Birdsmouth Beer, a New Jersey craft lager brewery, is opening up at the newly renovated Fort Monmouth Commissary building in Oceanport on Oct. 15. The 12,000 sq ft brewery will be led by head brewer Andy Gioia, who brings with him more than a decade of experience in the NJ craft beer brewing industry.
The mission statement for Birdsmouth is to focus on lagers — refreshing beers that easily integrate into everyday life. And the way Gioia describes it, we are totally on board.
“I’m extremely excited to brew only lager beer,” Gioia says. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a homebrewer. The recipes are simple but it is a delicate process which requires patience. A large part of it is caretaking and stewardship since the process is long. So, in many ways it’s like watching and caring for a plant as it grows. If you manage to get it right, the patience and time spent is worth it. A well made lager is ridiculously delicious. It pairs up perfectly with everything but most importantly family, friends and food – our most valued things. In fact, the brewery was built by friends who are family and family who are friends.”
The inspiration
The journey started in 2018 with an innocent conversation between Gioia and his now business partner Rocco Laginestra about what it would take to start up a brewery. The conversation quickly blossomed into a several month long brainstorm surrounding concepts like what the brewery would make, where it should be located, what the right size would be, and what it would stand for.
They found themselves very much in tune believing that a locally informed and community-centric lager brewery was underrepresented in the NJ marketplace. It was during these conversations that led to brewery’s name.
A Birdsmouth is an industry term for a type of wood joint used in carpentry to join wood or other building materials together. The term resonated with Gioia and Laginestra who knew they wanted this beer and brewery to be designed for and to bring the NJ community together. This utilitarian concept is complimented with NJ’s state bird, the Goldfinch, cemented in the logo and branding.
“Friends and family are what Andy and I have found to be the most important part of our lives, which is also the foundation of our friendship and partnership,” Laginestra says. “We want to create a space and a brand that embodies this spirit to create a real sense of community, a platform where people can join together. It’s only fitting that the brewery is going to be in the old commissary, a building that was originally constructed to serve as the focal point of the local military community.”
The beers
Birdsmouth will open with four types of lagers. All brewed with simple recipes, amazing ingredients and a patient process.
The opening brews will be Birdsmouth Original Lager (a Helles style lager), Birdsmouth Hoppy Pilsner, Birdsmouth Oktoberfest and Birdsmouth Dark Lager. These brews will all be under 6% abv and represent the full spectrum of colors and flavors.
Birdsmouth Original Lager, Birdsmouth Pilsner and Birdsmouth Oktoberfest will be available in both 6 and 12 packs of 12oz cans and draft pours at the brewery’s location.
Birdsmouth Dark will be available draft only.
Through the seasons, Birdsmouth Oktoberfest will be replaced by another seasonally appropriate style packaged in 12 packs of 12oz cans.
New brews will be introduced to the line up from the feedback from customers.
The space
The brewery’s 2,000sq/ft tasting room will be open to the public from Thursday through Sunday (see below for specific times). Initially, packaged goods will be for sale out of the tasting room, which will be complemented in the future with in person pickup of online purchases through our website. There will not be a kitchen at the brewery, so guests are encouraged to bring their own bites or to order in. The brewery will open with a small outside space in the front of the building with plans in the future to expand out to the side of the building with a large outdoor beer garden.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.