Nothing Gold Can Stay

The last line (and title) of one of The PubScout's favorite Frost poems is particularly apropos as the title of this column, because gold in the form of a popular local brewer will not be staying.

Mike Sella has brewed great beer at Uno's on Rt. 1 in Metuchen for the better part of fifteen years, not counting a short stint at Basil T's in Red Bank. When the job at Uno's opened up again, he was back at Uno's doing what he did best for beer lovers who loved what he did. From his popular beers to his popular beer dinners to his popular Cask events, Mike Sella was a beer lover's brewer.

But those days for beer lovers at Uno's are over, as the company has been sold to a Tilted Kilt franchise that will be taking over in early December. I don't know how many franchises TK has in this country, but I doubt that any of them have their own breweries. Uno's had 170 around the world, and only one had a brewery in it--the one where Mike Sella made his mark.

The PubScout may be a wizard with words, but corporate numbers aren't his game, so I don't know if TK would see this as a unique marketing opportunity to exploit or not. And neither does Mike Sella, which is why he will not be staying. Not that a visit to the Tilted Kilt is a bad idea, with or without a brewery attached.

So he's leaving. That's the bad news. The good news is that he isn't going far. He'll be plying his ancient craft not far away from now on at a venerable brewpub in Woodbridge known as JJ Bittings. He came out of successful negotiations recently with owner Mike Cerami, and he expects to be mashing in before long.

Which recipes he'll be bringing and which he'll be keeping hasn't yet been determined. But Bittings has won awards for some of its beers (the outstanding Bad Boy Oktoberfest springs immediately to mind), so it is doubtful that that seasonal will be replaced. There are others on the Bittings menu that have developed local followings as well. But if Sella can hit some solo homeruns with the likes of his porter and his IPA--and he now has a kick-ass DIPA in his repertoire--the future at Bittings for beer lovers could be very bright indeed.

The PubScout wishes Mike Sella, the new brewer at Bittings, all the best as he changes his digs. While it is true that Nothing Gold Can Stay, it's good to know that it's not going too far way, either.