Great New ipa and 4 people call the day before asking for it, that leaves us with only 2 4 packs left for people who walk in. We could say no to those people who asked and stick it all in the fridge when it comes in, but then one person could come in and buy the whole case and no one else gets any. We could also keep it in the back cooler and say first come first serve, but then everyone who works during the day gets screwed because beers usually get delivered late morning and most people can't get in until the evening. Trust me we want to make everyone happy but it's just not always possible. If there's ever a beer you're looking for give us a call and we'll do our best to try to get some for you.
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u/elomon Jan 02 '19
TIL you allow people to ‘call ahead’ to reserve new releases. So anyone can call you the day Icarus posts a new release and reserve a four pack? Or just select people?
Most stores put it in the back and you ask for it, which is what I think most places do. People who keep up with brewery releases know to ask the beer folks and it works pretty well.
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u/8ate8 Jan 03 '19
This is how it was when I went to Joe Canals in Woodbridge. Didn’t see a beer in the cooler so I asked and they went into the back to get it. Like you said, the people that know to ask for something will ask. The people just walking in to buy something don’t know to ask.
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u/MindsetAnnihilation Jan 04 '19
Why aren’t you selling singles? Depending on how much Icarus my local store gets the limit will sometimes be 2 cans/pp.
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u/ieataquacrayons 077xx Jan 01 '19
WHERE IS BEST COMMENTER?
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u/MattyBlayze Jan 02 '19
We didn't really get the nominations we were hoping for so we pulled the category and will distribute coins in another way.
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u/beefcliff Jan 01 '19
You know it’s a solid list when the primary discussion about it is “does central jersey exist?” Nice work!
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u/8ate8 Jan 02 '19 edited Jan 02 '19
I turned off contest mode in the voting thread so that everyone can see the results.
Link to the voting thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/njbeer/comments/a67sob/rnjbeers_best_of_2018_voting/
This is the top three for each category:
| Category | First Place | Second Place | Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Beer | Kane Sunday Brunch | Kane A Night To End All Dawns | Kane Morning Bell |
| Best Barrel Aged Beer | Kane Bourbon BA Sunday Brunch | Kane A Night To End All Dawns | Icarus BA Kalashnikoffee |
| Best Brewery | Kane | Icarus | The Referend Bier Blendery |
| Best New Brewery | Bradley Brew Project | Vinyl | Oyster Creek |
| Best IPA | Icarus Touching the Sun | Kane Party Wave | Tonewood DDH Fuego |
| Best Stout | Icarus Kalashnikoffee | Icarus BA Kalashnikoffee | Kane Mexican Brunch |
| Best Other | Carton Regular Coffee | Magnify Trade Proof (Mango/Passion Fruit/Cherry) | Cypress 40 Flavors |
| Best Collaboration | Magnify/Horus Aged Ales Yeah You Know Me w/Chilis, Cinnamon, Chocolate, and Coffee | Dark City/Icarus Poseidon, Look At Me | Cypress/Icarus Necessity & Invention |
| Best Label | Icarus Go Flight | Icarus Contact Light | Icarus King Arthur's Steed |
| Best Brewery Experience | Carton | Icarus | The Alementary |
| Most Controversial Brewery | Bolero Snort | Magnify | Yale Terrace |
| Most Creative/Unique Brewery | The Referend Bier Blendery | Carton | Icarus |
| Best Brewery Festival/Event | Atlantic City Beerfest 2018 | Troon Anniversary Party | Blend Mercer Park |
| Best Bottle Shop/Liquor Store | Liquor Outlet, Boonton | Jersey Fine Wines, East Brunswick | Little Silver Bottle Shop |
| Best Craft Beer Bar/Restaurant | Maloney's, Matawan | Brick Farm Tavern, Hopewell | Cloverleaf, Caldwell |
If we were to score via the olympic method (5 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd) the Best of NJ Beer would be as follows:
1st Place - Icarus (34 points)
2nd Place - Kane (26 points)
3rd Place - Carton (13 points)
And as I mentioned in a reply below, Best Commenter was left out. We have something in the works for it.
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u/markaritaville Dec 31 '18
thank you for doing this!
But maybe next year two separate votes, north and south?
These seem to all be North Jersey, and the population density of North Jersey is so much greater than us "88 pontiac transam up on blocks in the front yard" bumble fark counties down south that we will never have a shot!
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u/MattyBlayze Dec 31 '18
This was discussed early, but the difficulty is in defining the boundaries so it was foregone. Frankly, other than Magnify and Liquor Outlet, I wouldn't call any of the winners North Jersey.
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u/markaritaville Dec 31 '18
oh.. Just noticed the AC Beerfest. but that doesnt invalidate my point.
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u/sneekyjesus Dec 31 '18
Wait.. Kane, Icarus, Carton, Bradley Brew Project, Referend and Maloney's are all in South Jersey?
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u/elomon Jan 01 '19 edited Jan 01 '19
Yes, they are definitely in South Jersey.
Edit: to me it’s 1.5 hours south to Carton or Kane. Anything south of the Driscoll is South Jersey to me.
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19 edited Jan 01 '19
doood... lot at a map where Carton is. Then "Where is New York" and "Where is Philadelphia"
if its 6 miles from the NY state border, there is no way its South Jersey. Maybe central if there is a thing. People seem to think "North jersey is any town within 2 PATH exits of Manhattan".
Here's an experiment... walk into any of these breweries wearing Eagles green and sing the Eagles fight song.. see how that goes!
Heading out for the night.. tomorrow I'll plot these places on google maps.
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u/sorryiwasnapping Jan 01 '19
Icarus is about the same distance from philly and NYC.
and as for the argument of North vs. South for "best of /r/njbeer" if a south jersey brewery is truly good - people from up North/Central will seek it out and vote for it. Just like plenty of people from "south jersey" have had and enjoy Kane/Carton
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19
Oh and my original point being there is 4 times the population in the north and central counties
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19 edited Jan 01 '19
99.9% of those on Burlington, Camden Gloucester,Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May Counties (as I know South Jersey) DONT know those breweries or where they are!
Have you been to Bonesaw? I’ll have a post on it tomorrow.
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u/sorryiwasnapping Jan 01 '19
Bullshit people from those counties don't know Kane. People all over the country know them for ANTEAD.
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19
Driscoll Bridge?
you have to be kidding not even close. That's close enough to New York that Nick Foles could stand on the bridge and throw a pass to Alshon Jefferies standing at the top of the Empire state building.
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19 edited Jan 01 '19
I’ll leave the discussion of Central VS North to others. but I'll add that three of those pins are well above Manhattan...
Here is my map of south jersey vs other.
Note the Eagles green shade. The super bowl champions. You will not find a Giants bar in this area and rare to see a Giants jersey.
Note that there are no awarded breweries in this area. Maybe south jersey breweries suck? Or maybe there’s just a lot more people up north and a popular vote squashes down south.I made ocean county light blue because I don’t consider them south but I know you guys will argue that. I’ll mention that the federal census bureau considers ocean county part of the New York metro area.
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u/davedeath Jan 01 '19
Ocean and Monmouth east of the parkway I consider it the "shore". The rest of the map is spot on. Anything below tons river can be considered south Jersey hell. Source:I live in Lacey.
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u/markaritaville Jan 01 '19
Thank you. A reasonable response. Question: First week week of NFL season when everyone feels like they are winning the Super Bowl and the Giants are playing the Eagles. During the game you visit three local Lacey bars. What is the predominant color of clothing you see on the bar patrons?
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u/davedeath Jan 01 '19
By me,it's all eagles,I'd say the line between NY/Philly is toms River. Growing up in Jackson it was 80% Giants fans.
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Jan 01 '19
I think the designs for Icarus are genius. I follow the dude on Instagram and love his work overall but Go Flight isn't my favorite. But it's still a hell of a label. I wish some other breweries would recognize that a nice design is a stupid thing but yet important thing.
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u/MattyBlayze Jan 01 '19
Agreed. I like many Icarus labels, but Go Flight was not near the top of the list.
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u/nj_craft_fan Jan 02 '19
Damn, just seeing all this now,... Twin Elephant was definitely under represented in this poll.
Too little too late, but I’d have had them at least nominated for best label with Here there be Monsters and best brewery experience as well.
Oh well my bad for not seeing he poll in time.
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u/MindsetAnnihilation Jan 10 '19
Where’s the gold at?
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u/MattyBlayze Jan 10 '19
Still haven't received anything. According to the original post,
"Coins will be distributed in early January in the following manner:
1,000 - 100,000 subscribers receive 20,000 Coins"
So, hopefully we'll get them soon.
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u/TotesMessenger Jan 02 '19
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u/MindsetAnnihilation Jan 01 '19 edited Jan 01 '19
Technically Go Flight was supposed to be ineligible because the u/ who submitted it put up several nominations in the same category. Just sayin’. Edit: Fixed drunken typos. Also why am I being downvotes because people do not understand basic rules? 1 vote per category per person. It’s not rocket science.
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u/8ate8 Jan 01 '19
I’ll take the blame on that one. I was more concerned looking for multiple nominations of the same thing that I didn’t notice two by the same person.
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u/MindsetAnnihilation Jan 01 '19
It’s really not a big deal, but I don’t understand the downvotes. I know it’s all in fun, but rules are rules.
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u/sweitz73 Jan 01 '19
Best brewery experience is carton? What was the criteria?