RED BANK: THIRD NOVEL FOR BARTENDER

When he’s not pulling pints for the clientele of Red Bank’s Dublin House Pub, bartender Brandon Zenner (seen here in 2014) puts in long hours at his laptop, conjuring fictional worlds. His third novel in little more than two years, titled “The After War,” debuts this week. It’s a post-apocalyptic story based on an idea Zenner had almost two decades ago, when he was a 16-year-old student at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional, and it’s available as an e-book here. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

August 9, 2016 - 10:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: BARTENDER/AUTHOR GOES FOR TWO

Red Bank bartender-turned-self-published novelist Brandon Zenner, seen here in 2014, is in the running for a contract with Kindle Scout, an Amazon program in which readers vote on which works get published. An excerpt of the Dublin House barkeep’s second novel, “Whiskey Devils,” may be previewed and voted upon here. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

December 22, 2015 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: KICKING-OFF A WEEK OF COCKTAILS

Jamie Gray prepares a cocktail at red‘s upstairs lounge bar. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

There’s a party going on in Red Bank over the course of the next week, and it’s going to be a bit of a booze-filled frenzy.

At the kickoff of Cocktail Week Sunday night, bartenders prepared specialty drinks made with Leaf vodka, just one of several sponsors for the event organized by Red Bank Flavour.

Bartender Jamie Gray of red restaurant on Broad Street squeezed fresh limes for the Thai basil martinis while Matt Monaco was busy muddling mint for the Hendrick’s Gin mojitos served with cucumbers.

RED BANK: AUTHOR EMERGES FROM THE CELLAR

Brandon Zenner at his basement writing table. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

For 11 sunlight-deprived years, he’s slung drinks and traded banter with customers at the Dublin House in Red Bank. And for a good chunk of that time, he’s spent his free time in a dim, prosaic Red Bank basement, typing away at a windowless desk near a clothes dryer.

But until earlier this year, when he self-published a 294-page novel titled “The Experiment of Dreams,” Brandon Zenner kept his literary ambitions to himself.

“I never told anybody I was a writer,” Zenner told redbankgreen recently. For one thing, “sports is big in a bar. Writing is not,” he said.

Besides, “it’s just easier not to have to talk about it” and instead just do it, he said.

RUMSON: FIVE-DAY SHUTDOWN FOR TAVERN

Violations caught on videotape will result in the temporary suspension of business at Molly Maguire’s Black Point Inn next week. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Rumson’s Molly Maguire’s Black Point Inn will be dark for five days of Independence Day week as a penalty for admitted misbehavior in the hours after the borough’s St. Patrick’s celebrations in March.

The temporary shutdown arises from a police complaint alleging one or more employees were drunk, as well as unspecified violations of a state law prohibiting “immoral activities” in places that serve booze, according to borough documents.

At least some of the misbehavior, which occurred around midnight on a Saturday, was caught on videotape, according to Mayor John Ekdahl, who tells redbankgreen he did what he could to keep the matter out of the public spotlight.

Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

RED BANK: THIRD NOVEL FOR BARTENDER

RED BANK: BARTENDER/AUTHOR GOES FOR TWO

RED BANK: KICKING-OFF A WEEK OF COCKTAILS

RED BANK: AUTHOR EMERGES FROM THE CELLAR

RUMSON: FIVE-DAY SHUTDOWN FOR TAVERN