A Thank You Note

I want to thank so many people for pushing me into a new career. I want to thank Nate and everybody from Family Business Beer Co. for being amazing and reminding me what craft beer can be - a family.

I want to thank Tony for taking a chance on someone who knew next to nothing about beer or brewing on this kind of scale. For teaching me all that he could in such a short time and during a freaking pandemic.

I want to thank the women, especially my mom, who encouraged me along the way.

I want to thank my family and friends for believing in me. I want to thank my partner, Greg, for being so proud of me before I even officially became the AB at MudHen Brewing Co. He was gushing to people in Santa Fe about me while I shyly drank my beer on our 5th anniversary trip.

I had no idea where this path would take me, but I knew it would be a good journey. And it has been. I've met so, so many people in this industry who are accepting and lovely people. I think that's what I love so much about craft beer - the utter community of it all. No matter what you brew, or what your role is, the community is there.

Sometimes, we take a path and discover somewhere along the way that it's not ours to take. So, we diverge and try again.

I've been taking new paths again and again since leaving my home in 2014. Some of them were good paths, but most were not. And what is life if not a journey to find where you belong? This assistant brewer path has been arduous, yet exhilarating. I loved showing up to work to just get things done. Whether it was as menial as cleaning kegs or something like racking over a beer I've never racked over before, there was always something to learn. Something to take away. Something to get to know (I'm looking at you, Holly Beach Wheat). Something to feel proud of. It was a constant learning environment and I've always learned best doing things hands-on, preferably repetitive.

I'm sad to say my journey at MudHen has come to an end, but I wish them all the best. The beer is amazing, the food is terrific, and the staff love their craft. Each and every one of them has passion for this and there's no place like it in Wildwood. There never will be, either.

I'm so thankful, so grateful for the opportunities afforded me and the education I've received. 

A Day In The Life: Canning Days

Canning days can be long days, but they are exceptionally rewarding. There's nothing quite like seeing your days' work get piled up and stocked as you go!

So, what all occurs on a canning day? Well, Tony and I usually get in around 9-9:30AM to finish setting up the canning line. We plug everything in: electrical, printers, air, and water. Make sure everything's working properly, and then we can start sanitizing the actual canning line.

Hoses, lines, and surfaces that beer will touch all get sanitized after a quick rinse and prior to beer ever seeing the equipment.

After that's done, it's time to let the beer flow! As soon as we start, we usually fill two kegs before closing the valve to the keg filler and letting the beer go into the fill heads on the canning line. Then it's a matter of dialing in the fill heads, getting the perfect flow of beer into those cans, and off we go!

The filled cans then get lidded, seamed, rinsed, and blasted with air to dry them before I grab them off the conveyor to weigh them. Cans that make weight get sent down to be date-coded (check out the bottom of your Wildwood Haze or 1883 IPA cans for an example), and labeled.

After we've got a good steady run of cans coming down the conveyor, I hop over to the labeler to ensure nothing gets snagged or jammed.

Naturally, Tony and I need a couple extra hands on these days, so we usually have a couple people come in to help out on the depalletizer and with packing out. The four of us make a terrific team! Everyone knows their jobs and we work with one another to make the day go as smoothly as possible (our lovely social media extraordinaire also pops in to film and grab lunch orders, which is a lifesaver).

When a pallet is stacked to fulfill a distribution order, Tony and I peel away from the entire line for a moment to wrap and strap. Once the order is snugly strapped to the pallet, I use our amazing little forklift to get that pallet into the cold box as soon as possible (especially in this heat). Rinse and repeat for any and all distribution orders. The last thing we put on a pallet is beer for in-house sales, and that gets stored in our cold box, too, until we can stock our To Go fridge up front by the main bar.

Once our day is done, we clean up and start putting unused consumables away. The whole line gets a top-down rinse to get beer out of any nooks and crannies it might be hiding in before we mix up detergent to thoroughly wash everything that beer went through. The canning line then gets dried off and put away for next time!

And that's a canning day in a nutshell.

Enjoy your freshly canned 1883 IPAs this weekend, or grab some Wildwood Haze before we run out!

Just The Two of Us

I knew this summer was going to be hectic. Tony and I both knew it - we called it last year mid-pandemic. Everyone else who worked in the brewpub last year knew we'd be slammed every single day from Memorial Day to Labor Day (and probably until mid-December, if I'm being realistic).

This summer, we've been breaking records in how much beer is getting poured in a week. And that's to be expected as the brewpub grows and more people come to visit us, as well as things transitioning to a post-lockdown era.

We've also been brewing at least 3 days a week, racking at least 2 days a week, and cleaning kegs every other week. Usually these things are happening concurrently.

And it's just the two of us back there doing all of it. I'm trying to learn even more about brewing, while jugging at least one other task every single day I'm clocked in as the assistant brewer.

For instance, Wednesdays were originally designated as my "office" days. Where I'd come to the office, sit at a computer, order necessities like cans or kegs, write blogs, revise training materials for our servers, and then hold quick Beer Chats in the afternoon with our evening front-of-house crew. I even wore cute little office outfits for my first 3 weeks doing this.

Now? I'm juggling being in the brewery while getting my office tasks done because there is just so much to do to keep us on track with production and distribution. So, no more cute office wear! It's brewery clothes all day e'ry day!

The two of us can handle it - are handling it! And with poise, if I do say so myself. (Just ignore my red, sweaty face when I emerge from the brewery like a schmapp-covered goblin, please & thank you.) But the impending expansion brings thoughts of more people working back there with us, having a blast, and making some of the best craft beer New Jersey has to offer. 

We're just a team of two, right now, and an amazing team of two, but someday we'll be an amazing team of more.

Never Too Early For Beer

The past few weeks, our Marketing Coordinator and I (hey, I'm Liz, the assistant brewer, and I write all these blogs!) have been working the Wildwood Farmer's Market every (very early) Saturday morning. Loaded up with beer in packaged cans (while supplies last) and Crowlers, we've been greeted by folks who have either been to MudHen the night before, have plans to head over there later in the day, or are some of our year-round local regulars.

It's always great to hear when people have been to the brewpub and had a great experience, especially since we're entering our busiest season of the year.

But the number one comment we get from Farmer's Market patrons is, "it's too early for beer!"

Which only makes me smile. While it is before noon, I love a good beer tasting either before or during breakfast - just so long as my mouth's not still full of toothpaste. In fact, Tony sometimes greeted me behind the bar in my first several months at MudHen asking, "Beer for breakfast?" with a taste of something he was working on or just about to tap.

Although we don't make a habit of drinking beers first thing in the brewery - there's wayyyyyyyy too much to get done in the day! - when I clean our tap lines first thing in the morning, I often taste the beer that's pulled through after the cleaning process to ensure it tastes the way Tony intends.

To me, having a beer during breakfast hours is no different than having a mimosa or Bloody Mary. Beer packs just as much nutrients, vitamins, and minerals into a pint as some other breakfast items you might enjoy (like a bowl of oatmeal). And beer was a household staple to so many cultures over the course of history that having a beer for every meal wasn't taboo that long ago.

Still, I know it's not for everyone to have a taste of beer at 9am on a Saturday, but for those who enjoy it: come see us! We have samples and several different varieties for sale.

Maybe we'll just have to get matching shirts that say "It's never too early for beer!" to wear to the Farmer's Market.

(And by the way? Our Captain Doug's Porter pairs so well with the breakfast sandwiches sold on-site.)

Summer Swelter

If you don't know by now, my name is is Liz and I write these blog entries detailing my job as the assistant brewer at MudHen Brewing Co.

Summer is full-swing and we are going at 90mph to ensure we have the freshest beer on the island ready to enjoy for all of you who come to see us.

Not only that, but we've finalized our GABF competition entries for this year, and are working on getting those packaged up and out the door!

It's just the two of us back there, sweating and joking and brewing the days away. As I type this, Tony's working on racking over a new batch of the 1883 IPA that will be on tap probably first thing Thursday morning. I'm taking a little break from cleaning kegs in order to get this posted, since I'll be back at it tomorrow in there cleaning even more kegs and helping out with a double brew day.

The summer is going by faster than I expected, but after an entire year of utter chaos, I guess it's to be expected. 2020 was the year that wouldn't end, and 2021 is the year that flew by!

We're nearly out of the Kitty Cats & Fireworks 4-packs, which isn't surprising how popular it is. But those of you looking for MudHen cans, have no fear - we'll have the Wildwood Haze NEIPA back on shelves before August, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I'm sure I'll have a blog detailing another canning day when that happens, so if you're reading this: stay tuned!

Red, White, and Blueberry

The Fourth of July is upon us once again, and the island is filled with beach-goers galore. I even got my first - and hopefully only - sunburn of the season this past weekend.

We're gearing up production back in the brewery in preparation for the masses to stop in and have a beer, which means quicker turnovers of our Fruitie Patootie and IPA varieties.

To complement the banners and flags that will be waving this weekend, Fruitie Patootie blueberry will be tapped on Thursday, July 1st. The following evening, we'll have our imperial IPA Kitty Cats & Fireworks on tap, just in time for you to stop in and have a glass before the fireworks!

If IPAs or fruited blonde ales aren't your thing, we have Shorezy - a crisp, clean, refreshing summer ale sitting at a quaffable 4.9%. It's quickly becoming a seasonal favorite, so make sure you have one before it's gone.

I know I'll be sipping on one after a long day of brewing!

Cheers,

Liz (Assistant Brewer)

15 Thousand Steps

15 thousand steps is the number of recorded steps I took last Wednesday, the day after we canned our Kitty Cats & Fireworks imperial IPA. It's a 9% ABV that certainly doesn't drink like one. That gorgeous blue, red, and silver label will be adorning local store shelves soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

We'll also be tapping it in-house on 4th of July weekend, so make sure you stop by to get a crowler or growler to enjoy.

For a limited time only, you can still stop in to the pub and purchase a 4-pack (or 2) of it while supplies last.

Not coming down to the shore and worried you might miss out on Kitty Cats & Fireworks this year? We sent several barrels out for distribution, too, so you can always use Beer Finder to check if we're pouring anywhere in your area.

Summer is officially here, and there's no better way to celebrate the season than with our imperial IPA, featuring Centennial hops.