Little Dog Brewing Co.

NJ isn’t a state where a new small business can easily start up. Gretchen had delay upon delay opening her brewery because of the whims of the state and local authorities and the unfounded prejudices that occur when neighbors hear there is going to be a brewery in their neighborhood. «Oh the smell, and the seedy clientele.»
Well that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When you walk in the tasting room you feel like you are in a someone’s home. It has a definite feminine influence. As far as the smell on brewing day goes, I love that so that’s not an issue for me.
I love hoppy beers even when they are over the top, but I won’t find them here. That’s OK; the beers they do offer are more traditional Deutsches Bier and traditional takes on other styles. What you get are extremely fresh beers with a normal ABV. (Note to self: «I’ve got to cool the 10% stuff occasionally»).
Being a small brewery you won’t see their beer everywhere but personally i would like to see it in more local venues in the immediate area. I’m dropping the hint here and there.
Check it out. A great stop on a Saturday/​Sunday afternoon. A warm and very friendly place.

Great little brewery on a side street in Neptune City. Beer was good & staff very friendly. Very small, but welcoming. No food aside from pretzels offered. Worth a visit for sure.

MicroBreweries are opening up all over the area, and there are some real good ones. Little Dog isn’t the biggest, and probably wont earn national recognition as being the best brewery in the state — BUT — that being said, *I* think it’s THE BEST in the area. The brewmaster, Gretchen, really knows the industry like no one else. And instead of following the hispter trends, she brews well balance beers, and a variety so that there’s almost always something for everyone — unless all you want is an excessively hoppy beer with a ridiculously high ABV. There are other breweries playing that game.
The tasting room is small, but the staff is warm and welcoming. The first time I went there they treated me like an old friend. (There are very few businesses that understand that this is the best way to get customers to come back again and again!) Gretchen will always gladly give you a tour of the brewing area, and each time she does you’ll learn something new.
Growler fills are available and are very reasonably priced. Just make sure your growler has the government warning printed on it. Or, you can buy 64oz and 32oz growlers if you dont have one. You can get a pint, or a flight, or just a tasting if you prefer.
The only negative things I can say is that the brewery has no air conditioning as of this writing. I’m sure they’ll fix that as soon as financially feasible. But on a warm day, one of their cold beers will still help you cool off!

This a warm welcoming brewery. It looks like what would happen if you were to crossed a brewery with a living room. The front end is adorned with comfortable seating, prints of dogs on the wall, and a delightful colour srheme. It is the most comfortable brewery I have ever been to.
The owner was super nice. She took time to talk to each of her guests whilet I was there.
The beers were all in the German style, with the exception of a pale ale

I stopped in during a Father’s Day visit to the shore, and had a great tour and several fantastic beers. I would definitely recommend making a trip to the brewery.

Support your local brewery! This is a cool, small brewery run by a knowledgeable brewer. The space is welcoming and, on the holiday weekend we visited, it was full of happy patrons enjoying a pint or two of one of the five styles Gretchen had on tap. Those taps change periodically, so you’ll have to go back to see what’s new. I enjoyed a tasting flight and the Steinerweiss; my husband had a couple pints of Duck Boy Pale. Good stuff. Just like food, fresh and local is how you want your beer. Go here now… and often.

I realized I forgot to write a review when I visited. I went to Little Dog on 11÷22÷14, the first weekend the brewery was open to the public. It was a cozy space that had the feel of a wine tasting room in Napa. The beers were tasty, and Gretchen was very nice and clearly knows what she is doing. The whole staff was very friendly. The operation is a lot smaller than any other brewery I’ve been to, but that is what makes this place more personable and charming. Now that the weather is nicer, and the snow is all melted, I definitely need to ride my bike over and try some of their new brews.

This is an awesome up and coming brewery! Great, very informational and friendly tour.
In my opinion, they make some much better beers than other big name breweries. I enjoyed everything that I tasted and brought home. I highly recommend you stop in, grab a beer and another for a friend!

In New Jersey’s (finally) up-​and-​coming craft beer market, Little Dog is one of the newest additions, and a welcome one at that.
A laundromat in its previous life, LDB is a relatively small brewery — clocking in at about ~4BBL capacity, if I recall correctly. The owner and brewmaster, Gretchen, has quite the brewing history under her belt — and as other Unilocaler’s mentioned, is probably best known for her years of brewing at Basil T’s. A nice change of pace for the local craft beer market, she appears to be focusing on styles that are more malty /​balanced, German styles, stouts, porters, etc, instead of your typical hop-​heavy IPA’s. Hey, I love hops as much as the next craft connoisseur, but even I get sick of every beer tasting like a pinecone, these days. So, cheers to Gretchen for breaking away from the ‘status quo’ a bit.
The tour is very informative for those of you who are just discovering craft beer, and at $ 5 with four tastings is a pretty good bargain. As is typical for most local breweries, pints and growler fills are also available. In terms of beers, there’s usually about 4 on tap, although the last few times I’ve been here they’d run out of 1 of them (so you get to double-​up on your favorite beer tasting). My personal favorites were a brown ale that had licorice in it, and a porter with… cocoa, I believe? Nothing too hoppy or strongly flavored, here — so take that as you will. If you’re a hop-​head or looking for something jam-​packed with intense malts, you might be a little disappointed. If you want very approachable, easy drinking beers, LDB would be right up your alley. Me? I’ll be back, for sure.

Some great tasting beers. I especially like the Duck Boy Pale Ale. Kind of reminds me of a «not so pale ale». She also makes some beers with some interesting flavors like liquorice and hot peppers. What I like about the way Gretchen makes these is that it is only a hint of flavor and never over powering.

GREAT brewery, great beer!

Are you gonna bark all day little doggie? Or are you gonna bite?
I was stoked to hear a brewery was opening in Neptune City as I spend a lot of time in Asbury and knew that it wouldn’t be long before I got here. I was right. It only took me a month and a half from when they first opened!
Not quite on main street but not wedged in the back of some industrial complex. Little dog fits the criteria well as a neighborhood brewery as their closest neighbors are town residents, but don’t worry they are just a couple of blocks off of Rt 35 so they are easy to find.
First things first. You need to sign up to come here. Check the website for time slots which range from 1 – 5 PM on Saturdays. Tours cost $ 5 which gets you a tour of the brewery plus 4 samples of beer. We arrived shortly before 4PM and then were led into the brewery. We got a tour and a short lesson on how beer is made by head brewer/​owner Gretchen. She was super friendly and even chatted with us for some time after the tour. As one with extensive experience, Gretchen used to brew for Basil T’s in Red Bank and the now defunct Red Bank Brewery back in the 90s. Needless to say, she knows what she’s doing.
The beers were pretty good. They were all pretty low ABV but that is not a bad thing. The draft list consisted of a pale, altbier, porter and brown. Definitely was a fan of the porter. The brown had a black liquorice taste which does not strike my fancy but maybe it’s up your alley.
Come to Little Dog, sample some beers, chat with Gretchen, and take a growler to go. Oh and stay tuned for Little Dog in local liquor stores!

A brand new brewery right in my backyard. Isn’t that what everyone dreams of?
Little Dog Brewing Company is a brand new, very small brewery in a residential area of Neptune City. My father and I went for a tour and tasting this past weekend. I really had a great time there. Gretchen is very knowledgeable about brewing and has much experience under her belt as she’s previously brewed at Basil T’s in Red Bank, as well as Red Bank Brewing Company. The tour itself could just as well carry a title of an overview course on small batch commercial brewing. Like I said, Gretchen knew her stuff and let us in on the process as well as some of the science behind it. A true behind the scenes tour.
As for the beer itself, there were four batches when I was there — Spicy Apple, Pumpkin, Copper, and a Porter (pardon that I don’t remember the full names). The taste of the beer was very good, however I felt that it could be dialed up a bit. In today’s beer landscape, it seems to me that intensity of flavor is what many breweries (and consumers) are shooting for, and that full flavor profile did not really hit me as I thought it should. That being said, I’m super excited to see what Little Dog has in store for us for the future and will definitely be returning!