Name: Jaffa the Cake Brewing Company: Fort Nonsense Brewing Company Location: Randolph, NJ Style: Sour – Fruited ABV: 8.3%
A delightful, well-balanced sour ale that showcases ingenuity and whimsy.
Fort Nonsense was the subject of one of my early Brewery Spotlights and at the time, I found some things to enjoy, but I was perhaps more critical of the brewery than any other brewery I’d featured before or since. Fast forward four years, the brewery moved to a much larger (and lovely) facility, and their reputation has grown considerably, their sours in particular. So, as has become tradition the past couple of years, my friend and I decided to visit a brewery before enjoying an AEW Pay Per View.
I wasn’t too sure what I was going to have when I arrived at the brewery, there’s no taplist on their website or untappd page, but this one stood out to me on the big board behind the bar. It was different enough and I enjoy the combination of chocolate and orange. The beer is named in one part for a Jaffa Cake (a chocolate and orange confection made with Jaffa oranges) and the other part for Jabba the Hut. The flavor combination as well as the play on words helped to make the beer stand out.
Given the beer is 8.3% ABV, Fort Nonsense only offers the beer in 10oz pours, which is what the beertender handed me. It doesn’t look out of the ordinary, there’s an aroma of orange in the beer. That’s to be expected, but still inviting nonetheless.
That first sip is extremely pleasant. The orange and chocolate are perfectly blended and in harmony with each other. The orange is the initial flavor that comes to the fore, it is pleasant and refreshing. Then comes the chocolate, like a nicely frosted cake or cookie it doesn’t dominate, but accentuates the other flavors. What I appreciate the most is that the beer element is still present, slight hops, some malts.
You may think chocolate is a peculiar ingredient for any beer outside of a stout, but it works so well in Jaffa the Cake. After this second visit to Fort Nonsense and first at their new facility, I’d have to recommend visiting for a nice variety of beer styles. I plan on visiting again in the future.
Draught Diversions is the catchall label for mini-rants, think-pieces, and posts that don’t just focus on one beer here at The Tap Takeover. We hope you don’t grow too weary of the alcohol alliterative names we use…
It really is difficult to keep track of all the breweries opening in New Jersey, the growth has been rapid with a nearly 50% growth over the course of about 15 months with breweries opening all over the state. Fort Nonsense Brewing Company in Denville, NJ is one of those newer breweries. Named after the actual Fort Nonsense in neighboring Morristown, NJ, the three Aslanian brothers opened the brewery and began selling beer to the public in January 2018. Fortunately, Denville isn’t too far from me and even closer to a friend who enjoys beer, too.
The three brothers who opened the brewery, James, Thomas, and Andrew, followed a path similar to many small breweries. They started as hobbyist homebrewers and decided to start their own brewery. After a few years of making beer on the homebrew kit they bought for their father, they found a space on Route 10 in Denville. When they came to this decision finally pull the trigger and actually open a brewery, the brothers took a route only a few start-up breweries have traveled. They crowd-funded via Kickstarter to generate the last bit of funding, which also raised public awareness. Route 10 often has quite a bit of automobile traffic and it can be easy to pass the building, but as you slow down if you’re following your GPS, you can see the brewing system in the window from the highway.
Tap list at Fort Nonsense Brewing Co (06-02-2018)
Fortunately, the Denville community was excited for a brewery, especially since the three brothers live in the area and are from neighboring Rockaway. The actual Fort Nonsense is a historic location, part of the Morristown National Historic Park and an area utilized by George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
Mural of George Washington’s Army and some interesting cargo
Although Fort Nonsense Brewing only started selling beer in January 2018, they’ve already received some positive notice. Their Farmhouse Ale, Saison Absurdite, received the 2nd place award at the 2018 Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival. Their beers are popping up on tap in local bars, too.
The brothers were working full-time jobs as well as preparing for the brewery opening in the lead-up to the opening. One of the brothers, Thomas, is a Civil Engineer and designed the interior. Brother Andrew is now the full-time brewer at Fort Nonsense. Many, if not all, the beers are an homage to the history surrounding Fort Nonsense and the region: the Amber Ale is Benedict Amber Traitor Ale; Great Falls IPA is named in honor of the Great Falls of Paterson; Mango Manunka Chunk IPA honors a locally famous tunnel, and so on.
On the night my friend John and I visited the brewery, it was the first Saturday in June, so initially not many people were there. As the evening darkened into night, more people arrived and filled the taproom to make for quite a lively atmosphere.
But what about the beer, Rob?
L->R Amber Ale, Porter, Hefeweizen, Saison
As I usually do when I visit a brewery for the first time, I ordered a flight. As I said in my review of Bell’s Amber Ale, every brewery seems to have an Amber in regular rotation and as I noted earlier, theirs is called Benedict Amber Traitor Ale. Not mind-blowing, but tasty nonetheless. A good beer to start the flight. Second up was Arnold’s Tavern Porter, which had good taste but the body was a tad thin. Third on the flight was their Hefeweizen, Three Tickle Pitchers, a very sold interpretation of the style. I finished off the flight with the aforementioned award winner, Saison Absurdite. Unfortunately this one didn’t quite work for me. It wasn’t bad, but there’s always one beer that isn’t as good as the others and this was it. I decided I was still thirsty and had a pint of what turned out to be my favorite beer of the day, The Teeth Were a Lie, a pale ale with tangerine whose name is a reference to George Washington. This beer went down really easily and along with the Amber, probably one I’d consider a go-to from Fort Nonsense.
The Teeth Were a Lie (Pale Ale w/Tangerine)
Six months in, there are two beers that stand out in the bunch (at least for my palate). I’d be interested in trying more in the future, such as the Gose they recently tapped. My only real negative is the price of a flight at $12. Most flights I’ve had at other breweries aren’t more than $10. I get the brewery is a business, so I’m not sure of the answer there, but that price tag does stand out to me for a flight of four tasters.
My bottom line: Having launched just six months ago with a few solid beers, Fort Nonsense is a new brewery with signs of promise.
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