Sponsored
This sponsored article is brought to you by Salt Creek Grille – Princeton.
If you want to start a fight in a craft beer bar, just ask someone the definition of craft beer. Some might say it’s the size of the brewery or who owns it. Others might tell you it’s beer made by brewers, not marketers. Still others will opine about adjuncts. Opinions abound.
The common denominator of all of these parameters is soul. If that sounds a bit esoteric, well, that’s the point. Soul is like art. It’s hard to describe but you know it when you see it. Or taste it. We may not agree on how many barrels a brewery can produce and still be “craft” but we can all agree that it still has to have a soul.
Or a sole.
Departed Soles Brewing has one of the great stories in an industry full of them. Two beer-loving buddies discover that one has celiac disease and the other starts home brewing gluten-free beers so they can still drink good beer together. Then, tragically, the one with celiac—Chris Ward—is killed in a car accident on his way home from his job at the Salt Creek Grille one night. His buddy, Brian Kulbacki vows to open the Garden State’s first gluten-free brewery in his honor and does. The kicker is, gluten or not, the beer is darn good.
GoodBiPA, a light bodied IPA with a floral and citrus hop character, is already on tap. Starting at 4pm, though, Salt Creek Grille will be tapping a host of Departed Soles gluten free and non-gluten free beers including the following:
A Dark Night
5% Session Black IPA with a hop forward aroma and roasty/black cardamom finish.
Philoso-Rapper
6.5% Belgian Ale brewed with Pilsner and Honey malts and fermented with a Belgian dry yeast for a light, clear finish and traditional Belgian esters. (NOT GLUTEN FREE)
Red Headed Step Brewer
5.8% Red Ale with chocolate and caramel malts. (NOT GLUTEN FREE)
Light Rail Pale Ale
A hybrid of a California Common and American Pale Ale we’re calling a New Jersey Uncommon! 5.25% easy drinking ale with Palisades Hops. (NOT GLUTEN FREE)
Ghost of Pumpkins Past
A 5.5% Pumpkin Ale that smells like pumpkin pie with hints of brown sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, and pumpkin!
And, according to Brian Kulbacki, maybe a surprise!
If a compelling story and a chance to try some great beer that happens to be 100% gluten free isn’t enough, Salt Creek Grille spotlights its commitment to craft beer with half price draft beer on Tapped Out Tuesdays. Oh, and there might be some giveaways too. So, come on out, meet Brian and ask him why it’s Soles and not Souls.
