Conclave Brewing opens in Raritan Township Aug. 2015

Beers at Conclave Brewing in Raritan include Hoppy Saison, Mexican Morning, Espresso Milk Stout and Hop Ritual Pale Ale.

While a Belgian lambic or a Vermont ale might be a fine choice for a hot summer day, New Jersey offers its own quality local brews for the beer drinker.

Untappd.com, a social media site used by more than 3.2 million beer enthusiasts, provided us with data on the highest-rated New Jersey breweries, based on user ratings over the site's five year history.

Conclave Brewing, located in Raritan Township, received the highest rating, 4.03 out of 5 stars. They also had one of the highest-rated beers, Gravitational Waves, and India Pale Ale with a rating of 4.44 stars.

Conclave began in July 2015 after a few homebrewers chose to take their work to the next level, said Carl Alfaro, head brewer.

"We love that there are so many great breweries in New Jersey ... to set the bar high," he said.

Second-rated Kane Brewing Company in Ocean Township dominates the list of top-rated beers, with 18 out of top 20 coming from the brewery. Variants of Kane's barrel-aged imperial stout, A Night to End All Dawns, which took gold at the 2016 World Beer Cup, earned between 4.45 and 4.78 stars.

Michael Kane quit his job in finance to turn his homebrewing operation into Kane Brewing in 2011. The brewery produces American-style beers with Belgian influences and can be found on tap across the state.

"When you're focused on certain styles and brew with passion, it's great to see that people are enjoying it as much as you are," he said.

Augie Carton and his cousin founded Carton Brewing Company, the third place brewery, in 2011 with an eye on providing solid brews for their hometown of Atlantic Highlands. The brewery's Cafe Y Churro cream ale was another highly-rated beer, scoring 4.44 out of 5 stars.

"In New Jersey, the typical coffee order is milk with two sugars," Carton said. "So following that we made a pale cream ale with a sweet coffee base, then put it on vacation with cinnamon and vanilla."

He said he appreciates Untappd ratings because they tell him whether drinkers are enjoying the beer in the present moment rather than at an objective distance.

"A good Untappd rating doesn't mean a good beer, it means that beer was part of a good time," he said.

Backward Flag Brewing Company in Forked River and Magnify Brewing Company in Fairfield were other highly-rated breweries. See below for a complete list of popular New Jersey breweries.

Erin Petenko may be reached at epetenko@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @EPetenko. Find NJ.com on Facebook.