The Stone Pony. Fastlane. The Saint. Convention Hall. Wonder Bar. Casino Skate Park…..
The founders of Asbury Park Brewery all came of age playing their various brands of rock music at these venues and more in this historic city by the sea.
Music and beer are kindred spirits. Go back in history to ancient Mesopotamia, where the beer making process was accompanied by hymns to Ninkasi, the goddess of beer.
Instead of chanting hymns, the brewing process at APB has a punk rock soundtrack.
Asbury Park Brewery opened its doors in an old warehouse on Sewall Ave in August of 2016. It quickly became a favorite haunt of locals and beer enthusiasts, as well as touring bands.
The tasting room itself actually became an unofficial venue for punk bands coming through the area.
Founder Bob McLynn learned about good beer while touring Europe in 1994. “Beer and music have always been my 2 passions. I was one of those guys that would drink a case of light beer on a weekend when I was younger. I went to Europe for the first time with my band for 2 months right after graduating from Rutgers. We played 13 different countries, 14 shows in Germany alone. Every city had its own brewery and thats what we would get backstage each night. It changed me forever.”
After touring the world and putting out records with several bands (The Step Kings, Headlock) Bob went on to found Crush Management in New York City (Green Day, Miley Cyrus, Fall Out Boy etc), but beer was always part of the program. Bars were the next step. He opened Angels and Kings (a bar focused on beer and music) in the NYC’s East Village with his partner and some of the artists they worked with. They opened 3 more locations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Barcelona.
It was 2011 at the Chicago location where Bob started his journey in brewing. They brewed a beer called Capone Amber Ale in partnership with Half Acre Brewing, served at Angels and Kings among a few other local Chicago spots.
The next chapter in brewing came out of the Crush Sports office in Carlsbad, CA. Josh Landan was managing surfers there. He came up with an idea to start a brewery with several of his surfers and other action sports personalities involved. Bob was one of the first partners to help Josh start and see through his vision for Saint Archer Brewery in 2013. It was a whirlwind 2 years at Saint Archer with incredible growth, medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and ultimately selling to Millers/Coors in 2015.
“At first it was kind if fun” says Bob, “I was up in Seattle for work and the Yankees were in town that afternoon so I walked over to the stadium. There was a whole line of taps with Saint Archer beer, I ordered a Pale Ale and went to my seat to watch the Yanks. It all happened so fast with Saint Archer it seemed too good to be true”.
Thats exactly what it turned out to be. “I started seeing national ads on TV for a watered down Michelob Ultra rip off called Saint Archer Gold”. Like it often happens, the big company takes over the little company, got rid of the staff and watered down the brand. Saint Archer was discontinued by Miller/Coors shortly after.
Chris Cornell and Mike Pimco have been staples in the Asbury music and surfing scene for years. They played in the band Kid With Man Head together in the late nineties and early aughts, putting out records and touring. Between them they have been involved in several business in Asbury Park over the years including Pimco’s "Style Rocket" boutique on the Boardwalk. Chris also founded Manhead Merchandising which makes tour merch for an array of acts from the Deftones to Dolly Parton to Weezer.
At this point with the bars all closed and Saint Archer being sold, Bob was ready to start another brewery, this time back home where his life in music started. He had known Chris a long time from the music business. Chris introduced Bob to Mike and a guy named Jeff Plate, another musician (Mothermania) from the Asbury scene (Jeff has since moved on to focus on his law career and family). Together they started planning the Brewery in the town where they had sewn their musical oats.
They launched the Brewery with traditional style brews like Blonde Lager, Stout and Oktoberfest. “We weren’t trying to compete with all the other breweries who were focused on high gravity IPA’s,” McLynn said. "We were more inclined to experiment with subtle malts”. It wasn’t until almost a year later that they brewed their first IPA - Sea Dragon, which became an immediate hit with people down the shore. The Dragon Family of IPA’s has since grown in several styles.
The Sea Dragon name comes from the Brewery logo, which is a replica of art sculpted on the side of Convention Hall in Asbury.
Fast forward to today and the new brewery space on Cookman Avenue downtown Asbury. The brand has grown throughout New Jersey and beyond with several styles, including Scarlet Ale - a beer inspired by Rutgers Scarlet Knights, McLynns alma mater.
“We’re pretty simple,” says McLynn. "We love beer and we love music. When you put them together we are the happiest”.
