In 1985, Ann and David Hall opened the Ship Inn — a quaint English pub in the little river town of Milford, New Jersey. Warm timber, a proper bar, British pub fare, and the kind of unhurried atmosphere that turns first-time visitors into lifelong regulars.

By 1994, word came that New Jersey was finally interested in allowing on-premise brewing. The Halls asked themselves a straightforward question:

They connected with Alan Pugsley — of Shipyard Brewing fame in Portland, Maine — who introduced them to the UK-based Peter Austin brewing system. With the help of their bartender and contractor Kevin Stives, they relocated the Ship Inn kitchen and built the brewery. David Hall trained on the Peter Austin system at Federal Jack's in Kennebunkport, Maine. They had it built in time to be first.

Four beers were on tap that day, brewed under the name Milford Brewing Company — a name that gradually faded as the brewery became known simply and affectionately as The Ship Inn Restaurant & Brewery.

The first year was a genuine education. As Tim Hall later recalled: "Learning to be consistent, learning to balance the day-to-day needs of a brewery and restaurant simultaneously. Not understanding the needs of yeast adequately and how to be super cautious about managing pH as well as hygiene and shelf life. Learning what the customers were interested in drinking."

For over two decades the Ship Inn was the Hall family's labour of love. When Ann Hall passed in 2008, she left the brewery to her three children. Her son Timothy Hall — the original brewer — took the helm and ran the Ship Inn in her honour until 2017.

The significance of what Ann and David built is hard to overstate. For a period, the Ship Inn was not just the first brewery in New Jersey — it was the only one. The entire modern NJ craft beer scene traces back to that single hand pump on Bridge Street.

The name was chosen deliberately. As Joseph David explained:

The mission was stewardship. Classic English-style ales continue alongside a new story: inspired by Belgian, German and British Isles brewing heritage, Descendants launched their Ancestry Ales and Hidden Nations Brewing lineups — the latter an experimental series drawing from lesser-known brewing traditions worldwide.

Nothing from the Ship Inn's past was lost. The original recipe box — every batch ever brewed, recorded — was found among the building's relics and kept in rotation. The bar and tables were built from wood salvaged from a bowling alley that once occupied the back room. The speakeasy door, hidden since Prohibition, was uncovered. The mason's 1879 signature on the stone wall still reads clearly.

With New Jersey's updated brewpub distribution laws now in effect, Descendants is also growing beyond Bridge Street — bringing New Jersey's first craft brewery story to a wider audience across NJ and into eastern Pennsylvania.