It was slightly less than five years ago. It was a Friday in late March 2020, the 27th. It was two weeks after Governor Murphy had ordered New Jersey locked down in order to combat and hopefully to slow the spread of COVID-19. It was on that day that Donna and Steve Ashton and their merry band of brewers opened Ashton Brewing in Middlesex Borough, New Jersey.
Opening Day in the early, terrifying days of COVID-19 came to pass in a decidedly different way than Ashton Brewing envisioned it would. Instead of people inside the taproom, sampling fresh pours of their wonderful beers, we the customers arrived in our cars - and stayed in them while Steve, Donna, and their crew handed us what we had ordered on-line. It is a source of pride for me to say that I was Customer #4. I bought two growlers of beer, a magnet for my car, and a glass.
Ashton Brewing has been a value-add to Middlesex Borough in the time that it has graced our little town with its presence from its Lincoln Boulevard location. Good people making exceptional beer and, also, making a positive contribution to the community in which they operate their business. Sadly, it has proven not to be enough.
Tonight, Donna and Steve Ashton shall call “last call” in the Ashton Brewing taproom one final time. The little brewery that could - and did so at a high level from its first day to its last - is closing its doors forever. Our little town shall miss them. I shall miss them. I shall miss my favorite beer, which is their spectacular Pilsner, Jersey Dreamin’.
Donna and Steve, thank you for absolutely everything you have done for and have meant to our little town. You shall be missed and long remembered…and not just for your eminently drinkable varieties of beer.
-AK
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