Invertase Brewing Company - 1726

You may be wondering what the name 1726 stands for. Well, being an engineer, brewmaster Stephen Zolnay is fond of numbers, and many of Invertase’s beers have numbered names like 1954, 425, 1600, or 571. His dad Steve tells us, “They’re secret codes that only he knows, but they all are significant in some way – history, style, ingredients, etc.” Well, we love a good mystery! Invertase distributes just in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, so it’s been our pleasure to have the opportunity to work with this family brewery to secure enough of their small-production 1726 Imperial Breakfast Stout for our club members this month. We’re excited to introduce this very skilled and uber-scientific brewery to our members for the first time, and we’re looking forward to seeing more from these folks in the years ahead.

1726 is a bold coffee stout that pours opaque and virtually black in our large Duvel tulip. It’s topped by that sort of well-retained fluffy head of dark brown foam that just screams “I’m a big ass stout” before receding to a lasting collar. In other words, it looks great. On the nose, this comes across wonderfully rich, led by prominent robust coffee notes at the center of a multitude of inviting aromas. We picked up plenty of bittersweet chocolate impressions in addition to the big coffee notes, along with touches of scorched toast, deep and dark caramelization, notions of fresh leather, shades of roasted nuts, and hints of ash and smoke, plus touches of sawn wood and earthiness, especially after a good swirl.

The story continues much the same way in the flavor, which is very roasty indeed. Waves of dark-roasted coffee take the lead here, backed by dark chocolate and deeply toasted bread crust. As the beer evolves in the glass with some aeration and warmth, look for flashes of dried dark fruits to pop through here and there amidst hints of roasted nuts and light peat or smoke. Hops add further decoration with a certain earthy, spicy, and zesty character and the malty core retains some residual sweetness which offers a satisfying counterpoint to balance the bitter elements. While building with warmth over time, that sweetness never steps over the line into cloying; this stout maintains an impressive balance that’s ultimately quite dry from the prominent roast, healthy hop bitterness, and elevated alcohol level – which adds some bite while remaining quite well hidden overall. Smooth, creamy, and certainly full-bodied – without being excessively chewy – 1726 struck us as the complete package for a coffee stout: generous coffee, silky smoothness, tons of subtle nuances, and effortlessly enjoyable.

The brewery urges us to drink 1726 fresh and recommends against aging. Case closed, right? Yep… mostly. Coffee stouts are best when fresh, as the coffee notes that are so central to their character will fade over time, much the same way as hops (which is why we don’t typically age IPAs). But, the beer itself, being a 9% ABV imperial stout, should be able to stand up to considerable cellar time and still be enjoyable. Some of us feel a little age tends to increase the perceived smoothness and body of coffee stouts, but at the cost of the coffee character. 1726 is drinking beautifully smooth now, with bold coffee and perfect balance, so we’ll be polishing off our cans pretty quick.

For pairing options, barbecued, grilled, and roasted meats and vegetables are hard to beat, with the roasty notes of dishes like beef brisket finding a happy partner in the beer. On the other hand, dessert pairings including chocolate, vanilla, and/or caramel can be revelatory, as can salty blue cheeses like Stilton or hard nutty cheeses such as Gouda and cloth-bound Cheddars.

The story of the family-owned Invertase Brewing Company begins like that of so many other craft breweries we’ve encountered over the years – with a simple homebrewing kit. 14-year-old Stephen Zolnay gave one to his dad Steve for Father’s Day, and, despite their first primitive batch coming out pretty crappy as they made a total mess of the kitchen, it was the start of a multi-year journey for this homebrewing father & son team. By the time he was in college, Stephen was producing some truly excellent beers and competing successfully in homebrewing competitions.

After graduating college with a degree in mechanical engineering, Stephen worked in the engineering field for a few years until deciding he was finished looking out over a sea of cubicles every day. He called up his dad and proposed they start their own brewery, and within six months they were at work personally building their brewery in Phillipsburg, NJ themselves. When they opened for business in October 2019, they had just four taps, but their growth since then has been dramatic as they’ve expanded their selections and built out their taproom with the largest beer garden in the Garden State, where they host live music and events. The team is currently working hard on a second location which will be in Lambertville, NJ, scheduled to open soon this year. It’ll feature a taproom and a smaller brewery to augment their main facility in Phillipsburg.

The name Invertase is a nod to an enzyme that works on sugars, and it’s an appropriate moniker for this extremely scientific-oriented brewery. In addition to brewmaster Stephen’s mechanical engineering background, Steve’s background is in biochemistry while mom Karen is a microbiologist. This is about as good a scientific team as a brewery could hope for. The brewery maintains a full lab that analyzes each batch to make sure it’s hitting all of its target values, and they perform tests for bacterial and wild yeast growth at multiple steps in the process to ensure absolutely no off-flavors will arise in the finished product.

The Invertase team puts an emphasis on sustainability and community involvement, supporting local farmers by purchasing local ingredients whenever practical, and collaborating with local musicians and artists. Their family- and dog-friendly taproom and beer garden is designed to be an energetic location for their community to come together and celebrate good times. The brewery maintains about five core beers that they seek to always have on tap, including this month’s featured 1726, and they produce a wide array of rotating offerings as well. For more info, check them out at invertasebrewing.com.