2009, the Year in Beer

This year I found myself working part-time as a beer expert for Canal's in Mt. Ephraim, NJ. Given all the young children I have, this has had the great benefit of getting me back into the middle of the beer world.

So I'm not going to make up categories, but these are my beer highlights for 2009 from a South Jersey/Philadelphia area perspective.

• Without a doubt, the biggest thing to happen to South Jersey's beer scene this year was the opening of Iron Hill in Maple Shade. I'm putting this slightly ahead of my hiring at Canal's. Honestly, we have been through years of having to trek to Philadelphia if we want a good beer. No longer. There are now a fair number of good beer bars in our area. We needed a brewpub and now we have that too.
• For really interesting beers that were released in the new year, Weyerbacher keeps coming to mind. Zotten was an incredible Belgian Pale Ale (think something like Orval). The Riserva was a Cabernet Sauvignon meets lambic.
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo- an excellent IPA at a great price. Along with their Kellerweis, Sierra Nevada did well this year. (They didn't send us any Life & Limb though.)
• Last but not least, kudos to Flying Fish for their Exit series. I've always felt that they were underappreciated as a brewery, since they mainly concentrated on session-type beers. Well, now they are getting some respect. And respect for the state of New Jersey. Not to mention free publicity from MADD.