Susan Bloom

Special to Asbury Park Press

OCEAN TOWNSHIP - Growing up in Sparta in Sussex County, Michael Kane, founder of Kane Brewing Co. in Ocean Township, always enjoyed his family’s beach house in Lavallette. “I spent the summers there and fell in love with the area,” said the 42-year-old Little Silver resident.

During his college years at Fairfield University in Connecticut, Kane fell in love with something else as well.

“My friends and I were beer drinkers and I spent the summer after my sophomore year backpacking through Europe with friends and visiting beer gardens in Germany, bars in Belgium, and pubs in Ireland and England,” he recalled. “I got exposed to a lot of different styles of beer.”

More:NJ beer: Kane Brewing Company's secret to craft beer success

More:NJ beer: Source Brewing in Colts Neck announces opening date

More:NJ beer: Why Carton Brewing is booming in Atlantic Highlands

Enthralled with the American craft beer movement taking hold in the late 1990s as well as the small breweries in Vermont which he toured while on snowboarding trips, he began brewing his own beer during his senior year in college. “I loved the art and science of it,” he said, “and thought it would be cool to open my own brewery one day.”

While pursuing an MBA at Notre Dame and working in finance in New York City, Kane continued to visit breweries around the world during his travels. After four years as an investment banker, however, and by that time married to his college girlfriend, Erika, he reached a pivotal moment.

“I realized that I wanted to build my own business and combine my desire to be an entrepreneur with my love of American and Belgian-style beers,” he said. After assessing facility space from Point Pleasant to Sandy Hook in 2011, “we found the perfect warehouse space with high ceilings in an industrial park in Ocean Township” and Kane Brewing Co. was born.

More:NJ beer: Local craft beer on tap at Prudential Center in Newark

More:NJ beer: Screamin' Hill Brewery keeps craft beer farm fresh

More:The Brewer's Apprentice, NJ's first brew on premise facility, is for sale

More:Asbury Park makes NJ's best whiskey, we'll drink to that

Quality is No. 1

Initially located in one building, “we now occupy almost 25,000 square feet across three buildings and have over 40 full and part-time team members,” Kane said of the company’s growth over the past eight years.

Putting their own unique spin on American and Belgian styles, “we specialize in hoppy and barrel-aged beers and make three core beers all year-round, including our best-selling Head High IPA, Overhead Imperial IPA and Sneak Box Pale Ale, plus 30 to 50 other varieties available in our tasting room,” he said.

Want to know what else you can find to eat and drink in Monmouth and Ocean counties? Visit our Table page and don't miss a thing if you buy a digital subscription to APP.com today.

Though Kane Brewing started out selling only to New Jersey-based bars and restaurants, “we now also sell our core beers to a limited number of liquor stores, with a pack of four 16-ounce cans priced from $14 to $16 depending on the variety.”

Brewing all of their beer in a 20-barrel brewhouse that overlooks their tasting room, “we make 600 gallons of beer at a time and brew four batches a day five days a week,” said Kane, whose company sold approximately 15,000 barrels in 2018. “We brew all of our beer onsite, sell only in New Jersey so that we can focus on our home state, and also sell and deliver all of our products ourselves to ensure consistent quality.”

Among other measures, “we fly out to the Pacific Northwest every harvest and hand-select the hops used in our core beers, set specific parameters for each beer’s flavor profile, and can and date-code beer every week to ensure its freshness,” he said. “All of these details and more help ensure that quality is No. 1.”

According to Kane, the local craft brew industry has experienced tremendous growth, especially in the last five years.

“When we first started out, there were probably less than 20 craft breweries in the state and now we’re one of 100, though we’re among the largest,” he said. “A change in New Jersey law in 2012 allowed people to drink more beer in tasting rooms and purchase larger quantities of beer to-go, which helped foster a lot of industry growth, though that growth is now slowing.”

Kane said IPAs, sour beers, barrel-aged beers and lagers are all currently popular and that many small breweries are now opting to only sell these styles of beer in their tasting rooms. “Interesting new flavor profiles are also popular right now, and we love to incorporate adders like cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla bean in our recipes,” Kane said, adding that New Jersey bars and restaurants have been highly supportive of locally-made beers.

Bob Burtchaell, co-owner of the Nip-N-Tuck Bar & Grill in Long Branch, is one of Kane Brewing’s most die-hard fans. “We were the first bar in New Jersey to offer Kane on tap eight years ago,” Burtchaell said. “They came to me and when I tasted what they had to offer, I was ecstatic about it because it was really good.”

Since then, he said, “I carry five to seven of their beers on tap at all times and customers love Kane beers in general and the fact that we offer that variety on tap.”

Burtchaell has been impressed with the Kane Brewing team. “From Day One, they’ve been wonderful to work with, are incredibly responsive and provide outstanding customer service,” he said, noting that his bar is the proud site of the Kane Brewing team’s annual anniversary party each fall. “They’re putting out world-class beers all the time and we’re delighted to partner with them,” he said.

Team effort

Among challenges, “it can sometimes be difficult to source the specific malt and hops we use and we’ve struggled to rework our production to keep up with demand,” said Kane, winner of the 2019 "Entrepreneur of The Year Award" from accounting firm EY in the manufacturing, logistics and distribution category in New Jersey.

In addition, while Kane oversees the company’s beer quality, new recipe development and strategic planning and wife Erika manages its marketing and HR functions, “there are so many breweries opening that it can be tough to find qualified employees. We’ve been fortunate enough to sustain and grow a great team,” he said.

Kane said that he’d love to expand the company’s retail sales. “We sell a lot of beer in our tasting room, but it’s only open for 17 hours a week, so we’d love to open for additional hours and perhaps expand the experience to other venues throughout New Jersey and potentially the tristate area,” he said. “And we just installed a one-barrel pilot system that will enable us to experiment with new recipes in small batches.”

Among the most rewarding parts of the business, Kane admits that “I never worked at a brewery before I opened one, but there hasn’t been a day when I’ve said that it wasn’t the right decision. I love working with our team and with Erika and it’s been great for our family,” he said, noting that their two young children are often onsite. “It’s fun to collaborate with other breweries and businesses and our customers are super supportive.”

Kane is far more modest about all of the accolades Kane Brewing has received, including the fact that its Imperial Stout, called "A Night to End All Dawns," was the winner of a 2014 Gold Medal and a 2018 Silver Medal in the wood and barrel-aged strong stout category at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

“We love that people enjoy drinking our beer and we enjoy sharing the experience with them,” Kane said of his company’s success. “It’s been a great team effort.”

Kane Brewing Co.

Location: 1750 Bloomsbury Ave., Ocean Township

Phone: 732-922-8600

Owners: Michael and Erika Kane

Opened: 2011

Website: www.kanebrewing.com