Fort Dix, N.J., beer scene: Iron Hill Brewing and J.B. Brewing

Back from another stint on the road and a few more notches on the belt when it comes to new beers. This time I was up near Fort Dix, N.J., and had an opportunity to try two breweries with very different results.

First stop was Iron Hill Brewing in Maple Shade, N.J. The brewery & restaurant was packed on our Saturday evening visit. It probably didn’t help that the Final Four were playing. We hung out at the bar and were able to find a table after a short wait. The wait staff was great, answering questions and providing samples when we couldn’t make up our minds on a particular beer.

The food was great. The fish and chips and french onion soup I had were very tasty. The menu choices were huge and it took a while to figure out just what we wanted to eat.

The beer was just as good…

We had:

Chris Isn’t Here - A brown ale that had a nice hoppy tone.


Caprice - A Belgian ale meets American hops. Nice clean tasting. Fruity tones.

The Situation - Very hoppy pale ale.

Luca Brasi - This one was my favorite. A stout brewed with 43-pounds of ground and whole Sumatran coffee…smooth. Great balance of the stout and coffee flavor. I’m going to try and do this one as a small batch homebrew.

Decaf - Luca Brasi without the coffee. This was a cask ale that was still good but not as good as the brew with the coffee.

Rising Sun IPA - My partner in crime’s favorite. An IPA brewed with Japanese hops. I’m not an IPA guy but this one was good. Nice balance and good citrus flavor.

Vienna Red Lager -One of the regular beers at Iron Hill. It was my last beer of the evening and brought things to a nice close. Slightly sweet and malty.

Overall Iron Hill was a great experience and I look forward to my next visit. My travel companion on this trip liked it the Rising Sun so much he bought a growler.

Sunday evening we were staying on Joint Base McGuire-Fort Dix-Lakehurst and met some friends at the sports club on base. The base features a brewery that is run by service members and is available for command functions. Their beers are featured at the pub on base.

I had two of the J.B. Brewing brews. The Top Ale and the Angry Ale. Honestly they were both forgettable. They both had a dirty tap line taste and both tasted roughly the same.

The rest of the trip featured Magic Hat #9 and Tap Room 21 lager. Magic Hat is always a favorite of mine and, though I like sweeter, malty beers, I found the Tap Room 21 lager to be way too malty.

That’s it for this trip…stay tuned and remember: If you don’t like what you’re drinking, brew your own.