Love Pickles? Meet Brine Street Picklery, Philly’s Newest Pickler

Photo by Jillian Guyette

If you’re a bit of a pickle addict like me — yes, I do stand in front of an open refrigerator door and eat them straight from the jar, thankyouverymuch — you’re about to get very excited about Brine Street Picklery, a just-launched local business helmed by five friends who are just as pickle obsessed as you are.

“It all started with green beans,” says Brine Street cofounder Kristen McManus, who lives in Fitler Square.

She says her business partner, P.J. Hopkins, tasted his first really, really good pickle a few years back during a trip to New Orleans. It was a pickled green bean in a Bloody Mary. So he came home and started experimenting with pickle recipes, which soon turned into a hobby, which then became gifts to friends and family, and which eventually became a new business venture with a group of friends.

Last fall, McManus, Hopkins and their three partners joined forces on the idea. They started making more and more batches of Hopkins’s beans, then branched out into hot-pepper relish and two kinds of pickled cucumber spears. Five months later, they’re now whipping up batches in a rented kitchen space in Mount Airy and are beginning to sell their goods to the masses.

The produce is all locally sourced, which means Brine Street’s inventory can change with the season. To embrace the freshest flavors, they just launched a Pickle of the Month program, which will be a rotating offering of small batch, limited supply pickled goodness.

The first veggies to get the Pickle of the Month treatment are beets, available now. Brine Street’s pickled beets are made with onions, apple cider vinegar, rosemary, ground cloves, cinnamon, allspice, brown sugar, salt and water.

The best way to get your hands on Brine Street’s products is by placing an order directly via email at brinestreetpicklery@gmail.com. There is no minimum order size — the 16-ounce jars go for $7 a piece — and Brine Street will deliver to you. They deliver in Philly and the surrounding ‘burbs, but McManus says simply to email them and they’ll figure out a way to get the goods to you.

You also find them at pop-up events throughout the area, including this weekend’s Funky Brunch & Market at the Ardmore Music Hall, and this spring, at some local farmers’ markets. They’re also exploring wholesale opportunities and partnerships with local CSAs.

Right now, Brine Street is offering pickled green beans, hot pepper relish, and pickled beets only; the cucumber spears won’t be available until early summer, when they’re back in season. Brine Street’s website is currently in the works, but you can keep up with the latest on Facebook and Instagram.

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