NJ Oysters And Beer, Perfect Together? Brewer Thinks So

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — In John Ross Coccozza's world, water is central to much of what he does. He and his family live on the Shrewsbury River and love to spend time swimming, boating and sailing.

Water also is critical to his hobby-turned-business of brewing beer, as the main ingredient needed to produce each brew. So it only seemed natural for his company, Ross Brewing, to collaborate with the American Littoral Society to support Operation Oyster, the society's efforts to rebuild oyster reefs in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers.

The idea arose at an event at Sandy Hook, when he mentioned to a couple of Littoral Society staff members that he was planning to open a brewery.

"We like craft beer," they told him. As they talked about the oyster restoration project, he realized he wanted to be involved.

"These oysters clean the water," Coccozza said. "We all should be doing everything we can to support this."

And what better way, he said, than brewing a beer using oysters.

While the thought of making beer with oysters may give some people pause, Oystout does not taste the way you might think it would. It's an oatmeal chocolate roasted stout with a touch of saltiness, like sea salt, with less sweetness and lower alcohol by volume, at 6 percent, than is typical for a stout.

"We wanted to bring it (the alcohol content) down because we didn't want it to be overly boozy," Coccozza said. "We wanted people to be able to drink more than one."

The salinity from the oysters provides that sea salt taste, but it does not taste like oysters. It is a pleasant, smooth beer to enjoy with dinner or after. (And yes, I tried it and enjoyed it.)

Ross Brewing is donating a portion of the proceeds from the sales of the beer to the Littoral Society's oyster rebuilding efforts.

"We’re very excited about the partnership," said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. "It's very cool to have a beer developed to support our environmental work. It's unique."

Having it be the support of a local business is even more meaningful, he said.

"A lot of our work is at the community level," Dillingham said. "This project is iconic in that sense; it symbolizes a lot of what we are trying to do."

The combination of the donations from the beer's sales along with the awareness it will raise are important, Dillingham said, because the project's costs are not small: The initial phases of Operation Oyster in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers are estimated to cost $50,000 to $100,000.

"The fact that he is going to donate some of the proceeds is tremendous," Dillingham said. "It’s great to have a steady partner who’s in it with us for the long haul."

Coccozza's foray into the oyster stout isn't a huge leap for Ross Brewing, as its signature beers are named for New Jersey rivers: Raritan Rye, Shrewsbury Lager, Navesink IPA, Manasquan Witbier and Passaic Porter — a reminder of how much he loves the water.

The brewery, which is not open yet, is on Compton Creek off Sandy Hook Bay. It occupies the former Shoal Harbor Lobster Company building next to the Belford Seafood Co-op, where he sources the oysters for the Oystout. Ross Brewing has received its certificate of occupancy for the building, but he is waiting for the state to approve the microbrewery license.

While he waits to brew in his own facility, Coccozza said Ross Brewing produces its beers through contract brewing, where they pay other breweries to take their ingredients and recipe and produce the beer for them.

"If they have empty tanks that aren't being used, it gives them income," Coccozza said, adding it's a common practice in the microbrew community. That community has been a huge help to him as he has launched the brand and the brewery, from giving him insight into the costs of raw materials to advice on quality control as they scale up the volume of beer they are producing.

He works in corporate finance, just recently taking a position at Orveon, a cosmetics company.

"I've always maintained a connection to entrepreneurship," he said. He was homebrewing beer in college, and in 2009 owned a pair of pubs that served only craft beers. But when he turned 40, he decided to pursue opening the brewery. Ross Brewing launched in December 2019, after receiving its license in New York. In New Jersey, Ross Brewing beers are distributed in Monmouth and Ocean counties, and he said distribution is set to expand to the Philadelphia area in the near future.

"My wife was happy to get all of the equipment out of the garage," Coccozza said with a laugh.

The collaboration with the Littoral Society isn't a one-off; Ross Brewing is working to collaborate with other nonprofits and community groups that could use a boost, because he believes building the brand happens as it becomes entwined in the community.

"A lot of times craft brewing will go into an undeveloped area," he said, noting that as people become more familiar with it, the area will grow in response. "That happens faster when we're engaged with the community around us."

Coccozza said posts on the brewery's Instagram page seeking contacts from organizations that would like to collaborate drew a tremendous response, giving them a lot of possibilities of groups they can help.

Once the taproom opens they will have one tap per week dedicated to a nonprofit chosen by the brewery's staff, with the profits from that draft line going to the nonprofit of choice, he said.

"Craft beer has grown to more than 10 percent of the (beer) market," Coccozza said. "There’s more attention, more shelf space devoted to them now."

That creates an opportunity to use that space and access to highlight organizations that are doing good in the community.

"We don’t want to be separate," he said. "We want to be a part of it to help our community thrive."

Oystout received a public promotion at the Littoral Society's Lobster Run 5K on the boardwalk in Asbury Park on April 29, to help bring awareness to the oyster project.

A second brew using oysters, called Oyster Gose, is in the works, he said. It's a German beer style that is light in alcohol, and has a salty flavor. He hopes it will help continue the efforts to highlight Operation Oyster.

"Two million people on the planet are going to bed thirsty," Coccozza said, adding "those of us on the water see the effects of pollution and declines in water quality."

"Anything we can do to bring awareness to this cause is good for all of us," he said.