Czig Meister Brewing Co in Hackettstown: Review

August 29, 2016 newjerseyisntboring

In case you needed another reason to visit downtown Hackettstown, you should definitely be going to visit Czig Meister Brewing Co located on Valentine Street. This dog friendly, family friendly brewery has fantastic craft beer on tap, and the staff will make you feel at home.

I ventured to Czig Meister for their first big event, Hopfest, where they have 16 (!) hoppy beers on tap. The event started at noon, and as soon as they opened the doors people were swarming in! It was a lot of fun. I look forward to more of their events in the future.

I got a chance to meet owner and head brewer Matt Czigler, who has been homebrewing since 2010. Matt holds three degrees from the University of Maine, Microbiology, biochemistry, and molecular and cellular biology. After looking for a job in those fields, he began doing home brewing as a side hobby after finding his my dad’s old homebrew kit. After his first batch he was hooked and kept brewing multiple times a week in the evenings and weekends.

After seeing what he was able to make on a deck with stack pot and a propane burner, he knew it could only get better then that. He attended brewing school as the prestigious Siebel Institute in Chicago where he learned all the ins and outs of brewing professionally.

After being the head brewer for Kane Brewing for two years, Matt started his dream of opening Czig Meister Brewing in 2014. The brewery opened it’s doors in June of 2016 and has had a great reception in Hackettstown. Matt has always called West New Jersey his home, and wanted his business to thrive there. With M&M Mars National headquarters, a University, a major hospital, and amazing downtown walking area…he knew Hackettstown would be a perfect fit. Plus, it helps that there’s a train station nearby!

When you walk into Czig Meister Brewing, expect to find a spacious brewery with lots of beer on tap. Their year round beers are flavorful session ales, and they offer a variety of seasonal beers as well as a constant weekly rotation of one off small batch offerings. Soon they will be getting into barrel aging. This is easily a brewery you can visit weekly and have a different experience.

Matt describes Czig Meister as “Beer Hall-esque” and I agree. It’s a big open space with plenty of seating!

I was also in love with their outdoor beer garden which offered amazing views. I can’t say I’ve been to a brewery with a beer garden yet, so that definitely sets them apart.

Now to the beer…

At Hopfest I had a flight for four “hoppy beers”.
– Forge Batch 1.4 Peach Pale Ale
– Forge Batch 1.6 Mosiac Pale Ale
– Forge Batch 4.8 Pineapple IPA
– Forge Batch 4.12 Single Hope El Dorado

Definitely hoppy! I liked that in addition to having the beers, they also had information educating you about the hops so you knew what you were drinking. The fruit infused beers were my favorite.

I also took home a growler of their Hefeweizen, which was amazing.

When you visit Czig Meister Brewing expect to find fantastic variety beer, a great staff, a comfy brewery setting, and great views of Warren County. Plus, if you look at my NJIB brewery guide you’ll see there’s two other breweries nearby (Man Skirt Brewing Co and Jersey Girl Brewing Co) to visit, and all 3 are very supportive of one another.