Sergio Bichao

@sbichao

SOMERVILLE – If you order a beer at Tapastre, a speakeasy-style bar in the basement of 1 W. High St., forget about Bud Light or Coors. They don't have any.

This is a craft beer bar with a rotating draft list of IPAs, imperial stouts and sour ales with such names as Dogfish Head Rosabi and Stone Farking Wheaton.

The bar opened eight years ago and has catered to the craft beer crowd for the past four. Owner Mike Proske, a craft beer enthusiast, says it was the right business move.

"It's been phenomenal. The amount of new people we get constantly due to the beers stuns me," he said Wednesday. "When we changed over from the macro breweries to craft we saw a 700 percent increase in beer sales. It was insane."

It's not a fluke. The craft beer wave has been riding high across the country. Last year overall beer sales fell 1.9 percent, but sales of craft beer, which are produced by small and mostly independent breweries, climbed 17.2 percent, to a nearly 8 percent share of the U.S. beer market, according to the Brewers Association.

New Jersey has nearly two dozen craft breweries, including Flying Fish, Kane, New Jersey Beer Co. and River Horse, whose bottles and cans can be found on the shelves of a growing number of liquor stores.

In addition to Tapastre, Central Jersey beer drinkers can find a wide selection of craft beers at such places as Northside Lounge in Manville, The Stirling Hotel in Long Hill and World of Beer in New Brunswick.

In an effort to get more people excited about craft beer, Tapastre is teaming up with one local brewery, Carton Brewing of Atlantic Highlands, for the second year for a craft beer and wing festival on Sunday.

Later this year, meanwhile, Proske returns to Division Street, the borough's downtown pedestrian plaza, for his second outdoor Oktoberfest craft beer festival on Sept. 26-28.

The Brew-Wing Fest took off last year based on a suggestion by former Courier News and Home News Tribune beer columnist Mark Spivey, Proske said. It pits Tapastre chef Carlton Greenawalt's wing sauce recipe against that of Carton founder Augie Carton.

Tapastre also will have 10 Carton beers on tap: Boat, a low-alcohol session ale; 077XX ("O-Dub"), a double IPA; BDG (Brunch Dinner Grub), a "food friendly" ale; Canyon, a southwest-style American adjunct lager; Hoppun, an American pale ale; SS2014, an imperial coffee IPA; Panzanella, a salted fruit and vegetable ale made with garlicky hops, tomatoes and cucumbers; Monkey Chased the Weasel, a sour ale from mulberries; GORP, an ale made with peanuts, chocolate and black raisins; and Epitome, a high-alcohol imperial black ale.

The event from 1 to 6 p.m. has no cover charge and no reservation is needed. A plate of eight wings plus a flight of five 6 oz. beers is $22. Full servings of beers are $6.

For more information call 908-526-0505.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com