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A thirst-quenching workforce development program is coming to Rowan College at Burlington County. Through a unique partnership with Kings Road Brewing Co. and the Community House of Moorestown, the Mount Laurel-based community college plans to launch an associate degree program in craft brewing that blends classroom learning with hands-on industry experience.

As part of the collaboration announced Feb. 23, Kings Road will transform a long-vacant indoor swimming pool at the Community House of Moorestown’s community center into the state’s first-ever educational-based microbrewery.

There, students will get a taste of what it’s like to run a microbrewery, working with brewers from King’s Road, a brewery in Haddonfield and Medford.

The facility – set to be Moorestown’s first microbrewery – will also house classroom space, where students will study every aspect of the brewing process, from the biochemistry behind fermentation to the business, marketing and accounting skills needed to thrive in the craft beer industry.

The college is working to develop an associate degree to begin in fall 2025 that will focus on: brewing operations, production, quality control, sanitation and safety; biochemistry and microbiology; business, marketing and accounting; and brewing operation internships.

Leading up to the official launch next year, RCBC plans to establish a certificate program in fall 2024 that would allow students to complete certain general education requirements before the associate degree program has been approved.

A toast to innovation

Born out of a mutual desire to create an educational pathway into the craft brewing industry while revitalizing unused space and bringing an economic spark downtown, the program is the first-of-its-kind in New Jersey, one of a handful across the U.S. and the only one associated with a brewery being built from the ground up, according to RCBC President Mike Cioce.

The collaboration is also a first for a college, brewery and nonprofit, said Cioce.

“This is a great example of how Rowan College at Burlington County can partner with industry and the community to provide meaningful pathways to employment in underserved industries,” he said.

“Establishing the state’s first educational microbrewery at a historic venue will create educational and career opportunities for students, economic growth for downtown and a new chapter for the storied history for a local Moorestown gem,” said Cioce.

The activity comes about three years after Moorestown signed off a zoning ordinance to permit breweries, distilleries and winery salesrooms in the once-dry municipality.

Despite the end of Prohibition in 1933, Moorestown, a community with Quaker roots, continued to restrict liquor sales. Notwithstanding referendums in 1935 and 1953, the laws remained in place until 13 years ago, when voters approved sales in the area of the Moorestown Mall.

Haynes Hendrickson, vice president of the Community House board of trustees, believes the partnership is a milestone moment for the municipality. “The Community House had a longstanding role in the community of being a central gathering place and a way to help stimulate other nonprofits, as well as just help different areas of the township,” he said.

As the organization brainstormed potential uses of the pool space – which closed about five years ago – Hendrickson said leaders learned RCBC wanted to start up a brewing certification program. “We thought it would be great to bring both of those goals to the Community House and help stimulate a new part of business in Moorestown,” he said.

Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie said she was “thrilled” that the pool area of the Community House “will once again serve as a thriving, exciting place for the public to enjoy.”

“I am confident that this can be another amazing asset for Main Street, where people can gather, connect and enjoy not only exceptional beer but also a sense of community,” she continued.

Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Daniel O’Connell said, “Craft brewing is a growing industry and Burlington County is seeing first-hand the benefits microbreweries bring to local downtowns and communities. They create jobs, generate economic activity and become fun and attractive gathering spots for friends and families.”

“We’re excited King’s Road is partnering with RCBC and the Community House to create a career path for Burlington County students to enter the industry. It’s a perfect match that will enrich and benefit Moorestown, RCBC and our entire county. Our Board thanks and is proud of the college for offering these kinds of educational opportunities that transfer to real world employment,” O’Connell stated.

Bob Hochgertel, co-owner and managing director of King’s Road Brewing, said he looks forward to seeing a community hub develop in Moorestown like it did in the brewery’s original location in Haddonfield, another previously dry town.

Founded in 2017 by five friends who took their passion for craft beer to the next level, Kings Road is known for serving some of the region’s freshest and finest hand-crafted ales and lagers. It followed up the success of its brewery and tasting room in Haddonfield with the launch of a second location in Medford four years later.

“Our experience in Haddonfield is that we really became an economic engine in the downtown in a much bigger way than we ever expected. So, you’re not only talking about driving revenue to a downtown, but you’re talking about creating or training the next wave of employees that could stay, stick within the region and stay within the state,” Hochgertel said.

“Or, they could go outward, as well. But that’s also some of the best advertising you can have – when your students go out, make a difference elsewhere and then bring those experiences back,” he said. “I think there’s a huge opportunity to have a positive impact.”

Let’s get HOP-ping

Of the six brewers Kings Road has employed over the years, half of them have received some type of degree or certificate in craft brewing from one of a handful of programs in other states, like California or Pennsylvania, according to Hochgertel.

“What I can tell you from firsthand experience, is that their level of understanding of the science of brewing and how to manipulate small little things to have a big outcome and the final product is clearly evident from those that are just self-taught. And so, I’m a big supporter of this program for that reason,” he said.

“New Jersey’s kind of late to the brewing game. Breweries and craft beer have been big on the West Coast for decades and New Jersey’s just kind of catching up. But the good news about that is there’s a lot of great opportunity in front of us,” Hochgertel believes.

“I think it’s important that as this industry grows, that we do it in the right ways. The only way to secure our future in the industry is to make the best product we can and have the best experience for our customers. And I think the best way to do that is to make sure that people are well-trained,” he continued.

“One of the buzzwords these days in higher ed is ‘experiential learning,’ which is just another fancy word for an internship,” Cioce said. “Where else are you going to get more of a hands-on internship than in an actual brewery?”

“This is going to be a fully functioning enterprise where students will learn the front of the house, the back of the house, and with Kings Road’s oversight, students will have that opportunity. And then on the backside in the classroom component, they’re going to be mixing up the medicine, literally seeing how these quantities and these reactions yield this result versus the scalability of when it goes into production,” Cioce said.

Where else are you going to get more of a hands-on internship than in an actual brewery?
– Mike Cioce, Rowan College at Burlington County president

“There are people in the industry with no formal training and have maybe some success. There are people that do this with no formal training and have no success. So, our goal is to sort of be that sort of bridge between the industry, the curricular needs and the student demand needs,” he stated.

For RCBC, the initiative furthers the mission of community colleges, which is to deliver innovative, high-quality educational experiences in an accessible environment, according to Cioce. “We also have a culinary program and have a kitchen that students man and is open to the public that has two majors directly plugged into it: culinary arts and hospitality management,” he said. “If you look at the health sciences side of the house, nursing students are doing blood draws and needle pricks on mannequins in the classroom, but then they do a clinical site placement directly in all the local hospitals, from TU [Temple] to Cooper.”

“You might say the nursing program, culinary program and brewery don’t sound like they have a lot in common, but if I redacted the names of the programs, there’s a didactic component where they’re doing it, there’s the classroom piece and there’s an in-the-field piece,” he said. “This is just an extension of that. And, the vehicle is just a brewing science program with amazing partners.”

“Whether it’s nursing, culinary or brewing science, I think the lesson here is that if there’s a need within the industry or a need within the community that we all exist in, if you reach out, we can get creative,” he said. “There’s three partners here who are collaborating to create something that didn’t exist yesterday in the state of New Jersey and is going to yield significant benefit for all three, plus the overlap of the communities that we are in.”

What’s on tap

Following renovations of the 5,000-square-foot room, brewing operations, including the large fermentation tanks, will be inside the pool. The work also includes the addition of seating for about 100 patrons surrounding the elevated perimeter of the pool, as well as conversion of about 4,000-square-feet of adjacent space into classrooms.

The partners are now working with JRP Architects of Riverton, Grace Construction of Moorestown and local officials to design plans for the microbrewery. The endeavor will also require approval from the town council, as well as the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Organizers anticipate the microbrewery will open late 2025 or early 2026 and intend to minimize disruptions of other events at the Community House as construction gets underway.

The project will require an investment of about $1 million in building improvements to get the site ready for construction and the Community House has launched an online fundraiser to reach that goal. Meanwhile, Kings Road – which will operate the brewery and tasting room – expects to spend around $1 million on the space.

RCBC also received a $255,000 grant from the state’s Higher Education Equipment Leasing Fund to obtain necessary equipment for its brewery program.

Hochgertel explained, “The Community House is a nonprofit organization and they have a pretty big lift in front of them to get the space ready. That is what the fundraising is for. King’s Road is a for-profit brewery and we will be 100% responsible for our own build out.”

“It is a pool that was built in 1926 that has been vacant for several years, so whether you’re getting it ready for a dress shop or a brewery, there’s a certain amount of work they need to do to make it ready from a public safety and compliance perspective,” he said.

Hochgertel went on to reiterate, “We’re not asking people to contribute to the brewery. We’re asking people to contribute to the Community House so they can do what they need to do to get ready for RCBC and Kings Road.”

“The three of us are all doing what we do best. RCBC is the best community college in New Jersey and they know how to set up programming to be successful for the students and to find placement for them. They’re going to be doing that. Community House has been the hub of the community for almost a hundred years, providing education and social experience for Moorestown. And, outside of that, I think at Kings Road, we make some of the best beer in New Jersey. We’re all going to be doing exactly those things, but because of proximity to each other, we all benefit from that,” Hochgertel said.

For more information on the project, visit communityhousebrewery.com.