Michael Izzo

@MIzzoDR

MOUNT OLIVE – After about a year in their 10,000-square-foot Sand Shore Road building, Jersey Girl Brewing owners Charles Aaron and Mike Bigger are thrilled to take the “Coming Soon” sign off their front door.

“We’re very excited for the weekend,” said Aaron. “The outpouring we’ve received on social media has been huge. For months we kept getting the same question – when are you going to open? And now that people know the date and have seen our progress, they’re as excited as we are.”

It took a year and a half for Jersey Girl Brewing to go from idea to its Friday opening. The brewery was first incorporated in November 2014, and Flanders residents Aaron and Bigger began scouting locations in early 2015, landing on their Sand Shore site in the spring of last year.

From there came a lot of waiting before everything was approved and in place – from a use variance to a brewing license – and brewing began about three weeks ago. The 30-barrel brewhouse can produce more than 900 gallons per batch. The brewery is not allowed to sell food but anyone taking a tour of the brewery can purchase a flight of beers to sample or a pint of any one particular beer. The brewery sells beer in 64 ounce growlers, 1/2 kegs or 1/6 kegs for take-away consumption.

Jersey Girl will be the second brewery to open in Morris County following High Point Brewing in Butler. The Long Valley Brew Pub also serves its own beer, but as a brew pub, operates under different rules.

Mount Olive toasts Jersey Girl Brewing

With other breweries just outside county lines – including Magnify and Cricket Hill in Fairfield, Angry Erik in Lafayette, and Man Skirt in Hackettstown – and others poised to open up soon – like Czig Meister in Hackettstown, Twin Elephant in Chatham, and Krogh’s in Newton, which is associated with the popular Sparta brew pub – it’s a great time to be a craft beer lover in Morris.

“It was a long, hard road to get here,” Bigger said. “But there’s a lot that goes into opening up a brewery - permitting, equipment, hiring - and you don’t want to rush that.”

The extended waiting period also gave Bigger and Aaron time to carefully select their head brewer, Jodi Andrews-Stoudt, who brings 23 years of professional brewing experience and 11 Great American Beer Festival medals to Jersey Girl.

“I think our own timetable for opening was faster than reality, but nothing unforeseen. But as a result of the wait we’re in a great place,” Aaron said. “If we moved faster, we would have had to make a snap decision on hiring a brewer and wouldn’t have gotten Jodi. Some things you can’t put in a business plan.”

Aaron said while it was not a requirement for Jersey Girl’s head brewer to be a woman, it was a happy coincidence.

“She actually found us,” Aaron said.

Bigger said while he and Aaron certainly contribute their ideas to Jersey Girl’s beers, they happily cede to Andrews-Stoudt when it comes to the brewing.

“We have our input, and Jodi can just build the beer from that,” Bigger said. “I think it’s a good collaboration, but we really value the experience she brings.”

Jersey Girl is starting out with six employees, two full-time and four part-time, in addition to Aaron and Bigger.

For opening weekend, they will have four beers on tap, a golden ale, pale ale, extra special bitter, and a chocolate coffee porter.

While the four won’t necessarily be the brewery’s flagships, Bigger said the brews were chosen to provide a variety for opening day.

Aaron said the lighter ales are a great introduction to craft beer novices.

“If you’ve never done craft beer, this will be perfect,” Aaron said. “You start with the golden ale and work your way up to the darker beers.”

Several other beers are already in planning stages.

“I’m pretty excited about this IPA. We’ve got a lot of different hops going into that one,” said Bigger who has been homebrewing for more than two decades. “Also a Belgian Tripel and a nice, fresh, clean pilsner.”

Bigger and Aaron previously said they planned to have four or five flagship brews, along with rotating seasonal beers that take advantage of distinct New Jersey flavors like blueberries and cranberries.

Jersey Girl’s newly-finished taproom features a large walk-up bar, a view of the brew house, and several leather couches.

To accommodate crowds during what Aaron and Bigger are expecting to be a busy opening weekend, servers will be set up both in the taproom and also back in the brew house, which will serve primarily as a growler filling station.

Extra tables will also be set up in the brew house for opening weekend crowds, which Aaron said can also be used down the line to host community events.

“We want to be a nice place in town for people to go to,” Aaron said. “A community destination.”

Jersey Girl’s big debut week begins Thursday evening with a special VIP night for friends and family, a “thank you” to all who have helped.

“The support we’ve had, from local brewers helping us upright tanks to everything on social media, it’s all we could have hoped for,” Aaron said. “It makes us happy we got into the brewing business, and that we did it in this community, for sure.”

Following opening weekend, Aaron and Bigger will host a tap takeover at Morris Tap and Grill in Randolph Tuesday evening, where they will introduce the drinking public to their first set of brews.

“We’re really looking forward to that. It’ll be a coming out party for us in the community as a new brewery,” Bigger said, adding the restaurant will be the first to carry Jersey Girl beer. “I can’t wait to see our beers on tap.”

Bigger and Aaron said the plan is to self-distribute kegs to northern New Jersey before branching out to other parts of the state.

“Hopefully people keep asking for us and we’ll go from there,” Aaron said. “We want to get our beer to the shore by the summer months.”

They’re also already discussing canning their beer for purchase, which they view as the logical next step after distributing to bars and restaurants.

But right now the pair is just looking forward to serving their beer out of their taproom this weekend.

“All of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this, and when you see your beer you forget all that stuff,” Bigger said.

“When we open the doors on Friday and pour that first beer, that’s going to be a highlight for us,” Aaron said. “And what people think of our beers, what they like and what they don’t, we’re going to listen and it’s going to shape the future of our styles.”

Jersey Girl Brewing is located at 426 Sand Shore Road.

Tasting room hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Go to http://www.jerseygirlbrewing.com/ or check for updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com