As Heavy Reel Brewing Company approaches its seventh anniversary, owner Jeff Greco takes stock of the brewery as the summer months approach.
Greco grew up in Northern New Jersey, but caught the Shore bug when vacationed in Seaside Park with his wife's family. The couple traveled a lot and visited many breweries, where they were inspired to open their own . After an initial location in Seaside Park fell through, he opened in neighboring Seaside Heights in April 2018 and moved to its current location in June.
And, thus, Heavy Reel Brewing Company was born. Heavy Reel has two locations - its taproom in Seaside Heights and a stand in the Jersey Shore Blue Claws stadium.
The brew pub is open year round though hours slightly differ in the offseason. During the offseason they make their beers available for retail across the state, so when brew pub foot traffic and Blue Claw games ramp up in the summer months, they just produce less cans.
“We just change where the beer is going instead of changing how much we make,” Greco says.
Beer aficionados should definitely stop by during Heavy Reel’s anniversary week, the third week in June, where they will have collabs with Virginia's The Answer, Avon, New York’s Mortalis and Equilibrium, and Florida’s Arcane Ale Works.
When he’s not working, he’s spending most of his time with his wife and two kids or fishing. If he makes it out, he recommends Hooks Bar and Restaurant in Seaside Heights and Bum Rogers in Seaside Park.
“We live on the island. It definitely gets crazy when school gets out and we get the influx of tourists,” Greco says. “I like in the offseason where it’s calmer where you can walk outside and smell the salt air.”
