Gratitude - The Beer Thrillers

Ross Brewing to Close its Tasting Room in Port Monmouth

B. Kline — Thu, 30 May 2024 18:33:58 +0000

Ross Brewing Company Has Announced the Closing of their Tasting Room in Port Monmouth

Ross Brewing to Close its Tasting Room in Port Monmouth

With unfortunate news – Ross Brewing Company has made the difficult decision to close their tasting room in Port Monmouth. They made the announcement via social media (Facebook and Instagram). Their post does say that they will continue to make, sell, and distribute their beers – with even new beers in the pipeline. Just that they are closing the tasting room.

For us here at The Beer Thrillers we’ve enjoyed getting to try their great brews at the Atlantic City Beerfests each year (a few times their beers have been in our “Top 5” of the fest). They’ve also jumped on our group – The Beer Thrillers (Group) on Facebook, and have been welcome members of the group.

The tasting room is located at: 909 Main St, Port Monmouth, NJ 07758.

The Announcement

Here is their announcement, posted via Facebook:

𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧!

Attention #rossarmy! We have some major news you’re not going to want to miss. We have made the incredibly difficult decision to shut down the Ross Brewing tasting room in Port Monmouth. We will continue to distribute our delicious beers to our distribution customers and even have some amazing new beers in the pipeline that will be released in the coming weeks and months (including the return of an oft-asked for old fave!). But as far as the tasting room goes, it has simply become impossible to continue on with the current economics. We want to thank each and every one of you who has made these last five years of selling beer, and last year and a half of serving customers in person in Port Monmouth, nothing but the purest joy. We wish we could do this forever, but alas, it’s not to be. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝗻𝗱, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

But fret not! The weather looks great this weekend, and we’ll be having 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗵! We’ve got great food trucks all weekend long , great live music all weekend long , and great deals on takeaway beer too! We’ll also be putting some surprise beers on tap all weekend long, with a constantly rotating tap list!

So don’t shed a tear for what we’re losing. Instead, let’s celebrate what we’ve had together. An amazing and unique brewery experience that quite simply hasn’t–and can’t–be duplicated anywhere else!

So join us for the 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, and allow us to say goodbye in person to each and every one of you. And it goes without saying–feel free to bring your four-legged friends as well, as we’ll miss them too!

Thank you so much for all your support, we love and appreciate every one of you! And please continue to support the brand as we continue to ship our beers out to the bars, restaurants, liquor stores, and supermarkets in this great Garden State!

#farewellfornow #rossbrewingtaproom

#closingtime #gratitude

#rossbrewing #eschewtheordinary #monmouthcountybornandbrewed #njcraftbeer

– Ross Brewing Company (Facebook Post)

Ross Brewing Company Has Announced the Closing of their Tasting Room in Port Monmouth

After celebrating its one-year anniversary in Port Monmouth and five years of brewing, Ross Brewing Co. will be closing its tasting room doors on Sunday, June 2.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, May 30, the brewery cited “current economics” as the reason for the closure.

“We have made the incredibly difficult decision to shut down the Ross Brewing tasting room in Port Monmouth,” the announcement read. “We will continue to distribute our delicious beers to our distribution customers and even have some amazing new beers in the pipeline that will be released in the coming weeks and months.”

Owner John Ross Cocozza mentioned that the primary reason for the closure was a particularly slow winter, along with the impacts of COVID and New Jersey’s craft beer laws.

“Things that are amazing about our site, like our waterfront location and beautiful outdoor beer gardens, they kind of work against us in the cold weather,” he said, despite the brewery’s successful events this year like St. Patrick’s Day, and their anniversary party. “It just wasn’t enough to get us out of the hole from the winter, and that hole magnified some existing issues in the state. In the past year or so, we’ve already lost about 16 craft breweries in New Jersey.”

-John Ross Cocozza

Breweries in New Jersey, according to Cocozza, face stricter regulations compared to states like Pennsylvania, where serving food is permitted. Additionally, other states allow online beer sales.

Cocozza blamed “the four horsemen of the pandemic: the quarantine, the supply chain crisis, inflation, and interest rate hikes” for their challenges.

“COVID shut down many customers, bars, and restaurants, some of which never reopened, and it slowed our construction,” he explained. “This led to the supply chain crisis, which then caused inflation. All our costs, such as grains and cans for packaging, have skyrocketed, and it’s impossible to pass these costs onto the consumer. You can’t charge $15 for a pint of beer.”

The brewery will host one final celebration this weekend, featuring food trucks, live music, deals on to-go beers, and some surprise beers on tap.

The pet-friendly party will take place from noon to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Food trucks will arrive around 2 p.m., and live music will start at 4 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 4 p.m. on Sunday. The beer list will be continuously updated, featuring old favorites and new releases.

After the party ends on Sunday, the tasting room will officially close. Ross Brewing Co. beers will still be available in bars, restaurants, and liquor and grocery stores. The brewery will also remain active at festivals and farmers’ markets.

Cocozza is collaborating with breweries like Alternate Ending Beer Co. in Aberdeen and Five Dimes Brewery in Red Bank to reschedule events that were planned at Ross.

The brewery is known for its location-themed beers, such as Ross Shrewsbury Lager, an amber lager, and Ross Navesink Double IPA. They have also released popular specials over the years, like Sully’s Irish Stout and Launch Party, a pomegranate-infused New England IPA.

Cocozza hinted at a possible return.

“I don’t know anything yet, but I have a feeling that people will probably see us again in some form sooner than they think,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever find a more suitable location,” Cocozza added. “Our logo is a sailboat, and we love being on the water. Having Jersey’s only waterfront brewery is probably the best location we’ll ever find, but we would look for something with significantly lower overheads, on a smaller scale.”

The May 30 post expressed gratitude and appreciation.

“We want to thank each and every one of you who has made these last five years of selling beer, and the last year and a half of serving customers in person in Port Monmouth, nothing but pure joy. We wish we could do this forever, but alas, it’s not to be.

“Don’t shed a tear for what we’re losing,” the post continued. “Instead, let’s celebrate what we’ve had together, an amazing and unique brewery experience that simply can’t be duplicated anywhere else.”

Visit Them

Make sure to get out and visit them for their big blow-out going out get together. It looks like it will be a great time for all!

The tasting room is located at: 909 Main St, Port Monmouth, NJ 07758.

For More Information on Ross Brewing Company

The following information comes via Untappd.

Ross Brewing Company is a microbrewery located in Port Monmouth, NJ. They have 78 unique beers and over 11,700 ratings with a global average rating of 3.76 (as of 5.30.24). Their Untappd description reads: “Monmouth County Born and Brewed. Crafting artisanal ales and lagers that defy expectations, using local ingredients. Eschew the Ordinary, Choose the Bold. ”

You can find them at the following social media pages:

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Book Review: Thanks a Thousand – A Gratitude Journey (A.J. Jacobs)

BKline — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 03:25:46 +0000

Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs

Gratitude

Well, first, before we get into the book, and the book review of it; lets get into gratitude. I know its something I need to work on. I honestly feel like, outside of the Dali Lama and maybe Pope Francis (and maybe even him), its just something that we all need to work on…. and I’m also laying odds that even the Dali Lama would say he needs to work on it.

Many would say its like a muscle, it needs to be worked and exercised regularly. For a good, scholarly, scientific study and article on that very notion and idea, here is: “How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain” by Greater Good Magazine and Berkeley Education.

So that brings us to why A.J. Jacobs wrote his book. He decided he wanted to show more gratitude in his life, and wanted to figure out a way to do so with his writing skills and abilities. (And the cynic in me says – and a way to get a book contract and launch a simple way to make money doing a TED Talk, book deal, and get to do some traveling and discuss his favorite thing – coffee; all at the same time.)

The Book

How this correlates is that A.J. Jacobs (the author) wanted to show his gratitude, by discussing through his book, how he learned to show gratitude for something he took for granted. In this case – coffee. And he was going to show gratitude to everyone and anyone who helped get the coffee to his cup and to his lips and down his gullet.

Since he picked coffee, that means starting at his nearby coffee shop – Joe’s Coffee – and working up (or down?) the metaphorical tree. From barista, to clerks, to the people who made the coffee cup, the coffee lid, the logo, the farmers, the owner or CEO of Joe’s Coffee, to steel mill people, etc.

A.J. Jacobs is known for doing non-fictional ‘gimmick’ type pieces of work. Those books in the vein of “I did X every day for one year” or “I traveled to Y countries in a year”. Some of his books include:

The Know-It All (a book about reading the entire Britannica Encyclopedia)
The Year of Living Biblically (as the name suggests – he lived a year according to the Bible as much as possible)
It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree (a book about family genealogy)
The Guinea Pig Diaries (a book about being used as experiments)

And so – Thanks a Thousand – falls into this trope easily. I don’t want to be too cynical, but, it feels more like “here’s a gimmick, here’s something fun and interesting, here’s something that can attract mainstream attention” and “here’s something that I will enjoy writing and get to do fun things while writing”; rather than truly being about gratitude.

Book Review

I’ve read his “The Know-It All” book and I read his book about family genealogy, and while I must say I did find them interesting, and all, they did strike me as slightly gimmicky, even moreso now reading this, and looking over his history of books and writings. I’m not quite sure how to fully encapsulate that idea or why it is. But the word ‘gimmick’ really stands out with this, and his writings, and his oeuvre in general. Perhaps if he had other books and writings that didn’t rely on a “what if I do something for five months, every day, and write about it”, I wouldn’t think that way of him.

I don’t want to say ‘hack’ or that his writing is hacky or hack-ish. (I find his prose easy and fine to read. And I’m sure most people would say he writes better than me.) But there’s just something to these books. I think some of it, is that we have to take it with a grain of salt. He’s writing these things down post-actions or afterwards, or in a way that we are to assume he wrote some of it while the events were occurring, etc. And I have no doubt to believe he is, and I do not mean to imply in anyway that he is a liar or a cheat; but I think there’s just some level of disconnect. Thinking about him living a year “Biblically” or reading the entire Britannica Encyclopedia, or thanking over a thousand people, etc.

GoodReads Summary of ‘Thanks a Thousand’:

The idea was deceptively simple: New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe, transforms his life, and reveals secrets about how gratitude can make us all happier, more generous, and more connected.

Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee—and every other item in our lives—would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds.

By thanking these people face to face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs—his disposition is more Larry David than Tom Hanks—but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion: It improves compassion, heals your body, and helps battle depression.

Jacobs gleans wisdom from vivid characters all over the globe, including the Minnesota miners who extract the iron that makes the steel used in coffee roasters, to the Madison Avenue marketers who captured his wandering attention for a moment, to the farmers in Colombia.

Along the way, Jacobs provides wonderful insights and useful tips, from how to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day instead of the few that go wrong. And how our culture overemphasizes the individual over the team. And how to practice the art of “savoring meditation” and fall asleep at night. Thanks a Thousand is a reminder of the amazing interconnectedness of our world. It shows us how much we take for granted. It teaches us how gratitude can make our lives happier, kinder, and more impactful. And it will inspire us to follow our own “Gratitude Trails.”
GoodReads: Thanks a Thousand – A Gratitude Journey

There is some interesting anecdotes from the book, and you do learn a little bit about the process behind the coffee getting to your local coffee shop, but it all seems to fall so flat. So little is spent on anything in particular, and its such a quick book, that nothing feels more than skin surface deep. Even his actual comments and work about gratitude itself – the primary thrust of the work – seems to barely scratch pass the epidermis.

I feel like there could be a lot more here. And he does mention an interesting article, “I, Pencil” at one point, which basically follows a similar line as his book does – but about how a pencil is made. (Obviously, without the gimmick behind it all of being about gratitude; but more just about the capitalism and economics side of how the pencil is created.) That sounds inimically more fascinating and interesting than this. This is a hybrid creature of gratitude, capitalism / consumerism, and anecdotes of people who made it all happen, that it ends up flopping around with bird wings, human legs, lion head, and fish gills and can’t breath out of water.

My GoodReads Rating: **
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.73 (as f 11.23.21)
My LibraryThing rating: **

Thanks For Reading

Thank you for reading everyone. We’re nearing the end of November, and so far we have been maintaining our blog article per day. On top of that, we’ve had several days with multiple articles (and even got a new writer – Amy – posting as well.)

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Cheers!

-B. Kline

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