It’s an interesting, educational and even more importantly a fun experience when reporting on place that you’ve frequented in the past out of genuine appreciation for the establishment. This was the case with my recent visit to Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant. About a year or two ago I set out on a quest to visit all the brewpubs in New Jersey for a meal and to try their beer. Gaslight immediately caught my attention as one place that I would want to revisit. Since that first visit I’ve been back a handful of times and know exactly what I’m there for.
Today had a lot of the similarities of my normal visit to Gaslight. A flight of 4 samplers of their home brews, a lamb burger (that’s delicious by the way) and filling my growler with Pirate Pale Ale. There’s a few things I could have written about Gaslight before today. I could tell you about the good food, especially the afore mentioned burger. I could tell you that they have tasty well made homebrews and they are not shy about trying new styles, today they had a BELGO Pale Ale that was new to me. What I also loved is they always have a great selection of guest taps. Today they had the limited Sierra Nevad Hop Smack Double Black, Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, Stevens Point Whole Hog Six Hop IPA, Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Oak Aged Dunkel and Ramstein Blonde. All this plus various bottles of imports and other craft beer.
But on this day I had the pleasure to meet and speak with owner Dan Soboti Sr. and really left impressed on how involved he is in the New Jersey Craft Beer scene. From having the late famed craft beer pioneer Michael Jackson attend their grand opening in 1998 to learning that his son, the current in house brewer, is the President of the New Jersey Craft Brewer’s Guild (njbeer.org), I left with a whole new appreciation for Gaslight.
Oh, and for you homebrewers out there, Gaslight also runs U-Brew from withing the restaurant. So while you pick up your homebrewing needs from some real pro’s you can enjoy some good food and great beer!
The Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant is located at 15 South Orange Avenue in South Orange. They can be found online here.
Too bad they treat their customers like $hit! I'd been a Gaslight customer sinse they opened in 98 while still at SHU. Since then I'd sworn them off after 3 consecutive terrible experiences. Great beer, good food they should try respecting their customers. I'm not on an island with this, just check Yelp, google, etc.