Holiday 2018 Issue
A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Gingerbread architecture can be a world of crazy excess. I recall an exhibit years ago that featured a replica of Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house built o...
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Conclave Brewery Is Not a Secret
Is it a brewery or a storage unit?
Conclave Brewery, as part of Raritan Trade Center on Minneakoning Road in Flemington, appears to be just another efficient-but- modest business amid a collection of efficient-but-modest businesses.
Co-owner Carl Alfaro is even a modest tour guide. “Every brewery is almost the same.”
Alfaro, of course, is talking equipment—the fermenters, the bar; the taps. But the fermenters are not the point; the beer is the point. And the beer from Conclave—a brewery ironically with a name chosen to imply an Old World secret society—is already celebrated, renowned, far from secret. All your beer friends know. Indeed, Conclave is unable to meet demand. “I don't have the capacity to take on any more accounts.”
Conclave, which opened in 2015, is owned by Alfaro and Tim Bouton. Both grew up in Bayonne, and both now live in Whitehouse Station. Alfaro began brewing beer in his college dorm room, as a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.
The brewery's most popular beer is Gravitational Waves, an IPA that's hazy citrusy and on the sweet side. It's not over the top, says Alfaro, in that it's not too hoppy, not high in alcohol content.
For nearby restaurant Juniper Hill, Conclave sends over brown ale, Petals Saison (made with dandelions and lemon juice), and milk stout. At Conclave, the dandelion beer features local foraged dandelions, the coffee in the espresso milk stout is roasted locally at Benfatto in Hillsborough. And the spent grain—grains that have been steeped and drained—are sent as feed to Readington River Buffalo Farm in Flemington.
Working as an engineer; Alfaro knew precisely how many hours he logged each week. As a brewer; he can't answer that question, doesn't keep track “It doesn't feel like work.”
Conclave Brewery
15 Minneakoning Rd., Suite 202
Flemington
908.392.0893
conclavebrewing.com
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