brewing
SOMA Brewing Company wants you to
drink local
Two area couples bring craft brewing to the neighborhood
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN
C
ount Maplewood as one of the New Jersey
towns that can now lay claim to locally-pro-
duced craft beers. SOMA Brewing Company
— the labels abbreviate the name to a jauntier
SOMA Brewing Co. — is the love child of
two local couples, Farnaz and Adam Heydt of
Maplewood and Chris and Bianca Froelich of South Orange.
The Heydts are both Emmy Award-winning TV veterans,
she for producing ABC coverage of Barack Obama’s inaugu-
ration, and he for directing Harry Connick’s talk show, and
the Froelichs have backgrounds in law, sales and marketing,
but they bonded over their love of beer. Over the past year,
the company has rolled out Two Towns Ale, a hoppy amber
ale, and the New England-style Reservation IPA. Their planned
craft brewery, which is slated to open in fall, 2019, will be a
weekend destination for the community they love, says Adam
Heydt.
The kids connection
Adam and Chris met briefly four years ago at South Mountain
Elementary School, when they both attended their children’s
kindergarten breakfast. They discovered that their fathers had
been colleagues and had stayed in touch. “It was a cool bond
that grew up into a friendship of the two families,” says Adam.
Contract brewing first
Another bond they shared was a love of craft beers. “We’re
home brewers, and we said that this is something this area really
needed, and that we have to do this,” says Adam. Over four to six
months, the couples worked together to formulate several beer
recipes. Once they decided to contract with an existing brewing
facility, the product was ready to serve in a few weeks; the beer is
stored at a location on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood. “We’re
nine months away from opening [our own facility],” he says.
“It will be a destination for people from local towns to come and
try different beers. There will be a tasting room where you can
experiment with sours, ales, wheats and stouts.”
36
HOLIDAY 2018 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE