Fall 2022 Issue

As we head toward fall, 2022 seems to be shaping up as the year of festivals and celebrations. Every day an array of wonderful food and drink activities pass through my inbox and across our social media feeds. We’ve all adjusted now to sharing the world with Covid, and the return of old favorites along with new and remarkably creative fetes invite us to get out and reconnect.

One hot Saturday afternoon in August, my husband and I headed to the fifth annual Corn, Tomato, and Beer Festival in Flemington. Yes, Jersey’s legendary corn was offered in a variety of styles; tomatoes were topping off hearth-fired pizzas and dressing up salads. But, clearly, the big attraction here was the beer. Ten local craft breweries were lined up along Stangl Road for the outdoor festival and the taps were flowing as Lone Eagle, Conclave, Flounder, Czig Meister, Jersey Girl, and others served eager customers.

A few hours later we pulled in to Festomato, a first-time event presented by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ) at Ironbound Farm in Asbury. Food (lots of it!) was being cooked over the outdoor hearth and Jersey tomatoes were in abundance for sampling, but the drinks menu is what caught our eye. Along with the farm’s hard ciders and hard seltzers, the menu featured a remarkably innovative lineup of cocktails, crafted with alcoholic and nonalcoholic libations, using strawberries, rhubarb, jasmine, rosemary, lavender, and berries grown at Ironbound and other nearby farms.

The Garden State has long been blessed with outrageously delicious Jersey Fresh food. As we’ve been able to venture out again this year, I’ve realized that, from tasting rooms to seasonal festivals to retail shelves, New Jersey’s drink scene has truly caught up—or perhaps grown up.

New Jersey wineries, distilleries, and breweries traveled a long comeback road post- Prohibition due to excruciatingly slow changes in State legislation. Tremendous progress has finally been made, however, and the industry has been infused over the past decade with astounding entrepreneurial spirit. Much of the excitement—and the strength—of today’s drink-local movement now springs from the heightened relationship between field and glass.

Read closely and you will see the interconnections: the brewer who sources from the hop farmer, the vintner who has preserved his farmland to ensure its open spaces for future generations, the distiller who connects the dots between what’s in the glass and what helps his or her community. Drink-related industries bring countless benefits to our local economies as well as to our farmers’ ability to keep farming (“Tilled, Milled, and Distilled,” page 32).

In many ways, NJ’s local food and drink movement itself seems to be entering a new era, with one-for-all-and-all-for-one awareness of what will be required for future success. As Charles Rosen of Ironbound Farm reminds us (page 46), “There needs to be resiliency and viability for everyone along the supply chain.”

We hope this issue—from its thought pieces to our annual Drink Local Guide (page 55) and Destinations Guide (page 81)—helps you to better understand, experience, and toast New Jersey’s drink-local movement this season.

Sincerely,
Nancy Painter, Editor & Publisher

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FALL 2022 FEATURES