Fröhliche Weihnachten

It's an annual thing, this Christmas party at Climax Brewing in Roselle Park hosted by Der Braumeister himself, Dave Hoffmann.

The ambience is totally fitting, if not totally upscale. This is a working brewery, after all--and the oldest Microbrewery in Jersey. Functional tables, metal chairs and you have to get up to get your own food and beer. On this night, you even had to go outside to get pizza. But few cared.

The food, provided by Dave and friends, was both good and abundant, and it included a separate dessert table that was overflowing like a German cornucopia.

The attendees, devoteés of Climax, friends of Dave (often both) drank, ate and kibitzed about beer, Christmas, 2018 and 2019 and the fabulous food. Among this group were Gretchen Schmidhausler, owner/brewer of Little Dog Brewing--and owner of a GABF Gold Medal for her stout, Tony Forder, Editor of Ale Street News and Mike Sella, brewer at JJ Bittings in Woodbridge, and erstwhile brewer at Pizzeria Uno on Rt. 1 in Metuchen (now a Tilted Kilt).

For a humble beer writer like yours truly, having the opportunity to chat with some of the brightest of luminaries among Jersey's beer cognoscenti was a special treat. Augmented by a few glasses of Dave's outstanding "Snow Plow," a 9% winter beer that was dangerously drinkable, I greatly enjoyed a few pleasant hours on the day after Christmas. And the Briess Malted Milk Balls were amazing! (If you know what Briess does in relation to brewing, you'll appreciate that.)

There is no question that Der Braumeister is Alte Schule (Old School) in his approach to brewing--and his approach to life. And while Tony Forder, Gretchen, Mike and I agreed (well out of Dave's earshot) that we all enjoyed an occasional NEIPA, there was more to beer than one style. Dave's "Snow Plow" was ample proof. And I seem to recall a version of it called "Cherry Snow Plow" in years gone by, which was also "slamming."

In fact, the only thing missing from yesterday's event was Dave's Mom Linda, with whom I thoroughly enjoy conversing, even though her conversation is noticeably bereft of some of her son's more, um, colorful, Alte Schule expressions.

Maybe next year...Happy 2019!