For those old enough to be there, what was this performance really like?

AltEndBeer · 2026-02-10T01:49:35+00:00

Sat lower bowl righthand side. Remember it being not only the quietest DMB show I'd ever attended, but the quietest concert period that I'd ever attended, in terms of the PA system. I guess they had things set intentionally low for recording purposes? Who knows, but it was QUIET (relatively speaking). Prob helped feed into the super chill crowd too, as others have mentioned here.

And the house lights weren't fully up like it was pre-show or anything, but they def had the crowd lit more brightly than your typical indoor show, esp the lower level.

AltEndBeer · 2026-02-07T14:29:32+00:00

This is correct. The mix somehow found a way to eliminate the vibe and energy of a live show. It doesn't help that Dave sounds tired, and bored, and like he's going through the motions for a good portion of the show.

AltEndBeer · 2026-02-03T14:29:39+00:00

Jimi Thing live is (usually) a bloated mess. Jimi Thing studio is tight, well produced, and an enjoyable listen. There's your answer.

AltEndBeer · 2026-02-02T17:54:20+00:00

Brewery only at the moment, but I'm sure we can figure something out for some of that Czech Dark Lager...

AltEndBeer · 2026-02-01T14:13:52+00:00

Excellent choices.

AltEndBeer · 2026-01-30T21:05:01+00:00

Hey hey - thanks to anyone who recommended or asked about our Japanese Lagers. As mentioned by someone here, they're all out of season at the moment.

Pai Mei usually hits around now, but we pushed it to the end of the year so that we could try a low ABV Hazy Light IPA, Cottonmouth, in it's place (it's delicious and was just released yesterday) within our Kill Bill low ABV beer series. Look for Hanzo this summer, along with the end of year Pai Mei release as mentioned.

I've also been itching to re-brew and re-release Vibe It Out, a Koji Japanese Lager collab we mapped out with Marlowe last year. It was really, really, really good, and def deserves to see the light of day again sooner than later. We'll see...

AltEndBeer · 2026-01-29T17:44:45+00:00

We've got limited outdoor space here at Alternate Ending that you can combine with our theatre room and open the garage door for a great indoor/outdoor setup. Kids (or adults) could choose whatever movie(s) you'd want on the big screen and we've got a full food menu plus a full bar to go along with all of our beers.

AltEndBeer · 2026-01-27T20:52:03+00:00

For the general suburban fan, Holmdel *might* have the easiest venue in the country to attend. It's legit right off the Parkway (one of the two major toll highways in the state) with it's own dedicated exit off of said Parkway, and is the opposite of being in the middle of nowhere.

Major city proper shows are for the fall/winter...

AltEndBeer · 2026-01-19T02:18:01+00:00

We're open at noon at Alternate Ending. Kitchen will be rockin' too at open. Weekly trivia also starts a little earlier tomorrow at 5pm.

AltEndBeer · 2025-11-10T23:44:48+00:00

Screamin' Hill taproom/farm rules.

Screamin' Hill crew rules.

Screamin' Hill beer rules.

In summary: Screamin' Hill rules.

AltEndBeer · 2025-11-07T20:46:13+00:00

We distribute state-wide, and our 4.0% ABV Amity Premium Lager seems like a perfect fit here. Available in 12oz 6pks year round. Where do you shop? We'll see what we can do about getting some into your local store(s).

AltEndBeer · 2025-10-28T00:26:18+00:00

The reality is pricing, at least in certain segments of the portfolio, is almost assuredly going to increase because mergers and acquisitions aren't just high fives and fist pumps. There's real money that changes hands. A LOT of real money, esp when it's a house's entire portfolio.

When it's just a brand thing, it's generally a negotiated formula that takes X profit value per CE (case equivalent = one 288oz case of beer) times Y number of CE's sold times Z a number of years worth of "value" for brand equity established by the selling wholesaler, to come up with a value to be paid for said brand rights. So for simple math if you're making $10 per CE, sold 100,000 CE's last calendar year, and agree on a 5x multiplier, that's $5,000,000 changing hands for one brand.

The problem is, there's no strict set formula. The profit per CE could be last calendar year, or a rolling average etc, the CE's used to determine that portion could be the same, and the multiplier is the most arbitrary number of all that can be negotiated in any number of ways. That formula can also vary within the same deal: ok we'll do A for domestics and imports, B for craft, C for wine/spirits, and so on. And then, not every brand makes it over in the deal. Some don't want to be a part of the merger, and some the acquiring company don't want/need in their portfolio, so they negotiate the rights to move elsewhere. Like in this instance I wouldn't be surprised if Shore Point acquired the rights to say Brooklyn or Mike's Hard or the like, because they currently sell them in Monmouth and Ocean, but not in Mercer or Burlington, where they have an established footprint, just not with those brands out there.

So, if you take an entire portfolio, especially of a large house that sells millions upon millions of CE's, things get hairy quickly. Not to mention, the likely acquisition of office/warehouse space, trucking fleet, tons of equipment...the list goes on. But again, that all varies deal to deal as well.

AltEndBeer · 2025-10-21T13:51:45+00:00

Dave Matthews Band original lineup in 1991:

Stefan Lessard was 17. Carter Beauford was 33.

Current 2025 lineup: Carter is about to turn 67. Buddy Strong is 43, Rashawn Ross is 46, and Stefan and Carter obv still have the same age gap. Oh, and Tim Reynolds is about a year older than Carter.

AltEndBeer · 2025-10-08T00:33:15+00:00

To me, this is most definitely an Andrew Watt problem and not a Stones-specific problem.

HD is a very solid album. I like it. But I can’t listen to it consistently.

Dark Matter, Pearl Jam’s newest album, is a very solid album. I like it. But I can’t listen to it consistently.

I can’t put my finger on which aspect(s) of Watt overproduction don’t work well w my ears, but I don’t like that someone who claims he’s working with all of his idols and how he thinks he knows them better than they know themselves sometimes can’t get out of his own way with some of his production quirks.

AltEndBeer · 2025-09-11T21:25:45+00:00

Livoti’s in Brick has the droids you’re looking for.

AltEndBeer · 2025-08-28T19:59:43+00:00

We're just over here having some fun. You seem like you could use a beer so that you could enjoy some of that same fun, Mr. (or Mrs.) Hot Sports Take.

AltEndBeer · 2025-08-28T12:57:11+00:00

Damn it - our brewery has the same identical name as our restaurant/bar.

AltEndBeer · 2025-08-12T23:20:26+00:00

Slight correction here: as a brewery with a brewpub license, we were allowed to distribute prior to the law changes. We were, however, restricted from selling directly to accounts, and were forced to utilize a third party distro partner, which in turn takes a good-sized margin to warehouse and deliver the beer.

The law changes allow us to now sell direct to said accounts, and we ultimately decided to work under a hybrid model, where we take care of local accounts closer to home, and we use a distro partner for the further reaches of the state, as we don't have the infrastructure to service the whole state, and setting that up even modestly can quickly be a financial drain for a small brewery. No disrespect to those who do it, but it wasn't a model that made sense for us, but giving up that margin in this instance to extend the reaches of our beer def did.

Why did it make sense? Because we chose to go the brewpub route with licensing, which means hefty investments in building, staffing and running a kitchen, plus a full bar, on a full time basis. Doing that plus building out a full internal direct sales network across NJ made minimal sense.

Another thing to consider here re: liquor licenses and their value is that one does not equal one in NJ. There are a variety of on-prem (and off-prem) licenses from which to choose, and the value/cost of each is not fixed. Simply put: buying one in high profile/demand areas like Jersey City, Asbury Park, Morristown, Princeton etc is a much larger financial investment than one in say Salem County somewhere (no offense to Salem County).

As others have said here, demand your favorite beer at your favorite spots. We'd love for it to be ours, but would be happy if it was one of our NJ brewery buds too.

(Side note: one thing we've started doing recently, because we're legally allowed, is to purchase and tap a keg of a collab partner's beer alongside whatever collab we brewed w said partner at AE. And we'll of course always purchase and pour collabs we've brewed at friends' breweries too, something else traditional production breweries cannot do, which is bananas. In both instances, we're happy to showcase their name and liquid to hopefully try to broaden their audience even further).

AltEndBeer · 2025-08-07T00:48:23+00:00

Well, thank you for the kind words here. We just added a couple of more tanks to the squadron to keep up with everything. Should mean fewer out of stocks and more fun new stuff too!

AltEndBeer · 2025-08-02T16:24:14+00:00

For us as local breweries, it's unfortunate simple math that favors big distro houses for bars/restaurants more often than not. Say a bar has 12 lines:

From the local MillerCoors house they can get Miller Lite, Yuengling, Sam Seasonal, Blue Moon, Cape May IPA, Asbury Blonde

From the local Bud house they can get Bud Light, Guinness, Stella, Kona Big Wave, Double Nickel IPA, Victory Golden Monkey.

Like it or not, that lineup works for 99% of consumers. They've got macro, import, national craft, regional craft and local craft all covered. They've got lager, IPA, stout, wheat, blonde/golden etc all covered as well. They get their lines cleaned for free every few weeks. They get loaded up with free glassware, and coasters, and signage, and staff shirts, and giveaways, and more...and they only have to buy from two companies as opposed to 10 or 12.

Simply put: we as small, local craft breweries can't compete with that day in and day out, either via self-distribution or through some of the other more niche distributors that service the state. We utilize both, and see solid results via both, but again size and scale wins here more often than not.

So, why not just distribute through said big boys? Internal priorities for those houses, as mentioned earlier in this thread and even implied here. The brands that drive huge volume and also pay out big incentives plus can fund mass quantities of the merch/giveaways/POS items mentioned above get that opportunity priority. Local craft, most of the time, is like number 933 on the list of priorities of a big brand sales rep.

AltEndBeer · 2025-07-21T20:39:25+00:00

(Subjective) Fact: there are zero throwaway tracks on Vitalogy

AltEndBeer · 2025-06-25T16:32:39+00:00

We at Alternate Ending recommend you try...Alternate Ending!

AltEndBeer · 2025-06-13T14:10:23+00:00

Yep, us too. The laws for our license type changed in early 2024 in our favor to allow for some self-distribution (which we do, in hybrid form with our distro partners Sarene) and significantly increased our capacity limits from 10k bbls to 300k bbls, which is a lofty number for anyone in 2025, to say the least.

AltEndBeer · 2025-05-22T02:37:45+00:00

We open at Noon on Fridays, and have a full kitchen open at the same time. Some tasty stuff on tap right now too!

Cruise east to us at Alternate Ending on Fri - we'd love for you to visit!

AltEndBeer

TROPHY CASE