BY ALEXIS TARRAZI (Straus News)
Photo by Alexis Tarrazi
Erik and Heide Hassing, owners of Angry Erik Brewing.
The Hassings will host the grand opening this Saturday, Feb. 15 from noon to 5 p.m.
Mr. Beer
The beer journey started in 1999 when the husband and wife team lived in Manhattan.
“I guess it was a hobby for a long time,” Heide said. “I got my husband the Mr. Beer kit when we lived in Manhattan in this tiny little kitchen. And I was in the culinary field, so I would be cooking and chopping and practicing my knife skills and doing crazy things and he would be right next to me in this tiny little kitchen.”
With her culinary background, Heide would suggest adding in different ingredients to Erik’s beer mixtures but he insisted on sticking to the recipe that came with the kit.
“The first thing I did was when he had his back turned I threw a couple of apricots in,” Heide said.
When Erik realized his recipe had been compromised he was upset, but the final product was something the couple both enjoyed.
“It came out great,” Heide said.
And from then on the couple was hooked on making their own beer at home.
“Then we got to the stage of brewing every weekend, sometimes more than that,” Heide said. “Like pretty much every day off was a brew day. And our theory if we can do it that often at home, how much more work would it be to do it on a large scale?”
Going public
The Hassings made the move to Sussex County in 2006, when they bought a home in Byram. Their neighbors began to be their guinea pigs in testing out the Hassing’s beer concoctions.
“When we came to the neighborhood in Byram, people were at parties and drinking Coors Light and Budweiser,” Erik said. “Now at least half of them if not more are drinking craft beer. We are the first in the neighborhood who started introducing them to it.”
Getting a positive response, the Hassings started their own Facebook page in March 2013.
“I think at that point we still thought it was home brewing and some day we would open a brewery, but we weren’t in any hurry,” Heide said. “The page was just to get a following, to talk about beer with people who like beer, tell people what we are making.”
Progress quickly brewed on their beer hobby and on Memorial Day weekend the Hassings had put a down payment on a kettle. And then quickly found the Lafayette property in July, once they realized they couldn’t fit the kettle in their garage.
Location, location, location
Lafayette offered a lot of good qualities for Angry Erik — it was in the center of Sussex County, offered natural gas (which is important when using a kettle) and is conveniently located to other attractions such as Mountain Creek, The Olde Town area, the fairgrounds and towns such as Sparta and Newton.
“We know it may not be the average person’s behavior but a lot of people we hang out with who are very into beer — they go on vacations and structure their vacations around brewery tours and visiting places like wineries,” Heide said. “We are hoping to be that for Sussex County.”
Is Erik angry?
Both Erik and Heide each have full time jobs aside from the brewery. Heide is a biochemist, which coupled with her culinary background makes it very useful in brewing beer. And Erik is a defense attorney at Hassing & DeFilippis in Flanders but was formerly a prosecutor in the Bronx — which is where the brewery’s name comes from.
“I’m pretty laid back or very calm,” Erik said.
When Erik was serving as prosecutor he did not want to come down on his offers and was called into the judges chambers a lot about his decisions.
“…and I didn’t like that,” Erik said. “So I wasn’t angry but because I have the big Norwegian forehead I look like I am frowning when I am not smiling.”
“I never saw that side of him at home,” Heide said. “So it must be once he had a beer in his hand it made him happy.”
For more information visit angryerik.com or follow on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angry-Erik-Brewing/513992115320294.
Alexis Tarrazi 