This place looks familiar, I thought as we turned into a business park I’d been to numerous times. It’s how I started my last beer-touring piece and it was just as apt with stop three of four—Midnight Jack Brewing Company (3801 Oceanic Drive, Oceanside). Nearing this new brewery’s business-park home, I was reminded of doing so many times when visiting Oceanside Ale Works from 2007 to 2009. It was one of the first local breweries I visited (after larger, more obvious stops like Stone Brewing, Pizza Port and Karl Strauss Brewing Company), and the smallest of my early batch. Midnight Jack owner and brewmaster John Scheri has history with OAW, as well. He used to volunteer there back in his homebrewing days. So opening his own brewery in the spot he selected is equal parts next-chapter and homecoming.
Much like OAW, Midnight Jack (named after a family member who did the mechanical work for New Jersey bootleggers during the Prohibition era) has a party-vibe to it, and that has everything to do with Scheri. Shortly after I arrived, he came to the bar and hoisted up family-size bags of snacks before heading to the rear of the tasting room to grill up burgers and hot-dogs, both of which were available to customers free-of-charge. A row of picnic tables encourage the making of new friends while corn-hole (they hold a tourney every Tuesday), giant-sized Jenga and Thursday trivia-nights provide fun things to do beyond imbibing. That said, imbibing is the whole reason Midnight Jack exists, so on to the beer.
The day I was in, 11 beers were on-tap, three of which were served on nitro. The hands-down star of the bunch was a 7.5% alcohol-by-volume (ABV) Azacca IPA. Its tropical-fruit character jumped out of the glass and onto my taste-buds. As quaffable as a blonde or lager yet poignantly hoppy, it’s a standout in multiple regards. And if you are into peanut-butter beers or entrenched in a nostalgic search for a beer that brings jammy fruit into the equation, Jack’s PB&J is the beer for you. Others have tried, but few, if any, more succinctly convey the exact flavor of peanut-butter-and-jelly in beer-form than this stout.
The rest of the beer-list was more hit-and-miss. Tropiweizen, a hefe brewed with Mosaic hops, tasted more of those hops than anything, leaving me wanting the trademark banana and clove yeastiness associated with this style. An eponymous pale ale was palatable and bitter enough, but Lucky No. 7 IPA, despite a nice tangerine nose, was a bit grainy and sweet. A nitrogenized Russian Imperial Stout had plenty of cocoa flavor but wasn’t all that palatable, but another nitro-beer, Barnstormer Brown Ale, was mild and satisfying in its traditional composition.
Unfortunately, there were instances where the undeniable butteriness of diacetyl reared its popcorny head. It was most noticeable in the Bombshell Belgian Blonde and Running Board Milk Stout. It was particularly disappointing to discover it in the latter, given how roasted malts help to cover the presence of diacetyl. Ditto the nitro delivery system.
Midnight Jack is less than two months into its young lifespan, and there is much yet to come. First off, an official grand-opening celebration, which is slated for July 2 and 3, and will include new beer releases, live music, contests, food vendors and more. Sunday’s event is ticketed and will include access to prime firework-watching real estate (tickets are available online). Further down the line, an area will be available for private events, and a kitchenette just off the brewery will be renovated for provision of in-house food. For now, Scheri’s barbecue grill fills in just fine, especially when food from it is paired with that Azacca IPA.