Screamin’ Hill Brewery at Bullock Farms

From Grain to Glass
 

A round the turn of the last century in a town called Cream Ridge, the Coward family had two boys who were known around town as a pair of hellraisers. One day, one of the brothers found God. He became a fervent preacher at the little church on top of the hill, right near the Bullock family farm. From then on, every Sunday morning, locals could hear his loud and boisterous sermons for up to a mile away.

Eventually, the Bullocks, along with almost everyone else in the area, came to refer to the spot as “Screamin’ Hill.” Today, Emley’s Hill Methodist Episcopal Church still stands at the top of the hill near Bullock Farms, though the ear-splitting sermons have long since ceased. Yet the story of “Screamin’ Hill” continues—this time as a tale of how a local farm brewery is making farm-to-tap beers, growing the grain that ends up in the pint glass.

Screamin’ Hill Brewery is housed in a restored 19th-century barn on Bullock Farms, overlooking the rolling hills and open farmland where the barley, wheat, rye and hops are grown for farmhousestyle American ales. Screamin’ Hill is the first and currently the only brewery in the Garden State to cultivate its own ingredients.

“We grow seven different varieties of hops, and we grow our own barley, wheat and rye,” says Brett Bullock, a sixth-generation farmer and co-founder of Screamin’ Hill. “Most of our recipes primarily use barley, so with this season’s harvest we should have 90 percent of the grain coming from the farm. And then we grow some ancillary stuff for the seasonals that we make, such as habanero peppers for the Habanero Ale or raspberries for the Black Raspberry Wheat Ale. We also have a big pumpkin business in the fall, so we obviously put fresh pumpkin in the Pumpkin Ale.”

Bullock, together with brother-in law Patrick Jones and longtime friend Ryan Cole, had been home-brewing beer for more than a decade when the three decided that their passion for brewing might help ensure the future of the 100-acre family farm, which has been owned by the Bullock family since 1860.

Bullock had been working the farm with his father, Marty Bullock, and his uncle, Rick Bullock, for years when he approached them with the brewery idea. He expected some resistance, since neither of the men liked beer at all. However, he was surprised to find that his father and uncle were enthusiastic and needed little convincing— mostly because it seemed a natural fit for a grain-producing farm.

The brewery and tasting room, which opened in July 2015, reflect the “upscale rustic” style currently popular with restaurants and bars. Reclaimed wood covers the walls; there are Mason-jar light fixtures. The bar itself is made from a black walnut tree that once stood on the land but was struck by lightning almost 40 years ago.

Despite their appreciation for the farm’s past, Bullock, Jones and Cole seem to be dedicated to a simple question: Just how much can they source for their beers from the farm? This has led to multiple experiments to discover what is possible. Some ingredients still come from outside the property: Many varieties of hops still need to be purchased, as they are either proprietary or cannot be grown in enough quantities on the farm, and the brewing yeast needs to be purchased. But the three brewers are steadily increasing the percentage of ingredients they source directly from the premises.

“All of the water used in making the beer comes from the farm’s well water, and the grain comes mostly from what we produce,” says co-owner Ryan Cole. “We use almost 18 different varieties of hops now, so we’ll never be able to grow that much of our own. But our plan is to see which ones grow the best in this area and grow as much of those as we can.”