I’m nominating Ashton Brewing in Middlesex Borough as the place to find some really weird — as in unusual, in the nicest way — beers.
That or call it the brewery with a really dark side.
Of the 12 beers on tap when my group of five visited, most were dark (black or brown). One of us, a fan of a hard-to-find dark larger, was lured away by a cold black IPA, a first for him. The three “pilot” offerings — the newer, more experimental ones — were dark. If I liked the taste of coffee, I might have been enticed by Tear Me a Sue — Tiramisu Stout, described as “you’ll feel like you are drinking dessert.”
And then there was the “Parental Trap,” a chocolate peanut butter stout that had been on tap but is now only available in cans. That’s the one I ordered.
It looked black, until I realized some of the peanut butter had settled at the bottom of the can. I put some beer back in the can, stirred it up, poured it back in my glass, and then the beer turned a muddy brown. I’m told the peanut butter started in dry form and was turned back into peanut butter to get mixed in during the beer-making. A subtle taste. And clearly not the crunchy kind of peanut butter 🙂
For those sticking to the on-tap choices, I liked the idea of a flight (DIY or the weekly special). The Stratacoaster IPA was deemed a winner.
And that you could sit outside and enjoy some sunshine before the rains come back — lovely. There’s even a (small) bike rack.
You know the drill in New Jersey: no food in a brewery. Ashton has lots of menus for those who want delivery, and we passed a couple of Italian delis just a couple minutes by bike from the brewery.
So how did we get there?
We used the car-free D&R Canal towpath for most of the ride. Start at the Griggstown Causeway and you’ve got about 11 1/2 miles on towpath before you hit the streets of Bound Brook and Middlesex. The 8+ miles to around Zarapeth are nice crushed stone, but continuing north you’ll run into more flood damage filled with larger stones. No worries, I survived with my 28 mm tires.
We spotted a pair of bald eagles, a red-tailed hawk and of course turtles sunning themselves on logs in the canal. One of us saw a beaver scurrying back to the canal, but the rest of us had to settle for where they have gnawed on tree trunks.
At Bound Brook (if you don’t have a gadget telling you where to turn, look for the sign about the battle that the Brits won right after you cross the road with the bridge to your left), turn left and cross the Raritan and go over the railroad tracks. We took the sidewalk (both sides of the bridge) to the roundabout, where you head right on Main Street/Lincoln Boulevard. To the left is the Bound Brook train station.
The road will open up once you cross Bound Brook/Green Brook. And then it’s fairly industrial for the next 1+ mile until the can’t-miss sign for the brewery on your right.
We were concerned about what traffic would be like, but it really wasn’t bad. There’s always sidewalk for at least part of it, of course. And on the way back, it would be easy to detour off Lincoln Boulevard a couple of times for a few blocks at a time. Heading there you’d have to cross Lincoln Boulevard to reach those side roads.
Exploring by bicycle 