It has been a little more than a year since I looked into the Untappd stats from New Jersey breweries. I am using the Untappd stats to get a broad look into the top Garden State beers that are sold.





A quick summary of how I compile the data: I just pick the top 2 checked-in beers from Untappd from each NJ brewery. In the last analysis I excluded seasonal beers, but this time I am including the seasonals. Previously, I had also included the number of check-ins, but there was no useful information I could extract from one brewery have more check-ins than another brewery.





It will be interesting to see how this list changes after the fall season. I am predicting this fall season to be huge for seasonals (shocking, right?), and we will see them creep up the Untappd check-in lists.





The New Jersey Craft Beer website was also a huge help in this endeavor. I was able to ensure I had covered all the breweries that NJ has to offer. Definitely check them out.





In this round, the total NJ brewery number is 30, which is up from 24 breweries last year. The only brewery from the last round of analysis that is not in this round is Turtle Stone Brewery. They seem to have quietly disappeared.





Let's look at some charts comparing NJ beer by county, ales and lagers, ABVs and beer styles.





New Jersey Beer by County

Middlesex County tops the list with Harvest Moon Brewery and Cafe, Hearthstone Grill, JJ Bitting Brewing Co and Uno Chicago Grill and Brewery. Morris also has 4, but 2 of the 4 are contract brewing out of High Point Brewing.





Comparison of Ales vs. Lagers

From the top 2 checked-in beers from each NJ brewery, 53 were ales and 7 were lagers



ABV Distribution From the top 2 checked-in beers from each NJ brewery, the majority were between 6 and 6.9% ABV. 5 to 5.9% ABV was a close second.

Style Distribution Beer styles are a hot topic these days. Its no surprise, the top checked-in NJ beer style is IPA. Ambers come in second. The variety here is fantastic!

You can read the full list of top checked-in beers below. Angry Erik Brewing Company (new to list) Hop the Fence (American IPA), 7.5% ABV Ravol (American Amber / Red Ale), 6% ABV Artisan's Brewery and Italian Grill West Coast IPA (American IPA), 6.2% ABV Light Ale (American Blonde Ale), 4.2% ABV Basil T's Brew Pub and Italian Grill Maxwells Dry Stout (Stout), 5% ABV Rocket Red Ale (American Amber / Red Ale), 5% ABV (new to list) Boaks Brewery Monster Mash (Imperial Stout), 10% ABV Two Blind Monks (Belgian Dubbel), 7% ABV Bolero Snort Brewery Blackhorn (Black Lager), 6.5% ABV Ragin' Bull (American Amber / Red Lager), 5% ABV Cape May Brewing Company IPA (American IPA), 6.0% ABV Centennial IPA (American IPA), 7.3% ABV (new to list) Carton Brewing Company Boat Beer (Session Ale), 4.2% ABV 077XX (Imperial / Double IPA), 7.8% ABV Climax Brewing Company India Pale Ale (American IPA), 6% ABV Extra Special Bitter Ale (Extra Special/Strong Bitter), 5.5% ABV Cricket Hill Brewing Company Hopnotic IPA (American IPA), 6.5% ABV East Coast Lager (Helles Lager), 4.2% ABV Flounder Brewing Company (new to list) Hill Street Honey Blonde Ale (American Blonde Ale), 4.85% ABV Saison du Flounder (Saison / Farmhouse Ale), 5.4% ABV Flying Fish Brewing Company HopFish India Pale Ale (English IPA), 6.5% ABV Farmhouse Summer Ale (American Blonde Ale), 4.9% ABV (new to list) Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant Abbey Normal (Belgian Dubbel), 6.9% ABV (new to list) Pirate Pale Ale (English Pale Ale), 5% ABV (new to list) Glasstown Brewing Company (new to list) Glasstown Founders Ale (American Amber / Red Ale), 6.9% ABV Cedar Swamp IPA (American IPA), 6.9% ABV Harvest Moon Brewery and Cafe Full Moon Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), 6.8% ABV Jimmy D's Firehouse Red (Irish Red Ale), 5.1% ABV Hearthstone Grill (new to list) Red Hand Red Ale (American Amber / Red Ale) unknown abv Red Hand Imperial Saison (Saison / Farmhouse Ale) unknown abv High Point Brewing Company Ramstein Double Platinum (Weizenbock), 7% ABV Ramstein Winter Wheat (Doppelbock), 9.5% ABV (new to list) JJ Bitting Brewing Co. W.H.A.L.E.S IPA (American IPA), 6.5% ABV Avenel Amber (American Amber / Red Ale), 5.25% ABV Kane Brewing Company Head High (American IPA), 6.5% ABV Overhead (Imperial / Double IPA), 8.2% ABV Krogh's Restaurant and Brew Pub Alpine Glow Red Ale (American Amber / Red Ale), 4.5% ABV Old Krogh Oatmeal Stout (American Stout), 4.5% ABV Long Valley Pub and Brewery German Valley Amber (American Amber / Red Ale) unknown abv Lazy Jake Porter (American Porter) unknown abv New Jersey Beer Co. Hudson Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), 5.8% ABV Garden State Stout (Stout), 6.6% ABV Pineland Brewing Company (new to list) Pitch Pine Ale (American Pale Ale), 5.9% ABV Evergreen IPA (American IPA), 5.7% ABV Rinn Duin Brewing Company (new to list) Sandpiper (English Brown Ale), 5.1% ABV Trinity (Scottish Ale), 4% ABV River Horse Brewing Company Tripel Horse (Belgian Tripel), 10% ABV Hop Hazard (American Pale Ale), 6.5% ABV The Ship Inn Best Bitter (English Bitter) unknown abv ESB (Extra Special/Strong Bitter) unknown abv Trap Rock Restaurant and Brewery Ghost Pony Helles Lager (American Light Lager), 4.6% ABV Hathor Red Lager (American Amber / Red Lager), 5.3% ABV Tuckahoe Brewing Company Dennis Creek Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), 6% ABV (new to list) Steelmantown Porter (Porter), 6.5% ABV (down 1) Tun Tavern All American IPA (American IPA), 6.5% ABV Devil Dog Pale Ale (American IPA), 5.2% ABV Uno Chicago Grill and Brewery Ike's IPA (American IPA) unknown abv Uno Amber Ale (American Amber / Red Ale) unknown abv Village Idiot Brewing Company (new to list) Teddy Hopper (Imperial / Double IPA), 8% ABV Thong Remover Tripel (Belgian Tripel), 9.5% ABV

The distribution of ales and lagers is no surprise to me. In general, ales spend less time in fermentation and conditioning and have a faster turnaround than lagers. Ales have also had more popularity in the "craft beer" community the last 15 years, but I expect to see lagers reaching higher on this list in the coming years.