NJ beer: 5 local pilsners New Jersey craft beer lovers need this summer

Alex Biese | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Jersey Brewed: Hidden Sands Brewing Company 'Jersey Brewed' explores Egg Harbor Township's Hidden Sands Brewing Company

Get excited, everyone: we are officially in the midst of pilsner season.

As we enter the dog days of summer, beer aficionados should find themselves turning their attention to the crisp, dry and refreshing flavors found in the pilsner style of lager beers.

While American pilsners have typically gotten a bad name thanks to basic beers such as Miller Lite that typically fall under the pilsner heading, New Jersey's craft beer boom is giving the pilsner style plenty of its credibility back.

For proof, here are five New Jersey fresh pilsners you should be knocking back this summer. Cheers!

1. Sideshore, Kane Brewing Company, Ocean Township

New Jersey standard-bearers Kane Brewing Company created a new summer classic with Sideshore, combining classic old world flavor with a depth, complexity and consistency that's become the company's signature over the years.

There's a playful amount of dankness in Sideshore, while the beer still refrains enough crispness to make it an incredibly pleasurable summer sipper as part of a flight in the company's bustling Bloomsbury Avenue tasting room and brewery.

Jersey Brewed: Kane Brewing We stop by to see why Kane Brewing ranks among the states top craft breweries

2. 800' Pilsner, Hidden Sands Brewing Company, Egg Harbor Township

When the beer began flowing over at Hidden Sands Brewing Company down in Egg Harbor Township earlier this year, the company's entirely unfiltered line of brews immediately stood apart thanks to its water drawn from a 650-foot well in the Atlantic City 800-foot sand aquifer.

The very special flavor and textural components of that water come through clean and clear in the company's finest beer, 800' Pilsner. Utilizing German pilsner mats along with Hallertau and Tettnanger hops, this is a perfectly refreshing beer for a hot summer day along the southern Jersey Shore.

(For more on Hidden Sands Brewing Company, watch the episode of "Jersey Brewed" at the top of this story.)

3. Free Parking, Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing, Cherry Hill

Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing in Cherry Hill is known for its playful spirit, found in both its flavors (think its summery sweet Funnel Cake Boardwalk Ale) and its branding (earlier this month, they released a half-dozen new ales to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Matawan-area shark attacks).

APP's 'Jersey Brewed' stops by Forgotten Boardwalk Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing brings Jersey Shore flavor to the south Jersey beer scene

But their entry into the pilsner scene is delightfully straightforward. Free Parking, with a mild 4.6 percent ABV and incredibly approachable 45 on the IBU scale, is a mellow and friendly creation that both newcomers and seasoned beer lovers could spend a long, lazy afternoon with.

It's also worth noting that this beer was such a big hit over Memorial Day weekend at the Watermark lounge on the Asbury Park Boardwalk that the bar's supply of Free Parking ran dry well before the weekend was out. Find out what all the fuss was about.

4. Press, Dark City Brewing Company, Asbury Park

Asbury Park's Dark City Brewing Company has long made its reputation on big, bold flavors, from its foundaitonal Bond Street Brownie American brown ale to its brand new collaboration with Lakewood's Icarus Brewing, the sour India Pale Ale Poseidon, Look at Me.

That's what makes Press, the company's pilsner introduced this spring, such a pleasant surprise. It's a no-nonsense, crisp and straightforward pilsner that works beautifully well as both a stand-alone pint and as a grounding force in a tasting room flight alongside some of Dark City's wilder acts of inspiration.

5. 1:46, Bradley Brew Project, Bradley Beach

Bradley Brew Project just opened on Main Street in Bradley Beach in June, and they've been hard at work putting fresh pilsners into the local market.

The brewery launched with American-style pilsner This is Hard But Making Beer is Fun!, and this weekend they expect to bring back 1:46, a fruited pilsner clocking in at a significant 7 percent ABV and brewed with pink guava puree.

(The beer's name, by the way, is the birth time of owners Chelsey and Mike Ziolkowski's youngest daughter, Talula.)

The company recently teased an upcoming "crispy German pilsner" on Instagram, the company's fourth pilsner release in just a handful of weeks.

The upcoming beer, Bradley Brew Project tells us, was brewed in honor of late Bradley Breach community member John McLoughlin, owner of the contracting company which built the brewery.

That new beer, described by the brewery as a dry, crisp and straightforward German pilsner, is expected to be ready in three to four weeks.