Michael Izzo

@MIzzoDR

FAIRFIELD – Rick Reed still remembers brewing his first – and still favorite – beer at his 15-barrel brewhouse. It was 2001, and he was making what would become a Cricket Hill staple, the East Coast Lager.

Lagers aren’t typically brewed by small breweries because they take significantly longer than ales to make, about six weeks. But time was all Reed had when he was opening up 15 years ago.

“We had the space and all the licensing we needed to open except for the background check, and then 9/11 hit and we weren’t high on anyone’s priority list,” Reed said. “So we had all the time in the world and didn’t have to worry about wasting precious tank time, so why not make a lager? Waiting for that background check almost ruined us, but we got the lager out of it.”

A decade and a half later, Cricket Hill Brewing continues to thrive, creating new brews and expanding its distribution. And this weekend at the recently-expanded tasting room on Kulick Road in Fairfield, Reed will celebrate his brewery’s 15th anniversary with the release of Fiestbeir – an Oktoberfest Marzen style lager featuring German Munich malt and Sterling Hops – on draft and in bottles.

There will also be a dozen other Cricket Hill brews on tap, as well as special anniversary merchandise for sale. Friday will feature live music, a staple for the tasting room.

While there will be plenty to cheer this weekend at Cricket Hill, Reed, founder and co-owner of the brewery, still remembers how difficult it was launching the brewery all those years ago.

“The first few years were rough. New Jersey wasn’t ready for microbreweries like they are now. I worried we were going to have to close every single day,” Reed said. “When we opened we were the sixth brewery in New Jersey, and the first in five years up to that point. Now with the changes in brewing laws there are 64.”

Fifteen years later Cricket Hill is on tap and for sale in hundreds of stores, bars, and restaurants. Reed said it’s a big advantage to have a decade-plus jump on his fellow brewers.

“New Jersey has caught up. We’re interested in craft beer now,” Reed said. “And after 15 years of refining and tweaking, we’ve got a great, balanced lineup of beers.”

Until a year ago, Cricket Hill only bottled the four year-round and three seasonal selections. But they now have bottle releases for all of their offerings, with just a select few tasting room only specials remaining unbottled.

“We’re inventing new things all of the time, using bourbon and wine barrels to age stouts and tripels,” Reed said. “But the year-rounders will never change. Those are four solid citizens.”

Those citizens are the lager, American Pale Ale, Hopnotic IPA, and Colonel Blides ESB, named for the owner of a machine shop next door, who has helped repair several Cricket Hill equipment malfunctions through the years.

“My advice to anyone opening up a brewery,” Reed said, “Do it next to a machine shop.”

Reed said he enjoys all of his beers except for a recently made sour, his least favorite style.

“Other people like it but I’m not a fan. They brewed that one without telling me,” Reed said. “Me, I’m a lager guy. I’ll take my East Coast Lager every day.”

Upcoming releases include the sour and a bourbon barrel-aged imperial porter.

“We’re at a place now where we’re trying to build our brand,” co-owner Ed Gangi said. “Coming up with new beer.”

Those new additions include the Schnick Schnack session sour, Brew Jitsu session IPA, and Soggy Sack wet hop ale.

Gangi started at Cricket Hill as a volunteer in 2008 and ended up buying into the business a few years ago.

“He makes my life a whole lot easier,” Reed said while sipping a lager. “Quality control.”

Gangi praised Reed for the legacy he’s forged in the beer industry in his first 15 years professionally brewing.

“A lot of people that now work for other breweries – 15 least that we’re aware of – started here,” Gangi said. “Rick’s know in the industry for helping out.”

While more fermenters have been added, Cricket Hill remains the same 15-barrel brew house it was a 15 years earlier, bottling on-site and self-distributing.

And with the new additions to the facility, Reed said he has no plans to leave what he calls the alcohol capital of New Jersey in Fairfield, home to two breweries, three distilleries, and a wine-making shop.

“My definition of a craft beer is it all has to be done in one spot,” Reed said. “As soon as you don’t, you’re not craft anymore.”

And staying “craft” is something that matters to Reed, who won’t touch a macrobeer.

“It used to be all of us vs. the Big Three (Budweiser, Coors and Miller) and we won that battle,” Reed said. “Now, to me, it’s about us microbrewers in New Jersey against other states. Because I’ll put a Jersey beer up against anything in Vermont or Colorado or California.”

Reed, who still leads weekend tours at Cricket Hill, has given several passionate speeches on the “battle” against the Big Three.

One such speech was posted to YouTube in 2008, when the website was still in its infancy, and accumulated more than 50,000 views.

While he can’t guarantee another viral moment, Reed promises there will be more speeches this weekend for anyone who wants to swing by for a pint.

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

If you go :

Where: Cricket Hill Brewery, 24 Kulick Road in Fairfield

When: Thursday and Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.