With the Clarks - Beer, History and Wine in Monmouth County

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's) 

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 64 - June 3, 2017

We had a bit of a lazy morning with Bob and Maureen Clark at their home in Roosevelt, took a long walk around Roosevelt, and then we went out for a sightseeing tour! The original plan was for sandwiches and beer at a local brewery, but we got a lot more than we expected!

Clarks and Andersons at
Screamin' Hills Brewery

We started out at Roy's Deli, where we got sandwiches to go, and headed for Screamin' Hills Brewery, both in Upper Freehold. The sandwiches were great and the beer was solid but not adventurous, no Belgians, sours, wilds or barrel aged. But each beer was very good, and ran the range of the usual beer styles. I especially enjoyed their IPA and their stout.

This is a tiny brewery which bills itself as a Farm Brewery, which it is - it is on a farm, and they grow their own barley and wheat, which they send to a maltster in Pennsylvania. This is very unique, as almost all small breweries buy their malt from suppliers. They brewed only 240 barrels last year, but anticipate doubling production this year. They are only open on Saturday and Sunday, and business was thriving today! They have a lot of outside seating, and today was a gorgeous day in Monmouth County, so this was a very enjoyable way to start our afternoon!

Pat and Patty with Park Ranger at Walnford Mill

We went from the brewery to the historic Walnford Mill at Crosswicks Creek Park, also in Upper Freehold. The village on the site dates from 1734, and evolved over the years. The 5,000 square foot Richard Waln home, which still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1773. The mill, rebuilt in 1872 after a fire, is powered by a water turbine rather than a water wheel. The milling system is based on U.S. Patent #3, which was signed by Washington and Jefferson, and is amazingly substantially automated - Waln's miller used to start the mill and leave to show off just how automatic it was. Richard and Sarah Waln took charge in 1799, and the Waln family continuously occupied the property for 200 years until 1973. It was donated to the New Jersey Park System in 1985 by the subsequent owners who had purchased the property from the Walns in 1973. We toured the house and the mill, and had a great demonstration and explanation of the mill from a Park Ranger, who started the mill and milled some cornmeal.

But we were not yet done! We next went to the Cream Ridge Winery in Cream Ridge, where we had a tasting of 10 wines for $5.00. They have a 14 acre vineyard at the winery but get most of their grapes from New York and California. They make wine from a wide variety of grapes and fruits, and were all clean and well made. We bought two bottles of merlot and one bottle of their signature wine Almondberry, which is made from raspberries and Niagra grapes. As weird as it sounds, it was delicious. They said this was the wine the winery was built on and is still their biggest seller!

We finished off the day with a very nice dinner at City Streets in East Windsor. All in all, a very full day!

Shifting gears back to the Loop, all conditions are "go" for us to do the ocean leg of the Great Loop tomorrow. We will be back down at the marina at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, fuel up and be ready to exit the Manasquan Inlet near slack tide somewhere before 11:00 a.m. Stay tuned for the next installment, which will be posted from New York!