Tuckahoe Brewing Company is located on Oceanview-Woodbine Rd in Dennis Township – get off the GSP South at Exit 17, continue south on Rt 9 for about seven minutes, make a right on Rt 550 , go through one light, and then a left onto Stoney’s Court – keep an eye out for the company’s banner.
TBC has been brewing and selling beer locally in Cape May and Atlantic Counties since January, but this Saturday, 4-14-12, was their first official complimentary tour-and-tasting, an event which the owners plan to continue on alternating Saturdays until summer hits. Brewing and bottling to meet an expected increase in demand will keep the staff busy weekends. So, you’ll just have to get a growler filled or visit a local establishment to sample any of TBC’s beers.
Two of the four owners were working the floor and manning the taps today : Jim McAfee and head brewer Matt McDevitt. Tastings consist of four selections from the brewery’s four currently available beers : its flagship Dennis Creek Pale Ale, the coriander-and-chamomile-accented Marshallville Wit, its Steelmanville Porter, “best enjoyed with friends sitting around a pinetree bonfire on bench seats ripped from an old van” or the New Brighton Coffee Stout, flavored with both Honduran and Sumatran grinds to give it an unmistakable coffee flavor – you can have one of each, or four of one, whatever you’re feeling at the moment.
While you’re sampling their beers, either one of the co-owners will gladly given you the fifty-cent tour, showing off the three-barrel system in the brewing area in back. You can relax and listen on a bench seat that does in fact look like it was ripped from an old van. McDevitt will elaborate on the details of their recent upgrades (food-grade oxygen and an upgraded chiller), which according to him have improved the quality of all the beers, but the Pale Ale in particular, giving the hop profile an extra boost. “It’s gone through a real evolution recently.It’s almost like the third different version of the same beer.”
As their product evolves and improves, the public will have plenty of opportunities to take notice;TBC has a lot on its plate the spring : next Saturday, the 21st, a benefit at Yesterday’s in Marmora to benefit the Brigantine Marine Mammal Stranding Center from 3 to 6 p.m. Next item on the agenda is tentatively scheduled for May 5th , a celebration of the beginning of summer at the Deauville Inn in Strathmere with TBC’s Belgian-style Marshallville Wit on tap. Next : the Garden State Brewfest at the Mount Carmel Fairgrounds in Berkeley Heights on Saturday May 12th from 2 to 6 p.m. Also on the 12th, Handcrafted at the Perkins Center for the Arts, an evening of artistry accompanied by craft-beer-and-food pairings in Collingswood NJ. Finally, to wrap up the pre-summer season, a benefit for the Atlantic City Ballet at Sandi Point in Somers Point on Saturday June 16th.
After passing along all this information, and working his shift today at the brewery, McAfee was planning on phone calls and personal visits to some Wildwood bars later this afternoon, and I ‘ll give you the same advice he gave me : if you’re planning on visiting Westy’s, O’Donnell’s Pour House, Tuckers or any other local Wildwood watering-hole this spring or summer, ask for Tuckahoe Brewing Company’s beers. If they aren’t there already on tap, hopefully they will be soon – these brews are first class. Help a brewer out!
More information can be found on their website or Facebook. Visit in person at 9 Stoney Court, Ocean View/Dennisville.