I’m constantly excited to see new and upcoming breweries in our craft beer market. With each new brewery, there’s a level of excitement, innovation and yes…new craft beer hitting the market!
Last Friday I was lucky enough to sit down with brewmaster & Co-Founder of East Coast Beer John Merklin and sample some of his beer. East Coast is relatively new to the craft beer world, but you’d never know it based on their beer and their great packaging. John shared all three of their current beers and we had a great time sampling and talking about East Coast. To make it even better, John agreed to come on the WILK Friday BeerBuzz and share his story with all of you.
John co-founded East Coast Beer with high school buddy Brian Ciriaco. Driven by their discovery of craft beer in other countries, the two decided to make the leap and in 2009 they left their jobs to create East Coast Beer Co. East Coast released their first beer in the Summer of 2010 and they’ve been expanding ever since. East Coast Beer distributes to 5 states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York & South Carolina with more “east coast” states to come.
Today we decided to sample Brian & John’s very first beer, Beach Haus Pilsner. Beach Haus is a classic American Pre-prohibition pilsner with just the right amount of hops and a clean easy drinking finish. The body is light but it has a really satisfying mouth-feel that I know will appeal to a wide audience.
We also sampled East Coast’s fall seasonal Winter Rental. This is a dark lager Schwarzbier-style brew that came out in 2011 and it too has a really easy-drinking clean finish and a slightly heavier body, perfect for this time of year. Winter Rental is a surprisingly drinkable beer for a dark lager and John tells me this is their “people’s choice” winner at every festival they do.
East Coast Beers are distributed through Northeast Eagle in Northeastern PA so they are available at Krugel’s Georgetown Deli. Be sure to check out these beers as well as East Coast’s new Kick Back Amber Ale….AND John tells me they are working on a possible new IPA to be added to the East Coast line-up so stay tuned.
Thank you to John Merklin from East Coast Beer, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another
fun Friday.
The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together.
As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
A storybook start for the East Coast Beer Company. Two guys who love beer inspired to make beer while they were drinking beer!
ReplyDeleteThanks to John Merklin for being on the WILK FBB today and to John and co-founder Brian Ciriaco for making great beers like Beach Haus Pilsener which I enjoyed and Winter Rental Black Lager which I enjoyed even more!
Krugel's has 'em so whatta ya waiting for?!?
Thanks to Bill from MyBeerBuzz.com for making another fine FBB happen and thanks most of all to you for listening!
Best,
John
webster@wilknewsradio.com
Great show guys!
ReplyDeleteRyan W
I sampled these beers last week and I loved them. John was a nice guy too. Good idea having him on.
ReplyDeleteEric
Yes I am moderating comments....or at least trying to catch up. Damn spammers....
ReplyDeleteI met John Merklin last Friday and you to Bill. It was real fun tasting with you guys and I really liked the Beach Haus beer. Cheers
ReplyDeleteNathan
I liked the East Coast amber ale. I was at Krugels too. Jen
ReplyDeletegreat show today
ReplyDeleteJohn Was really nice with samples and I liked the Winter Rental best. Jerry
ReplyDeleteI just bought the Beach Haus beer at Georgetown today. They said to say hi. Mark J
ReplyDeleteYou guys always do a nice job. Great interview today and you guys are the best. Of course I'll head up to Krugels and buy some tonight. Jim
ReplyDeleteI hear there are three beers from East Coast so I guess I'll be taking home 3 six packs this weekend. Fun show today. I love that John ski's at Elk Mountain too. Scott
ReplyDeleteMe too Scott...as a season pass holder for many years at Elk, it's always exciting to hear someone mention it.
ReplyDeleteI bought Beach Haus for lunch today. Nice job and whoa what a selection Georgetown Deli has. It's as big as the cow. Keep up the good shows.
ReplyDeleteBrian O
I think your guest today was really good. I'll drink to that!
ReplyDeleteMary from Moosic
I agree with Nancy. I sampled this beer last Friday and I think it is a great gateway beer for someone new to craft beer. Amy
ReplyDeleteNice show. OK if you insist I will try these beers =}
ReplyDeleteHow do you guys at WILK keep finding new beers and breweries I never heard of? I'll add East Coast to my shopping list for the weekend. Shay
ReplyDeleteThanks Shay and thank you to John Merklin for joining us on the show today. I sampled all three of East Coast's current offering and enjoyed them all. One thing we didn't mention on the show is that John is currently working on an upcoming IPA so stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteI love the video Candis B Foreal
ReplyDeleteand yes my number was 6! Houdini is your producer. I love the video credits. JJ
ReplyDeleteI missed the show but the video is even better. Drink on buzzers. TJ
ReplyDeleteAnother fantastic WILK Beer buzz, a really good guest once again and two beers that sounded really good but I won;t confirm that until I get to Krugels to buy them tonight. Nice! GerrOne
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