The basics:

• Emberside Brewery set to open this fall at The Park in Berkeley Heights
• Brewery will feature a 2,000-square-foot bar, about 12 taps and a beer garden
• The Connell Co. investing $500M to transform its 185-acre campus
• Former Sierra Nevada brewer Tom Nielsen will lead Emberside’s beer program

As developers increasingly lean on dining, shopping and entertainment to draw visitors, Emberside Brewery is poised to become one of the signature attractions at The Park in Berkeley Heights. Scheduled to open this fall, the brewery aims to establish a dynamic hub for craft beer, connection and local flavor at The Connell Co.’s 185-acre business and lifestyle campus along Interstate 78.

The upcoming launch is also a full circle moment. After spending decades supplying rice to breweries as an ingredient for beer, the Berkeley Heights-based family-run firm decided to enter the business itself with its own craft brewery.

For roughly 80 years, The Connell Co. was the largest rice trader in the world, exporting the product to brewers, food processors and retailers. Its legacy includes serving as an exclusive supplier to brewing giant Anheuser-Busch for nearly a half century.

In 2011, the company officially exited rice trading in an effort to diversify into areas such as real estate, hospitality and equipment leasing. So, as The Connell Co. marks its 100th anniversary this year, the launch of its new brewery serves as both a tribute to its roots as a rice trader and symbol of the company’s continued evolution.

Nod to a legacy

The Connell Co. Executive Vice President Shane Connell said, “It’s very exciting because our heritage is ingredients in this industry. Opening the brewery is a real sort of nod to the family and the legacy. To us, it’s a huge opportunity for us to keep the family tradition.

“From an ingredient standpoint, we have that legacy and we’re using that legacy branding to then support what we’re doing in the brewery,” he said.

Besides paying homage to the company’s connection to the food and beverage industry, Emberside plays into The Connell Co.’s next chapter unfolding with the future-facing reimagining of the Connell Corporate Park.

“When we looked across the country at really successful mixed-used projects, they’re all pretty much 30 minutes from a major urban center and all have a pretty similar mix of uses – roughly a thousand apartments, roughly a million square feet of office, a full-service hotel and 300,000 to 400,000 square feet of retail,” Connell said.

“And, when you look at the retail components, they’re all anchored by … restaurant concepts, brewery concepts, outdoor spaces,” he said. “So, those were sort of cues of what our successful projects.”

Feeling social

After decades as a traditional suburban office campus, the Connell Corporate Park is transforming into a mixed-used destination to stay competitive.

With traditional office parks facing rising vacancies and changing employee expectations, the company sought to reposition the property as a place to work, live, dine, stay and gather.

The Connell Co. is investing $500 million as part of a multiyear redevelopment. The Park already includes a 176-room Embassy Suites hotel, 112,000-square-foot Lifetime Fitness center and over 1.5 million square feet of offices, flexible workplaces and collaborative lounges.

Emberside will join the mix at an entertainment and dining hub being developed at the property known as The District at The Park. Set on 60 acres, the new downtown destination will offer retail, restaurants and entertainment with a walkable main street. Rounding out The District will be 328 luxury apartments.

The brewery is just one of several unique concepts being created for the property by The Connell Co’s hospitality arm, Table & Banter.  The group is in charge of managing culinary and hospitality services across The Park’s restaurants, hotels, corporate buildings, residential towers, fitness centers and event venues.

Other concepts coming soon to The District include:

• Rosa Azul, a vibrant Mexican restaurant serving authentic cuisine and hand-crafted cocktails, alongside a casual taqueria offering window service for an outdoor garden and playground area
• BASH Steakhouse, a speakeasy-style dining spot offering high-end steaks paired with an Italian-inspired twist
• Club Room at BASH, a venue featuring 14 duckpin lanes, sports bar, lounge and game room areas with pool tables, dartboards, shuffleboard and curated collection of board games
• Modo HiFi, a vinyl listening bar with a premium sound system, dedicated DJ booth, live jazz band corner, curated cocktails and Japanese-centric cuisine

“A little bit of what we’re doing here is trying to bring you back to a place before technology. So, a lot of our concepts are focused on experiences absent technology,” Connell said.

Bringing the city to the suburbs

“In this area of New Jersey, it’s a great opportunity because we’re 20 miles west of New York City, located directly on Route 78 surrounded by these really great towns where a good percentage of the people used to live in the city and are now in the suburbs or they commute into the city for their employment,” he said.

At The Park, one of the goals is to bring some of the energy and experiences that people typically seek in New York City to the suburbs by offering a collection of elevated dining and hospitality concepts closer to home, Connell said.

“The brewery is obviously a big focal point of that … It’s a very social use and is anchored by really great craft beer and really great ingredients. And then we’ve attached it to unique outdoor spaces and a beer garden,” he explained. “So, it can then play a role in supporting social events and corporate events, as well as just social gathering areas.”

According to Connell, move-ins at the residential units will begin in August. Some of the retail uses will start opening between October and November, followed by the new eateries by the end of 2026, he said.

Starting a buzz

In developing an idea for a brewery, Connell said they spent about a year looking at concepts across the U.S. for inspiration — especially on the West Coast where the industry is more established.

The two-floor brewery includes about 5,000 square feet of manufacturing space and a 2,000-square-foot bar with about a dozen taps. It will also have a full-service bar with options for wine, cocktails and untapped Emberside beers.

“The premise was obviously to anchor it with great beer and then create a place where not just beer enthusiasts come but anyone who’s looking to socialize,” Connell said.

Outside, there’s a beer garden with fire pits that allow the space to be enjoyed year-round. Besides being a gathering spot for the public, Emberside is expected to be a place that supports social and corporate events, according to Connell.

Bringing in the expert

To lead Emberside’s operations and shape the brewery’s debut lineup of beers, The Connell Co. tapped an industry veteran. Lawrenceville native Tom Nielsen previously spent two decades working at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in California. There, he pioneered new brewing methods and helped craft some of the company’s most beloved beers, including Torpedo Ale, Hop Hunter IPA and Hazy Little Thing.

A leader in hop and barley innovation, Nielsen is credited with introducing several new hop varieties to the craft beer world. His background also includes serving in leadership roles across national brewing research organizations.

Now back in New Jersey, Nielsen is collaborating with local partners and suppliers to bring Emberside to life from the ground up. “I’ve been missing New Jersey for quite some time, so, it was really an exciting prospect to come back and reconnect with it and the people here,” he said, adding, “It’s very different than Northern California, which was kind of an oasis. There’s a lot more excitement and vibrancy here, I think.

Building a brewery community

“I’m also really excited about the craft brewing industry that’s really still in its infancy here. We’ve got really great breweries in almost every town adjacent to Berkeley Heights,” Nielsen said. “It’s been really great connecting with the local brewers and be where we really support each other and really build a strong community.”

Nielsen noted his involvement with the New Jersey Brewers Guild, a statewide organization representing policy interests of independent breweries and brewpubs. The group has organized several initiatives, including its inaugural New Jersey Craft Beer Week last summer. The organization of 65-plus members also supports small breweries in a state where the craft beer scene remains both underestimated and underrepresented.

It’s been really great connecting with the local brewers and be where we really support each other and really build a strong community.
– Tom Nielsen, Emberside Brewery, director of brewery operations

Looking ahead, Nielsen said, “I think success largely depends on taproom success. However, very soon after we open, we will have a distribution model in place. We definitely want to get our beer out there – certainly in our region here in North and Central Jersey. But being so close in proximity to New York City, I think some of our ambition has to go where the people are and where you can actually have significant growth.

“The brewery, as it is today, can produce about 8,000 to 9,000 barrels of beer a year. With the right strategy, I think we can get there relatively quickly,” he said.

Someone say, ‘beer fest’?

Additionally, Nielsen believes The Park is a “perfect venue” to host beer festivals. After noting the popularity of such events on the West Coast, he said, “For me, success in two years or so would look like bringing a really exciting international beer festival to the grounds here at The Park. We really have everything to support something like that. So, that’s some of the fun things that are possible in the future.”

As part of his efforts at Emberside, Nielsen is creating a rotating lineup of IPAs, classic lagers and experimental small-batch releases tailored to locals. “We’re going to have some really solid core brands. We really want to make sure there’s at least five beers that our customers can come in for and know they’re here, they’re excellent and the quality is superior. So, I’m really excited about that brand building and supporting these initial brands. And some of them will be showcased at the other restaurant concepts as well,” he said.

“And I’m certainly excited to distribute those beers. We’re going to do 16-ounce cans as well as kegs, so you can see us in taprooms and restaurants across the state,” he said.

“We want to really make sure we get that core right, but very soon follow up with more of a model that those really successful breweries in Vermont have – The Alchemist and Hill Farmstead – where they’re just putting out really exciting innovative beers almost on a weekly basis,” he said.

“That really draws … beer fans or beer fanatics from all over to come and pick up these beers and take them back home. That’s something that I think marks a really successful brewery when you can develop that kind of cache and connection to your customers. But to me, getting the core dialed in and perfected is the number one goal out the gates,” Nielsen said.

Alcohol alternatives

While older generations helped fuel the rise of craft beer, younger consumers are approaching alcohol differently. Along with drinking less frequently, Generation Z and younger millennials gravitate toward premium products and nonalcoholic alternatives.

Given the continuing interest in the sober curious movement – in which consumers drink less or no alcohol – Nielsen said, “I think you have to have some solid non-alcoholic offerings or even low alcohol. So, we are planning on launching some lower alcohol at below 4%, 3.5% beers, which are actually really popular right now.”

Connell added, “We’re really focused on the hospitality of these environments and just curating great experiences with great good and beverages. So even though there are some challenges with alcohol consumption, experiences are still desirable.”

We’re really focused on the hospitality of these environments and just curating great experiences with great good and beverages.
– Shane Connell, The Connell Co., executive vice president

Nielsen also hopes to incorporate The Connell Co.’s history as a commodity trader in the global rice business into Emberside’s offerings. “The first beer I ever made with my father was actually a rice lager. We used basmati rice from Texas called Texmati rice … And rice has in the last couple of years become a much more interesting ingredient within the brewing world,” he said.

“The state of Arkansas is actually taking the lead innovating new rice varieties specific to brewing. So, we’re definitely going to play around with those … It’s going to be a lot of fun for me specifically just to innovate. I was part of the team at Sierra Nevada for 20 years innovating all those brands and certainly have a long list of ideas that I never got to execute on. So, I get to bring them here and see where we can go with some of these concepts,” Nielsen explained.

Something’s brewing

The arrival of Emberside comes as the state’s craft beer industry tries to move past a challenging period marked by rising costs, shifting rules on how its businesses can operate and pandemic-related restrictions.

While New Jersey’s craft beer industry has grown steadily over the past decade, it still trails many other states in key measures. According to the Brewers Association, the state generated an estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact in 2025, ranking 18th nationally.

Despite being home to 159 breweries, New Jersey is 42nd nationally in breweries per capita. The state’s craft brewers produced an estimated 161,094 barrels of beer in 2025, ranking 29th in the nation, according to the Brewers Association.

Between 2019 and 2025, the state has lost roughly 1 in 5 breweries. More than two-thirds of those closures occurred since the summer of 2020, the Brewers Guild of New Jersey has said.

2012 industry boom

The craft beer boom here began in 2012, when then-Gov. Chris Christie signed a law that allowed microbreweries and brewpubs to expand annual production and distribution of products through the existing wholesale system. The change also gave breweries the option of serving and selling more products onsite.

However, the industry experienced a setback in 2019. In a move to balance the interests of full retail license holders, such as bars and restaurants, with the growing craft brewing industry, the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control handed down a special ruling that resulted in several new regulations.

Along with limits on the number of on-site events a brewery could hold, the ABC updates banned businesses from offering food, coordinating with food trucks and serving coffee. They also required breweries to give patrons a tour of the facility before they could consume alcohol. The changes went into effect in July 2022.

Following concerns from stakeholders that the restrictions could put them out of business or force them across state lines, lawmakers began looking to roll back those measures to help New Jersey breweries compete with counterparts in nearby states. The controversial food and event limits eased in January 2024 as part of a bill signed by then-Gov. Phil Murphy to revamp the state’s Prohibition-era liquor license laws.

Tapping into innovation

Nielsen believes the state’s overall climate is more favorable now for starting a brewery than it was in the recent past because the changes made under Murphy “made it a lot easier to do business” and addressed some of the “prohibitive rules.”

“The beer business is changing. Ten years ago, everybody got in the game, and you could sell beer any day of the week, any hour of the day. It wasn’t really that challenging. And the public was really enamored with what we were doing as craft brewers,” Nielsen said.

“I still think there’s some of that energy out there, and it’s swinging back a little bit. What we do at the bar in the front of house is really evolving quickly,” he said. “There’s a whole new excitement about just the hospitality aspect of craft breweries that we’re really looking to tap into and continue that innovation on the front of the house. So, I certainly want to tap into all of those – no pun intended – possibilities and experiment with new pouring styles and new presentation of beer.”

“Paying attention to details like that I think is going to be something that sets us apart. And I think we’re going to really have a very innovative team and somewhat have the concept of ‘fail fast, fail often’ just to get to the good stuff quickly. I think for a lot of breweries, that’s what the first six months to the first year is all about — finding what’s working as quick as possible,” Nielsen said.

New Jersey’s ‘beer culture’

Connell also expressed optimism, saying, “Our view of The Park here is we’re looking to be a destination for people within 10, 20 miles to come and just socialize. The Park is going to be hosting 200 or so events a year … And give people a place that they can enjoy being with their families, their friends, their colleagues.”

“And there is this beer culture already in New Jersey. Tom has introduced himself to them and is looking to collaborate with them and have Emberside be a part of even their experiences,” he said. “So, a big part of this is if we create these great places, let’s have other breweries align with it and share and hopefully do a beer festival and collaborations and really support New Jersey’s beer scene. It may be competitive, but we’re thinking bigger than that – let’s promote New Jersey and the beer culture here generally.”

Nielsen added that he feels collaboration is “an important key pillar” and that most of the industry “gets along” and “supports each other.”

“The local breweries here, especially the one in Chatham, Twin Elephant, has done a great job actually being the grandfathers of the industry here and helping a bunch of other breweries open,” he said. “We’ve really connected well with them and others, but certainly we definitely want to build our cache, too.”