Slack Tide Brewing

With this issue, our Grape & Grain column enters its second year of spotlighting the impressive array of breweries, wineries, and distilleries that populate our beloved Jersey Cape. It is a remarkable and expanding assortment of fun-filled venues where locals and visitors can immerse themselves in the vibrant Jersey Shore scene. Fortunately, there are plenty still for us to visit on these pages, and hopefully for many of you to do so in person!  

So, in commencing our 2025 research into the delights of local sip stations, we pay a visit to Slack Tide Brewing Company, in Clermont, which is just outside Avalon and approximately 18 miles north of the Exit 0 bridge. Slack Tide is a family friendly brew stop where handcrafted ales and lagers are served in abundance and with impressive variety and quality. The essential ambiance at Slack Tide is one of chilling out, sipping, chatting, laughing, and enjoying the present moment. Watch a game on TV or play one outside. No worries.

More about the name, though, because it’s really cool. Coastal folks know that the slack tide is that moment when there is neither ebb nor flow of the tidal current, and for a brief period, the water is calm and unstressed. This momentary pause before the cycle resumes is an apt metaphor for that sense in our daily lives where we seek a balance between necessary activity and desired tranquility.  Fishermen are known to use this break time to sit back, crack open a cold one, and wait for the fishing bite to “turn back on” with the tide’s reversal. So, in developing the brewery’s theme and character, co-founders Jason and Tadhg Campbell chose Slack Tide as perfectly symbolic of this welcome respite within our hectic days.  

Opened in December of 2015, Slack Tide is owned and operated as a family business by the Campbell brothers, both locals, joined by their wives in the
(ad)venture. The origin story is like many we’ve featured: Jason and Tadhg (pronounced Teg) were homebrewers first. While learning the craft in their garages, they arrived at an idea of brewing 50 six-packs and sending them to 50 friends, along with a feedback scoring sheet. As it happens, one of the tasters was a certified beer judge, who strongly approved of the product and encouraged the brothers’ inclination to establish a craft brewery. Today, Jason largely handles sales and marketing and manages regulatory obligations, with Tadhg leading the brewing and onsite facility operations.   

Visiting Slack Tide is a no-hurdles experience, starting with easy access to the location, which is a simple turn off Route 9. You immediately enter an ample, brewery-specific parking lot. The main building adjacent to the parking area is a 2,000 square foot pavilion-like tasting room. It is attractive and tastefully appointed in a light, coastal motif. It is spacious without being too large. A long bar lined with stools greets those who wish to belly up, but there are tables and high tops available as well.  Directly in front of the tasting room building in an expansive yard for outdoor enjoyment of brew, food trucks, music events, and ever-popular lawn games. Finally, behind the tasting room is the 6,000 square foot production facility where all the brewing is done—and wherever possible, with local ingredients.

While Slack Tide certainly passes the basic ambience, décor, and practical facilities tests, the ultimate judgment of a nano-brewery always comes via the quality of the liquid—and it was time for my tasting! 

On tap the day of my visit were 16 beers, a hard lemonade, and a hard seltzer. The brews are generally categorized as Year-Round or Seasonal, with the former boasting a popular array of styles including a Kolsch, a lager, a couple IPAs and other pale ales, and a stout. So, I conferenced with Jason at a picnic table to determine a “flight” of six brews, ensuring we covered a spectrum of styles. My lineup, with brief tidbits on each, was:

The Catch & Release 004 Kolsch—at 5.1% ABV is their crisp German-style brew with a very light malt and subtle hop profile. Kolsch is a style ideal for a first “at the end of the workday” beer.

The Avalon Amber—a Red Ale at 5.7% ABV that was a winner of a Bronze Medal at the world prestigious Great American Beer Festival. It is made with six different malts and is modestly hopped with a pleasant balance on the palate and a crisp finish.

The Angry Osprey—an American IPA at 6.8% ABV presents a copper color, is dry-hopped with two different hops providing the desired pine notes of an IPA, but with some citrus flavor and aroma.

The Schoolie—a Pale Ale at 5.6% ABV is slightly hazy and easy drinking with stone fruit notes. It is crisp and balanced.  

The Lemon Shark—a Hard Lemonade at 5% ABV, these aren’t my style. But it’s gluten free and has a sweet-tart balance that is surely appealing to many.  

Finally, the Monkey Face—a stout at 5.3% ABV. True to style, it is full bodied with coffee notes and a nice underlying creaminess.

You can also look for Slack Tide on tap in several of your favorite Cape May restaurants including the Mad Batter, Oyster Bay, Lucky Bones Backwater Grille, Taco Caballito, and the Country Club Tavern. The brewery also has distribution into Maryland and Pennsylvania, and they are looking to expand distribution into Delaware as well as reaching further north in the Garden State.

Though they enjoy a large, loyal core of local denizens, Slack Tide seems also to be one of those breweries where everyone is treated like a regular. Just know that you don’t have to wait for the actual slack tide to take a break there!

Slack Tide Brewing Company is located at 1879 Route 9 in Clermont. slacktidebrewingco.com