On Saturday, November 9th, club members visited High Point Brewery in Butler, NJ, home of the Ramstein beers. This was an open house day, where they debut their Ramstein Oktoberfest. They only have 4 of these open houses a year, and at each open house, they debut their latest concoction. High Point follows the strictest of rules for making real German beer. By law, they can only use 4 ingredients: Water, Wheat or Barley, Hops, and Yeast. They do not use any adjuncts or flavoring ingredients, and do not artificially carbonate. All of the flavor comes from the brewing process and the yeast.
Greg Zaccari, founder, has worked in a brewery in Southern Germany, and has brought his expertise and proprietary yeast to the US to start High Point Brewery. Originally, he wanted to open his brewery in High Point, NJ, because of its pristine location and beautiful landscape. However, the water was not pure. So they moved to Butler, NJ, where they had access to pure mountain water.
The tour that Greg gave was very educational, and he was very approachable, in case you had additional questions. They had served 5 or 6 different styles of beer. The hefeweisen and doppelbock were two of my favorites. They sell growlers anywhere from $5 to $40, depending on how ornate you like it. You get 2 tickets at the door, then pay about $4/ cup. There were other vendors that sold pickles, flattened bottle ornaments, stone hearth pizza and sausages.
We all had a really good time! The size of the brewery is similar to Cricket Hill and also difficult to find. It's hidden in the back of brick-lined warehouses.
This is what happens when you drink too much!!
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