WHAT IS BREWING IN NEWARK?
#Elevate #Welcome #Reimagine
In 2024, Newark Local Beer will celebrate its 3rd year as the only craft brewery in the city.
Located at street level of Art Deco apartment building Walker House at 538 Broad Street, directly across from Harriet Tubman Square, Co-Owner & Brewmaster Steve Hughes shared “we chose Newark because of the rich brewing history that exists here and hope to cultivate this for a new generation”.
Lil’Bud, Session IPL, 5.3%, Crisp Light & Hoppy, Photo by Charles David Photography (www.elevatewelcomerimagine.com)
Just across the square is the newly renovated Ballantine House: the family home of the brewing magnate who started operations in the city in the late 1800’s, at one point the nations 3rd largest beer brand.
2023 was fun: “we hosted everything from Art Shows & Festival Programming as part of North to Shore Festival & Newark Arts Festival, musical acts including DJ,s bands, singers, poets, trivia nights, game nights with our partner The Newark Downtown District, happy hours for Audible & Method Climbing (our neighbor) paint and sips, birthday parties, Newark Tech Week, Newark City Parks Afrovibrations, weddings…just about anything you can think of!….with our proximity to the NJPAC, and Prudential Center, & both Broad Street & Newark Penn Station we have also hosted events pre & post show for fans of The New Jersey Devils, Seaton Hall Pirates, Rutgers and even fans of K-Pop Group BLACKPINK for their sellout Born Pink Tour and of course the MTV VMA’s….”
Between 10-12 different brews are always available on tap, with different seasonal specialities, there is something for for everyone: “from crisp lagers, to wheat beers, kolsche, sour, hoppy, dry, dark, malt etc”. One of my personal favourites is actually not even a beer! The Hard Seltzer is an easy 10/10, nothing like the store bought canned varieties that have become more popular: the Newark Local Beer version “ Weekender” is special:
“it’s great that we have something other than beer that also satisfies the needs of anyone with gluten sensitives: its gluten free, and we use fresh, seasonal, real fruit puree’s, from grapefruit, tangerine, cherry, watermelon etc and then use a champagne yeast which gives the seltzer a unique, champagne, winey type quality while also remaining fresh and fruit forward - super refreshing and packed full of flavour, perfect on a hot day”.
“Weekender”, 5.4% ABV - Hard Seltzer (Gluten Free), Photo by Charles David Photography (Elevate Welcome Reimagine)
2024 looks to be another exciting year with talk of Comedy shows, more musical programming and Steve shared “we have over 6000ft of space available, inducing a private room for events. For anyone interesting in hosting an event of any size please use our website contact from at www.newarklocalbeer.com, we would love to hear from you”.
One of the highlights of Newark Local Beer is the variety and diversity of staff and patrons: I have chatted with lawyers, professional artists, engineers, chef’s, entrepreneurs, film makers, beer lovers, beer haters (who loved the seltzer), folks from other states & countries, local regulars and first timers - all enjoying good conversation and a refreshing drink!
Newark Local Beer, Photo from Charles David Photography (Elevate Welcome Reimagine.com)
With the continued development of new residential and commercial space continuing in 2024 and beyond, many hope these additional residents will also help stimulate additional investment into nightlife activities. Demand for, and attendance at programming by the likes of Gallery Retail, Brick City Comedy Revue, Newark First Fridays, Cool Vines Newark, BUNKR, Brownmill, Plantivia are high and increasing, with other pop up events at Marcus B&P, ODR Studios.
DJ Nigerian Mitch @nigerian_mitch & Isiah “Zay” Little, Creative Director & Founder of GalleryRetail and Newark First Fridays, at Cool Vines - Silent Disco Happy Hour, every Wednesday.
Whispers of a city backed “office of nightlife” have been circulated for some time with permitting and licensing for businesses remaining an issue. A recent $1.5million grant to The Newark Alliance by the NEJDA to develop “Festivals United”, is planned to create “a coordinated strategy, fundraising, operations, marketing and public relations campaign that will leverage the ongoing efforts of multiple existing festivals throughout the city. Festivals United is a new coalition of six major arts and cultural festivals based in Newark: AfroBeat Fest, Halsey Festival, Lincoln Park Music Festival, Newark Arts Festival, Newark Pride, and Newark Winter Village, all in partnership with Newark City Parks Foundation” (NJEDA Press release).
Summertime programming outdoor throughout the city continues to go strength to strength, with the Soul Music Project in Military Park, various events at Mulberry Commons, The Weequaiac Park House Music Festival, to name a few, but all risk adverse weather and cancellation.
Early in 2024 the producers behind the infamous, now closed “Coffee Cave”, are hosting a highly anticipated, first events of its type at the newly renovated Newark Symphony Hall, Terrace Ballroom.
My hope is that developers with access to large inventories of commercial space see the potential activation of their spaces with indoor programming as a great way to help them market their spaces and Newark as a whole: using warehouse and commercial space in this way is nothing groundbreaking.
The Warehouse Project in Manchester (UK), operates one of the most successful nightlife endeavours in Europe by taking un-used commercial spaces and turning them into event spaces for a limited period, bringing in $14m/year and hosting the largest musical acts in the world.
With Newarks proximity to New York there is an opportunity to attract top tier musical talent, with an ability for promoters to book shows for Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday across Newark, New York & Brooklyn.
New Jersey is currently working to attract and invest in the film and TV industry with Lionsgate and Netflix set to invest heavily, creating thousands of jobs - this boost to the creative economy highlights the future demand for these skillsets.
Investment in nightlife economy helps develop the pipeline of talent locally: musicians, DJ’s, singers, lighting techs, sound techs, photographers, videographers etc all need to hone their craft on a smaller stage before they can be propelled to top tier. If Newark can enable this pathway, I see a bright future ahead for the talent in the city.