Instilling a love of soccer and beer in brewery

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BELLEVILLE, NJ — Mark Costa has a passion for making beer. He also has a strong love for the sport of soccer. For the Bloomfield resident, who coaches soccer in Belleville, it was a win-win for him to open up a soccer-inspired brewery in the town where he lives. 

The brewery, Varitage Brew Works, located at 58 Washington St., in Bloomfield Center near the train station, opened around Halloween last year. The 1,500-square-foot facility features 24-foot ceilings. 

All the beer production is done in the same space as the tap room. There are about seven team members on the bar side.

Costa, a 2006 Nutley High School graduate, built the brewery completely from scratch. There were no walls, no water and no electricity. He even poured down the floors.“I wanted it to feel like an industrial European cafe and tie in the whole soccer theme,” Costa said.

So here’s where the soccer theme comes in: Throughout the brewery and above the taps, there are a ton of soccer scarves from teams around the world. There are also several televisions that show soccer games from different leagues around the world.

In addition, Varitage – which is a combination of the words variety and heritage – has partnered with a Red Bulls supporters group called Torcida 96. The group attends Red Bulls home games at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, gathering behind the soccer goal. When the Red Bulls play on the road, Varitage will serve as a hub for members of Torcida 96 as they watch the Red Bulls on TV. Costa said he is making a collaboration beer called Torcida 96 expected to be available for the first game of the season.

Costa said a few players on New Jersey/New York FC Gotham, the reigning National Women’s Soccer League champions, who also play at Red Bull Arena, live in the same building, upstairs. They also enjoy hanging out at Varitage.

Costa said he makes classic-style beers, including European lagers and some stouts.

One of the workers at Varitage is Joe Pontoriero. Costa and Pontoriero have known each other since the first grade, playing soccer together through high school. Their fathers even coached them as young kids. Costa and Pontoriero now coach soccer together in Belleville. 

Costa, who played soccer at Caldwell University, started brewing at home about 15 years ago. He entered in homebrewing competitions, sending his beers around the country and won medals. Costa won a big competition outside of Chicago. The contest officials invited him to their brewery to brew his Amber Ale recipe, so he flew there with his wife. On the flight back home, Costa told his wife he wanted to enter the brewery profession full-time. About six months later, he talked to his wife again about that idea. Sure enough, he quit his job in digital advertising and applied to a brewery in New Jersey. Within five days, he was hired. He worked on the brewing/production side there for a few years.

Then there was an opportunity to open a brewery in Bloomfield. It took about three years to open it. Costa acknowledged that it tested his resolve. During those three years, he said he rediscovered his love of soccer and started coaching. He was rejuvenated, being around children and coaching.

That’s why he corporated soccer into his brewery. “As I opened Varitage, I found soccer again, because I was away from the game, so I knew that it had to go hand-in-hand.”

Soccer and beer. Indeed, many people can toast to that!

Photos Courtesy of Mark Costa

  Belleville High School boys soccer