Jersey Shore Breweries: Raritan Bay Brewing Review

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This post is updated in mid-September 2018, with new beers and more reviews!

Capping a week in which I visited 7 local breweries, I ended my tour at the relatively new Raritan Bay Brewing in Keansburg. It’s indeed the newest from the one I’ve seen this week as it opened in the spring of 2018. And it’s in the ‘Burg, 5 minutes from my house in Middletown! It’s also in the safer areas along Palmer Ave.

Raritan Bay Brewing is located in a nice red brick building, and as a nice addition, it has a shaded outdoor patio. Very cool if you want to enjoy a tasting flight or a beer. For such a young brewery, they had quite a wide selection of 12 beers. And while my favorites are the IPAs, a close second are Belgian ales and Raritan is really a surprising hit there! Something you wouldn’t expect here in the Bayshore.

To sum it up, here are my opinions about the beers I tried:

• C3 – Smooth IPA made with three hops, including Citra which gives it a refreshing summery flavor. At 6.7% it’s not very strong so you can enjoy it on a hot day.
• Billy Goat Bock – It’s rare to find bocks in Jersey micro-breweries, and this is an amazingly good one! Strong flavors, pretty strong for a bock (6.5%) and a very good choice for this fall’s Oktoberfests.
• Jack the DIPA – It’s the first double IPA I try at Raritan and it’s not bad. 8% with a mix of 5 hops including Citra and Cascade.
• Red Beerd – A nice Irish red ale… light and refreshing at 6%.
• St. Ann’s Abbey Ale – While a 6% abbey doesn’t really sound right, this is a great Belgian ale! As close as it comes to a session abbey. My favorite from Raritan Bay! And I actually found out they made a mistake and it wasn’t up to their standards, so they’re coming with a new, better batch (maybe a new name as well) this fall!
• Malbec Barrel Aged Saison – A saison with a kick. Interesting wine flavors coming from the red wine barrels.
• Steamboat Wit – Another outstanding Belgian beer, this time a witbier. Nice tropical flavors, and very smooth at 8%.

So for the first time at the Jersey Shore, a brewery that delights me with Belgians. I wish to see more IPA’s in the future, maybe a Belgian-style IPA? I’ll definitely come back.

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