You can find Hidden Sands Brewing Company in Egg Harbor Township (off Exit 37 of the New Jersey Parkway), which neighbors Atlantic City.
"Our as well as other breweries all prepare for 'beer season' which increases production to stay ahead of demand. Brewing beer isn't as quick as many people think," says Matt Helm, Managing Member, who took time out of his busy days ramping up for the summer season to answer some of 141 miles' questions via email.
Helm explained the brewery's laborious process, surely one of the reasons why it was nominated for a Best of Jersey Shore 2025 award.
This entire process can take anywhere from nine days to 8 weeks, depending on the style of beer. Hidden Sands makes beer in both kegs (both 1/2 and 1/6 sizes) and in pint cans.
Helm said Egg Harbor Township, which he also counts as his home, provides a lot of diversity and community and local business support.
Egg Harbor's ideal proximity to other major tourist areas brings a lot of curious beer drinkers to the tap room, Helm says.
"Since we are in a tourism area, we appreciate seeing new faces of the people visiting the shore area. We see people from as far north as Long Beach Island and as far south as Cape May," He adds. "We see a lot of our patrons that are on their way to their visit to the shore or Atlantic City."
And when the sun isn't shining, Helm says: "Rainy days bring in many patrons to our tasting room."
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As for this upcoming summer, Hidden Sands is planning a summer anniversary outdoor bash on August 16th, but is still finalizing details.
He is a fan of A Touch of Italy, which has undergone construction during the offseason, and looks forward to them reopening soon. For visitors looking to take some Hidden Sands cans or kegs to the house for a night in, he recommends the Lidl grocery store.
We often get questioned on how long a batch of beer takes. While the brewing process is generally a one shift event to produce a 20 barrel batch, the remaining portion of the process is as important to the process as the brew. Fermentation is the step in the process where yeast is introduced which provides two main functions, to produce alcohol and naturally carbonate the beer. This is a very important step in the process which is closely monitored with samples being collected and tested several times during the process. Once the fermentation is completed, the beer needs to be rapidly cooled which retards the fermentation process, and allows the yeast to settle in the tank. If any dry hopping is done, it is during this step in the process. Once the cellar man has completed fermentation and dry hopping, the hops and yeast are drained via a port on the bottom of the tank, and this helps the beer to clear up. After some additional time to settle, this beer is moved to a different tank for additional carbonating, chilling and then it's ready for packaging.
