NJ beer: New craft brewery opens in Red Bank

Alex Biese | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: Red Tank Brewing is NJ's latest brewery We get an exclusive sneak peak inside Red Bank's new brewery.

Red Bank is about to become a beer lover's paradise.

The bustling Monmouth County municipality will soon be home to as many as five breweries and brewpubs, with one operation opening Thursday, Oct. 18: Red Tank Brewing.

Located at 77 Monmouth St., Red Tank is the creation of John and Lovina Arcara, a Red Bank couple whose wedding photography business has been on Broad Street in town for nearly 20 years.

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Meeting at the brewery Wednesday afternoon, Lovina Arcara recalled driving through town with her husband three years ago, when he remarked that Red Bank was ripe for a brewery.

"That was it," she said. "The rest was history."

Housed in a former thrift shop location adjacent to popular bar/restaurant Jamian's Food and Drink, Red Tank boasts plenty of rustic chic with a Western European flair.

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"We wanted to go a little bit more glam for downtown Red Bank, because Red Bank is what it is," said John Arcara, "and (that meant) doing chandeliers, cool chairs, reclaimed wood on the ceiling — which (to get) we literally knocked on some lady's door in Freehold and asked her if we could buy her barn."

That same aesthetic can be found in the quartet of Red Tank's initial offerings: Chateau Saison, a farmhouse saison with orange zest at 5.5 percent ABV; Molly Pitcher American Amber Ale, a mellow take on a classic style with 5 percent ABV; Tempus Fugit Pale Ale, dry-hopped with Mosaic, Mandarina, Bavaria and Amarillo hops and clocking in at 5 percent ABV and St. James Trappist Dubbel, a Belgian-style ale at 8.2 percent ABV.

Each of these beers is a complex, full-body take on a traditional brewing style, marking an overall promising start for a new entrant in a soon-to-be-crowded beer scene.

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"We really just wanted to make a really great line-up of beers with a cool place to hang for all the locals," John Arcara said.

Red Tank Brewing, 77 Monmouth St., Red Bank, holds its grand opening 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18. For more information, call 732-299-9537, or visit facebook.com/redtankbrewing.

For more on New Jersey's booming beer scene, watch the first season of our "Jersey Brewed" video series: