The Referend Bier Blendery, a Hopewell brewing company focused on making spontaneously fermented beers in the Belgian style, is set to open Dec. 3 with between three and five beers available to sample on cask in the tasting room.
James Priest of The Referend says his plan is to be open on the first and third Saturday of every month from 2 to 8 p.m. at 1595 Reed Road in Hopewell. On those open days, he’ll feature two or more of his Berliner Messe spontaneously fermented Berliner-style beers, including Alleluiavers, aged on New Jersey peaches and nectarines, and Gloria, which features a liberal American dry hopping.
Priest said he plans to roll out seven Berliner Messe variants over the next year, featuring different fruits and barrel treatments. It’s possible that The Referend will also be serving Jung, a young lambic-style beer, as well as a supplementary single varietal dry-hopped version, but that will depend on how the beer develops in the barrels.
This winter, The Referend will be brewing 500 barrels of wort to be 100 percent spontaneously fermented and aged in oak barrels, gradually coming to maturity between four months and four years, depending on the style of beer.
The Referend’s first bottled offerings will finish conditioning in early 2017, and will be sold in traditional corked and caged, 750-ml green glass bottles.
Also opened recently is Troon Brewing Company, which is situated on Hopewell’s Double Brook Farm and which supplies a rotating selection of beer to the adjacent Brick Farm Tavern. On tap recently were a wheat ale, a double IPA, a saison and a porter.
Troon Brewing Company is filling growlers in the brewery Fridays through Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m. 130 Hopewell-Rocky Hill Road.
