By PETE WALTON
Another mini-brewery is coming to the area, this one on Main Street in Bradley Beach.
Bradley Brew Project is expected to open late this year or early next at 714 Main St., most recently occupied by the Blue Marlin and home to a number of restaurants over the years.
“We can only imagine how many great memories were made at the Blue Marlin,” said owners Mike Ziolkowski and Chelsey DeMarino-Ziolkowski on the brewery’s web site. “We feel honored to call it our new home.”
The Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a use variance for the project in May, according to Ziolkowski.
“We’re thrilled about the reception we’ve received,” he said adding that he and his wife have been working on the project for more than a year.
The couple said Bradley Brew Project would be “a community focused nanobrewery,” built around “locally brewed ales and lagers with approachable personalities and unique stories.”
“We’re extremely excited and honored for the opportunity to become a local Jersey shore small business and look forward to sharing our creative and unique beers with fellow residents, tourists and visitors.” DeMarino-Ziolkowski said.
Approvals are also needed from the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Those can take six months or more, Ziolkowski said.
Bradley Brew Project will operate with a “limited brewery license,” which Ziolkowski said will permit it to brew beer, sell directly to consumers and self distribute its product to other businesses.
Even though the license does not permit the owners to run a restaurant, Ziolkowski said the brewery will partner with local restaurants so that customers can order food to be delivered and consumed on location along with the locally produced beer.
Brewers are already working on new recipes for the forthcoming venture.
“We found a bit of time over the weekend to homebrew and work on a new amber ale recipe with American and German hops,” the owners said. “Fermented with British yeast, it will finish with fruity esters and clock in around 6 percent alcohol by volume.”
The brewery plans to donate hundreds of pounds of spent grain each week to a local farm, which will use it to feed cows.
“We plan to implement a number of similar recyclable and sustainable processes when we’re up and running,” DeMarino-Ziolkowski said.
“We have some pretty awesome things planned for this welcoming and beautiful space,” she added.
“Given our location and size, and our community focus, we want to have people be a part of it, to come in and relax and enjoy themselves,” Ziolkowski said.
