(201) Gold Coast Fall 2015 | Page 56

Gold Coast breweries creating a buzz among beer lovers WRITTEN BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA While these are places most associated with the United States’ large output macrobrew creations, they are not where on Feb. 5, 1663, Nicholas Varlett obtained a patent from Peter Stuyvesant for the first brewery in America. It was located on Castle Point, in what is today Hoboken, according to the Hoboken Historical Museum. Yes, the Gold Coast solidified itself in the annals of history as an appropriate home of American-made beer. Fast-forward 350 years and the legacy of Nicholas Varlett lives on along the Gold Coast. It’s in the form of modern-day brewers who are trying to convert macrobrew loyalists with their bold flavors, creative ingredients and off-the-wall names that make their craft beers one-of-a-kind delicacies. 54 FALL 2015 (201) GOLD COAST ILLUSTRATION BASIS: THINKSTOCK IMAGES If you ask where the nation’s first brewery was established, some may quickly point to St. Louis or even high in the Rockies of Colorado. Perhaps they’ll tell you Pottsville, Penn., where Yuengling is the oldest operating brewery in the United States, circa 1829.