It was a looooong weekend and I’m still not sure we’ve recovered yet, but we had a hell of a time down at our very first Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival!

We had heard rumors of what was in store — over 24,000 attendees makes it one of the largest beer festivals in the country. After a few early morning deliveries on Friday we packed up the SUVs and headed down the Parkway.

After a bit of circling around the convention center, we located the entry ramp and got to drive right up to our booth (side note: dodging garbage pails and brewery reps is always a good time). It took a little effort to get things fully set up – we had never prepped for an event of this size – but came prepared to create a great setting to serve our beer and make us easy to find.

Friday night’s session was pretty low key (by comparison to Saturday) and it was great having some time between pours to chat about our beers, the festival, and the insanity that has been our lives over the past month and a half since we launched.

Friday in no way, shape, or form prepared us for Saturday’s session. I’m sure the post Session #1 drinking until 4am didn’t help but we were up and pouring beer to VIPs in Session #2 before noon. It took until about a half hour into the general admission portion of the session before our booth became inundated. It’s a good thing we roped our wives and some friends into helping us man the jockey box or we’d have been in trouble. The afternoon session flew by and the one hour downtime before the final session went even faster.

With about 15 minutes left in the session, the organizers rolled up and plopped a HUGE beer trophy on top of our table – we had been selected as the “People’s Choice” brewery from over 90 at the festival! It was a great moment for us as at NJ’s newest brewers. Since launching the beers a few weeks ago, we’ve been trying to get our beers into as many people’s hands as possible. It’s not easy being as small of an operation as we are. Based primarily in the northern part of the state, we were happy to finally get to share our beers with some new fans, and that the southern Jersey folks finally got a glimpse of what we are trying to do.

Stay tuned to our website and our Facebook page as we continue to grow. In the mean time, take a look at some of the pictures from a great first AC BeerFest for Bolero Snort Brewery below.

Cheers!

Bergen

The 101 Pub - Bogota, NJ

Andy’s Corner Bar – Bogota, NJ

Cask 171 – Closter, NJ

Copper Mine Pub - North Arlington, NJ

Heights Beer & Wine – Hasbrouck Heights, NJ

High Spirits - Ridgefield Park, NJ

MK Valencia* – Ridgefield Park, NJ

Queen Anne Wine – Teaneck, NJ

Ramsey Liquors – Ramsey, NJ

Stew Leonard’s – Paramus, NJ

Twisted Elm – Elmwood Park, NJ

Village IGA* – Ridgefield Park, NJ

Westside Village Tavern – Ridgefield Park, NJ

Wine Country – Bergenfield, NJ

Essex

Cloverleaf Tavern – Caldwell, NJ

The Office Bar & Grill – Montclair, NJ

Hudson

Barcade – Jersey City, NJ

Little Town NJ – Hoboken, NJ

Super Buy Rite – Jersey City, NJ

Texas Arizona – Hoboken, NJ

Mercer

Joe Canal’s – Lawrenceville, NJ

Middlesex

Joe Canal’s – Woodbridge, NJ

Wine Country – South Plainfield, NJ

Morris

54 Main Bar & Grill – Madison, NJ

Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars - Boonton, NJ

Gary’s Wine & Marketplace – Madison, NJ

Morris Tap & Grill – Randolph, NJ

The Office Beer Bar & Grill – Morristown, NJ

Piccolo’s Restaurant – Kinnelon, NJ

Poor Henry’s - Montville, NJ

Passaic

381 Main Bar & Grill - Little Falls, NJ

Gary’s Wine & Marketplace - Wayne, NJ

Stew Leonard’s – Clifton, NJ

Taphouse Grille - Wayne, NJ

Somerset County

Gary’s Wine & Marketplace* – Bernardsville, NJ

Sussex

Mohawk House – Sparta, NJ

Union

Shop Rite Liquors – Westfield, NJ

Stew Leonard’s – Springfield, NJ

Warren

Wine Country – Hackettstown, NJ

*Denotes Coming Soon

Updated: 4/29/13

Blackhorn is our flagship American Black Lager, but it didn’t start out that way.

This hoppy and smooth personal favorite was originally brewed under a different name (more on that here) for our good friends over at New Jersey Craft Beer for their launch party back in 2011. It was not only my first attempt at the newly emerging Black IPA style, but also the first from-scratch recipe I developed. It was a hit at the party and as a result, made it into my regular brew schedule to perfect the recipe.

As Andrew and I got over the first paperwork hump and started to plan our initial offerings, we kept coming back to Blackhorn. With a new production brewery, you tend to see 3 to 4 different flagships – something light to middle of the road (or both), something hoppy and something dark. Knowing we’d be starting out contracting, we decided that two beers would be enough of a task to balance, so we focused on which of our portfolio of recipes should make the cut. Often breweries will have a Black IPA as a seasonal or specialty release, but liking to buck the norm we decided that Blackhorn should be a mainstay. The fact that it gave us something that was both dark AND hoppy in a single beer was a bonus.

Our application with the state continued to languish which gave us a lot of time to really perfect the brew and come up with contingencies should we not be able to get some of the hops we were brewing with on the home brew scale. Once settling on High Point to brew, we figured we’d see how their house strain worked with our base recipe for the beer. We chose our favorite hop combination to date and brewed a double batch splitting it between a control (ale strain) and a variable (lager strain). The results were better than we could have hoped for with the lager yeast really accentuating the specialty malts in the grist bill while still allowing the hops to shine through…and thus Blackhorn went from being a Black IPA to a Black IPL.

Prior to scheduling the first brew, we needed to get a keg collar approved so that we didn’t run the risk of the beer getting old while we waited for approval – especially because with all the hops we are putting into this brew it’s best enjoyed fresh. So we submitted Blackhorn Black IPL to the one guy at the federal level who approves every beer keg collar/bottle label in the country…and it was rejected. Not only was it suggested to have Black IPL spelt out as Black India Pale Lager on the resubmission to receive approval, but we were to add “style” to it so the consumer wouldn’t be confused as to whether or not the beer was brewed in India. Really? Black India Style Pale Lager would have needed a wrap around label to fit that sentence. Knowing the first batch, and our release, were riding on the approval of the resubmission, Andrew came up with American Black Lager. American to convey the hoppiness, its black in color, and Lager, well if you’ve made it this far, you probably understand why. We resubmitted it as such and two weeks later got the green light and the rest is history.

In the end, what style a beer is labeled is secondary to taste, and we hope you find that to be the case with Blackhorn. Cheers!

It’s been a long time coming but the first commercial batches of Blackhorn and Ragin’ Bull are happily fermenting away which means in just a few short weeks they be hitting draft lines in Northern New Jersey! Both Bob & Andrew will be at each event so make sure to say hi and raise a pint!

Initial details can be found below but make sure to check back for updates on any additional festivities and for more info on what specialty treatments you’ll see where.

Barcade Jersey City – Tuesday, February 26th – 7pm to 9pm

• Ragin’ Bull on tap and a firkin of Blackhorn Double Dry Hopped with Whole Cone Amarillo Hops
• On Facebook

Taphouse Grill – Wednesday, February 27th – 7pm to 9pm

• Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn on draft 
• Specialty Firkin: “Jittery” Blackhorn – aged on vanilla and coffee beans
• On Facebook

Cloverleaf Tavern – Thursday, February 28th – 7pm to 9pm

• Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn on draft
• On Facebook

The Shepherd and the Knucklehead – Friday, March 1st – 7pm to 9pm

• Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn on draft
• On Facebook

Copper Mine Pub – Saturday, March 2nd – 3pm to ???

• Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn on draft
• Specialty Firkin: “Nutty” Ragin’ Bull – aged on hazelnuts
• Super Special Pin: “Blackbeard’s” Blackhorn – aged on Rum Soaked Oak and a touch of Coconut
• On Facebook

Show some social media love – #BSLaunch on all your event posts, pics, tweets and check-ins!

While Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn are starting out on draft at the end of February, we hope to have them available in bottles in late March and late April, respectively.

Well it took just over a year from submitting our initial paperwork to the Feds but the dream has finally become reality with batch 001 being brewed on Tuesday, January 15th.

It was a long road, with a number of bumps along the way as we endured the arduous paperwork process with the state but we are just a few steps away from Bolero Snort beers finally hitting the New Jersey craft beer scene and we couldn’t be more excited.

The brew day went incredibly well and we hope all the recipe tweaking over the past few months will really show when this first batch finishes fermenting and gets packaged up. Blackhorn is up next week and we are working hard to finalize launch party details. Stay tuned for more but in the mean time take a visual tour Ragin’ Bull’s inaugural brew day.

Cheers!

While there have been a few different off the wall brews from our last update in June 2012 the main focus has been the perfection of our flagships Ragin’ Bull and Blackhorn. Controls and variants were brewed almost weekly to get the malts and hops dialed in just right for the flavor combinations we were striving for.

We hope all the hard work pays off later this February when the two beers launch. While the pilot rig may be dry for a bit we will try to play catch up with some of the experimental batches brewed over the past 6 months in between getting Bolero Snort fully up and running.

Thanks for your patience and can’t for you to try what we’ve come up with.

Cheers,

Bob & Andrew

It took a good bit of back and forth, but given the NJ market we have ultimately decided to offer beers at launch both on draft and in 6-packs (bombers were in the running for a while but were ultimately ruled out). Given the option of paying expensive firms or putting that money towards getting more of our beer out to you guys sooner, all of the designs you see fall to us to create.

We respect the opinions and ideas of our fans and so here is your chance to weigh in one what the 6-packs that will be hitting shelves later this year will look like. Take a careful look – most of the changes between the designs are pretty subtle – but we want a clean, yet bold package that represents our  mission of brewing “No BS…Just Ragin’ Good Beer!”

All picture can be clicked to enlarge. Once you’ve checked them all out comment on your favorites below or head over to our Facebook page to vote!

Design 1:

Design 2:

Design 3:

Design 4:

Design 5:

Cheers!

We’ve been teasing the release for quite some time but it’s finally here!

Many thanks (and more beer) is owed to Mark Hulbrock for putting up with us as we fed him information for the site in between brewing and filling out the mountains of paperwork to get our brews out to the masses!

Make sure to take a look around! Learn a little bit more about us and the beers we make. Watch for the latest happenings with the BS News (Blog) and make sure to stop by the “China Shop” (Store) and order some Bolero Snort swag!

As we get closer to the full launch of our beers the “No BS on Tap” will be the place to find out which of your favorite watering holes will be chock full of Ragin’ Good Beer and the “Events” page will be constantly updated with any special tasting events, samplings or festivals we’ll be attending.

Drop us a line and let us know what you think and stay tuned…the best is yet to come!

Cheers!

Bob & Andrew

Well…it’s not quite the season yet here in NJ but we’ve got not 1 but 2 new pilot batches with the sweet and juicy red berries getting added to the mix.

We’ve brewed Saison de Bull – with rhubarb and rosemary – each of the past two years and it’s always been one of my favorites, originally inspired by a poolside rhubarb and rum cocktail with a spring of fresh from the garden rosemary in it. Last year while watching the Today show they talked about a strawberry and basil ice cream and since then we’ve wanted to give it a whirl in our base saison recipe. It kept slipping from last year’s brew schedule but last week’s pilot batch (along with a double batch of Ragin’ Bull) we finally got around to it. A light saison with both basil and strawberries in the boil it should be the perfect early summer brew once its done fermenting.

As we so often do we asked our Facebook fans to help name this new concoction and “Strawbully Snortcake” was thrown out. While not necessarily a good fit for this brew – who wants basil in a cake?!? – it inspired this upcoming Friday’s batch. Having never brewed a cream ale this will be the perfect chance to test a light summer sipper with a little ragin’ good beer flair. The plan is to use a couple of pounds of strawberries in the boil along with a touch of lactose (unfermentable milk sugar) to help simulate an added bit of creaminess. A touch of vanilla bean during secondary fermentation and we should have a refreshing brew that lives up to its name.

Stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter for more on how these two strawberry filled brews come out!

While looking to get some cherrywood smoked malts on a recent grain order I stumbled across a specialty grain I hadn’t come across before — oak smoked wheat. Reading up on it I came to learn that the grain was almost exclusively used in an old, and almost extinct style of beer — a Grodziskie.

“Grodziskie, a smoked wheat ale, is considered to be the the only beer style native to Poland. Named after the city where it was brewed, it is sometimes known as Gratzer (the name the Germans gave the city of Grodziskie when they took over). This style was popular across much of Poland and northern Germany during the 19th Century and into the 20th up to the first World War. Thought to have been born sometime in the 14th Century, this beer style disappeared in the 1990s when the last brewery in Poland producing it closed.” from Beervana

So this upcoming Friday we’ll be giving it a whirl. Last year we brewed sMOOked – a smoked lager – with the smoky flavor coming 30% of the grist being beach wood smoked malt, so it will be interesting to see how a 100% smoked wheat with a hefe strain will compare…stay tuned for the results.