36 ocnjmagazine.comOCEAN CITY

37ocnjmagazine.com OCEAN CITY

HOW TO

Save A

LifeA Local Brewing Company Gives Back to the Sea

Text by Kelly Tjoumakaris Photos by Kelly Tjoumakaris and MMSC

38 ocnjmagazine.comOCEAN CITY

STOP me if you’ve heard this one. A brewing company, a seal and a surf shop walk into a bar…

It wasn’t just any bar.It was Yesterday’s Restaurant Tavern or,

as us locals call it, “The Y.” And it was not just any brewing company; it was the local Tuckahoe Brewing Company. And it wasn’t just any surf shop; it was Surfer Supplies, on 31st and Asbury in Ocean City. And it wasn’t just any seal. It was the mascot to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Sometimes an event happens, however large or small, that illustrates how connected a community can be and how supportive individuals, or groups, can be to each other and that community. The synergistic efforts of the aforementioned parties culminated on April 21, during three happy hours at “The Y,” where the collaborators came together to raise much needed money for the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

In 1962, Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson, was published prompting an entirely new way of viewing the environment. In it Carson wrote, “The history of life on Earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.”

This idea that everything in nature is connected, including us humans, has since permeated all environmental thought and action today and can be seen in this story connecting marine mammals, the sea, and us, the humans living in proximity to them. The community I speak of includes the marine mammals, their helpers, surfers, a surfer-supplier, a brewer, a distributor, the brew-drinkers, a roaster, a restaurant and a girl who has an affinity for them all - that is me.

The same year Carson’s book was published proving inter connectedness, George Gerlach, in his 20s at the time, and his friend Paul Ruger, built a surfboard out of wood from a recipe in a Popular Mechanics Magazine and took it to a beach in downtown Ocean City. In a decade where surfing found its popularity, that daytrip to downtown Ocean City stirred up great interest in George and his board and

George found himself a niche. He opened up a surf shop that’s been in business ever since. That surf shop is Ocean City’s beloved Surfer Supplies (SS).

George, who passed away in January 2011, is described by many as a nice, low-key, gracious guy who endlessly exuded positive energy. And a soulful guy whose “contributions to the local surf community were large, and not only provided the area with good surfing equipment and honest advice, but he also dedicated a lot of time to the amateur surfing scene up and down the east coast and was very functional in developing the Ocean City Surfing Association,” says Greg Beck.

Greg and Andrew Funk are the current owners of SS and are both mentees of George’s. They continue to disseminate the amity that has always been a part of SS. It’s warm, soulful and inviting with its relaxing score, essence of surf wax and

profoundly interesting conversation making it difficult to spend a short time in the shop. While there you’ll witness countless surfers, non-surfers, or wannabe surfers (like myself ) stopping in for the peace and non-judgmental climate that the shop and staff steadily offer along with George’s vibe which still emanates today.

Surfer Supplies has always been philanthropic particularly with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. For about eight years now, they’ve sold an organic “green tee” with a portion of proceeds going to an environmental-friendly organization. The first organization tee monies went to was the MMSC in addition to total profits from a CD by Tom Curren, a three-time world champion surfer and musician, sold in the store.

One of countless individuals who appreciate and respect the shop and its milieu is Tim Hanna, a cofounder of the Tuckahoe Brewing Company. Tim, along with partners Matt McDevitt,

Chris Konicki and Jim McAfee, make up Tuckahoe Brewing Company, a local, craft-beer savvy, community-attentive brewing company right here in Cape May County. These fellows emulate the very same vibe as Surfer’s Supplies. A group of guys, quite appropriately, you’d like to have a beer with and, make no mistake, it is one of their beers you will want to have with them. They offer high-quality, unique, artisanal brews including the DC Pale, Marshalville Wit and Steelmantown Porter, using ingredients grown in our local community when possible. They are strong on community making it their practice to give back. Case in point is their recent decision to celebrate Surfer Supplies 50th anniversary and honor George with a new stout.

The coffee stout is brewed with coffee from Harry and Beans, a neighboring company to TBC who sells organic and fair-trade coffee, which coincidentally is also sold at,

you guessed it, Surfer Supplies (are you seeing the connections connect?). Owner Harry Gale isn’t just a supreme roaster, he is another well-respected member of the local surfing community. The stout, with nine percent potency, is called New Brighton,

a former name of Ocean City for a brief time following “Peck’s Beach.” The New Brighton Coffee Stout is a rich, flavorful brew that has terrific body, taste and aroma, similar to the SS experience and it is my favorite of the four they offer. This coffee stout brew, already outlasting the name assigned to the barrier island for a month’s time, has accomplished a great many things. It’s an elixir of good will.

Surfer Supplies chose the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) to receive all the proceeds from the sale of the New Brighton Coffee Stout Beer in continuation of a former favored charity of George. And as if it was not enough to pledge all profits from the sale of this beer, Tuckahoe Brewing Company organized a fund-raising event, in cooperation with SS, to raise awareness and funds for MMSC.

Much needed funds.Fortuitously, the plan for the event came

before the announcement of the potential loss of federal funding for the MMSC. The

Our beloved ocean provides food, livelihood, tourist attraction, sport, entertainment and relaxation, we need to be sure to maintain the health of the ecosystem as well as ourselves.

39ocnjmagazine.com OCEAN CITY

center is at risk for losing up to $100,000 of their $650,000 budget as soon as this September from federal budget cuts.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center is a non-profit organization in Brigantine that responds to strandings of various marine mammals, including seals, whales, dolphins, and various endangered species along the entire coast of New Jersey. They are the only licensed organization to do so and are made up of only four individuals who handle this range of active shore and are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Says Founder and Director Robert Schoelkopf, “Animals can not be left on the beach, there are always people on the beaches of the Jersey Shore, and leaving the animals on the beach can pose a health hazard.”

When nature speaks up and sends a marine mammal their way, it can sometimes be a message to us; marine mammals act as a reliable environmental indicator and the MMSC plays their part by investigating the cause of death of any marine mammals

that wash up on our Jersey shores. Cause of deaths can vary from collision with a ship, bacteria or virus. The center also offers education and outreach providing internships, group tours and summer camps as well as visiting schools. I’m no stranger to their unforgettable on-site museum; it’s very humbling to be in the presence of real whale bones! It’s a place where my “little” and I would visit. She was the little sister assigned to me from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean City about ten years ago. We were matched based on our common interests in the environment and animals. The MMSC is a spot we’d frequent because of what it symbolizes. Their mission statement: Rescue, Rehabilitate, Release, Preserve proves to go beyond the realm of marine mammals.

In an area where our beloved ocean provides food, livelihood, tourist attraction, sport, entertainment and relaxation, we need to be sure to maintain the health of the ecosystem as well as ourselves. Events such

as the fundraiser on April 21 at Yesterday’s are key to raising money and awareness for the MMSC. Schoelkopf says the center encourages such homegrown fundraising events and is very fond of this event – for even in its wake, monies are still being donated with the sale of every bottle of New Brighton Coffee Stout Beer.

Speaking of which… Thirsty?You can find the New Brighton Stout just

outside of old New Brighton at Yesterday’s in Marmora, Passion Vines in Somers Point, and Canal’s Liquor Store in Mays Landing.

Really Thirsty? Kegs are available at the Tuckahoe

Brewing Company (contact them at tuckahoebrewing.com).

Don’t want your donation to MMSC to stop there?

Visit marinemammalstrandingcenter.com.

JUST BREW ITFrom Left Jim McAfee, Chris Konicki, Tim Hanna and Matt McDevitt of Tuckahoe Brewing Company created the New Brighton Coffee Stout Beer and give all proceeds from its sale to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center