United Nations of Beer

Ship Inn, Milford

by Andrew Schanel
(Beer Delegate, NJ, USA)

Ship Inn
Milford, NJ, USA

The many small towns lining the Delaware River in West Jersey invoke spirits of a time long forgotten. For beer lovers who care to travel the winding roads through a bucolic landscape with sprawling farms and centuries-old buildings, a nice surprise awaits them in the historic town of Milford.

Milford is home to the Ship Inn, an authentic English pub housed in a grand 1860 Victorian mansion.

Upon entering this building I immediately noticed the piano, the long bar stretching out to my left, and the various signs nailed to the wall advertising Bass and Newcastle Brown Ale. Admittedly, the place has atmosphere.

The brew house is equally impressive, offering a peek through glass at the clean, smart looking room full of the equipment of the trade.

When I and my accomplice took a seat at the bar, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the unmistakable accent of the Queen’s English – verifying the realism of the place. Apparently, most of the staff are actually from the UK and the brewmaster apprenticed at the Shipyard Brewery in Maine – which is a lot to say, because Shipyard brews a few of my favorite beers.

Anyway, to the beers of the Ship Inn. The beer menu was excellent, offering five kinds of barleywine, countless IPAs and pale ales and a good selection of Stouts and Porters, almost all from the UK. Even though the list was extensive, I stuck to the house beers, as I’m more interested in beer made on premises. Links to my reviews:

Ship Inn Pheasant Plucker

Ship Inn Ginger Ale

Ship Inn ESB

Ship Inn Winter Porter

As I was just about to order one last round, the brew server kindly reminded me (or not so kindly, depending on if your version of "kindly" is shouting across the bar) of the maximum pint rule. So I picked up a growler of Fucker and sauntered out into the streets of Merry Ol’ England, an ego-crushed man with good memories of NJ’s "first" brewpub.