Introduction:

When I’m back home in the immediate Philadelphia area, some folks will ask me where I work. I reply saying, “Long Beach Island, LBI.” Despite being just 90 minutes away, a lot of people have never heard of this island between A.C. and Seaside.

With this story, I wanted to depict the fact that this festival drew a lot of people to the Island — some for the first time. To depict that, I wanted a lot of sources and just as many pictures:

6.3.2015 — The fall has Chowderfest. The spring now has the Hop Sauce Festival.

The latter was held for the second year this past Saturday, May 30. Doors opened at 11 a.m., and several thousand attendees would pass through until the event’s conclusion around 7 p.m. Folks basked in brews ranging from Somerdale to San Francisco and hot sauces ranging from mild to scorching.

“This event is going to be the next Chowderfest,” said Mark Cohen, co-owner of the Chicken or the Egg in Beach Haven.

Like Chowderfest, Hop Sauce is an opportunity to welcome new people to the Island.

Blue Bell, Pa., resident Mike Weinfeld was visiting the Island for the first time thanks to the fest. His personal favorite beer was Boulevard Brewing Company’s Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale.

A group of guys from Staten Island — Anthony Liota, Garrett Van Curen, Sean Richards and Tom McCauley — gave their stamp of approval on the beer selection, especially the Shandys. For most of them, it was their first time at Hop Sauce. And they appeared to be enjoying themselves quite a bit.

“Beer: It’s the champagne of nature,” McCauley said.

Some breweries used the event to premiere new brews. One of the more notable ones came from Ship Bottom Brewery, returning for a second year to Hop Sauce. The brewers showed off a beer crafted in collaboration with the Chicken or the Egg: a Killer Beesting IPA. Imagine the usual taste of an IPA (India pale ales, known for their “hoppier” taste) but add in a slightly piercing taste of a hot sauce. Founder Rob Zarko says the beer, based on one of their IPAs, includes a mixture of honey and pepper featured in the sauce.

Said Cohen, “The guys over at Ship Bottom Brewery approached me. They said, ‘We want to work with you guys. Killer Beesting is a great sauce. We make great beer. Can we make great beer together?’”

And they did. “It’s got a little bit of kick. It’s got a little bit of sting. It’s just like Killer Beesting, but it’s beer,” Cohen described.

“I wanted to make sure that the beer lived up to their name because they have such a great brand on the Island,” Zarko said.

No, the brewers cannot currently be found in Ship Bottom. For now, they are based out of Wallingford, Pa., not too far from Philadelphia International Airport. The genesis of the name, though, came from time Zarko spent in Ship Bottom. His wife had family on 25th Street. He began home-brewing there in 1995. His wife’s father passed, and he thought the name would be a nice, small tribute.

Fellow Hop Sauce veteran Brooklyn Brewery had its Sorachi Ace on tap — a Belgian farmhouse saison featuring a Japanese hop that gives it its name.

“Some people confuse it with the Sriracha hot sauces, which is kind of funny at an event like this,” said Mike Ferry, mid-Atlantic regional manager of the brewery.

There was nothing hot about that beer, though — very smooth.

902 Brewing Co. had a new beer to taste. The company brought a firkin, a brewing cask holding just shy of 11 gallons of beer, featuring a “pineapple habañero” based off of their summer wheat ale. The firkin went dry in just over an hour.

“For Hop Sauce, what’s better than adding some heat to a sweet beer?” said Andrew “Brownie” Brown, a brewery partner.

902 hails from Hoboken. They had one big concern: keeping the beer cold. Luckily, Tuckers Tavern in Beach Haven agreed to store the brews. Brown was incredibly thankful.

“If we couldn’t keep our beer cold, there’s no point in us coming down,” he said.

Attendees came from throughout the tri-state area and beyond. “I can’t believe people live here. It’s like paradise,” said Vanessa Fortin of Montreal, speaking English as a second language with a French accent. She and three friends drove eight hours to return to Hop Sauce and LBI after experiencing the two for the first time last year.

Between the beers, the sauces, the other food offered by local vendors and live, original music by an array of up-and-coming bands, the festival has a lot to offer. That each and every attendee have a phenomenal time was the goal of Dan Starin, co-owner of Spice It Up in Beach Haven, a festival sponsor.

“My wife and I had one of our vendors doing a demo day, and they said this would be a great place for a festival. Six months later, my wife and Jeremy (DeFilippis) from Jetty and the whole crew, we put it together,” Starin said.

That vendor was Born to Hula. Vice President Amy Bucholtz said she and her husband, Ed, originally hooked up with Spice It Up as a result of Superstorm Sandy. The couple, of Highlands, were hit by the storm. They created a hot sauce whose proceeds, though limited at the time, would benefit storm relief. Spice It Up took notice, Amy said. Ed and Amy came down to the shop to show their support and that is when the festival idea was hatched.

As the craft beer cultures grows exponentially, so does the hot sauce culture in Starin’s eyes. So the pairing felt natural.

Festival director Cory Higgins, co-owner of the local Jetty clothing company, another festival sponsor, considers the fest to be the biggest event of the year for his company’s charitable arm, The Jetty Rock Foundation. Last year, festival proceeds helped the foundation provide iPads to the Long Beach Island School District, Chromebooks for the Beach Haven School District and field trips for Stafford School District. In 2014, Hop Sauce generated $25,000 in proceeds. Higgins wasn’t sure where that number would be this year nor does he know to what causes the money will go.

From 2014 to 2015, there wasn’t much change needed in the festival for continued success, he said. “We were really proud of that first-year event. The changes that had to be made were kind of minimal.”

Those tweaks included better signage for beer and stage branding.

In selecting which bands took to that stage, music director Joe Belsh was searching for acts who were currently touring and “up-and-coming.” He was hoping to find groups that could get the crowd up and moving.

“Pick some ripe fruit,” Belsh said.

More folks were chilling on the lawn this year, he said. He called the sound “just feel-good stuff.” These vibes were shared by audience and performers alike.

Guitar player Tommy Siegel, guitarist for headliner Jukebox the Ghost of Washington, D.C., said this was the group’s first time playing at the Jersey Shore. The band couldn’t have asked for a better day to get a first impression. As the sun began to set, a crowd — generally laid back for most of the afternoon — rose to their feet. Siegel loved the easy-going atmosphere of the event.

“There’s hot sauce. There’s beer. What could possibly go wrong?” Siegel wondered. “It was just a really nice afternoon on the shore.”