This is 21 and over,  due to the time of the event.

I recently got wind of a new beer garden that opened in Jersey City called Zeppelin Hall. That’s about 20 miles from the Manhattan apartment where I share space with my bike, a Specialized Tricross.

I bought it in 2006 for around $1,500 and figure I’ve logged thousands of miles exploring the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, including all five boroughs of New York City — mostly by myself. It has an aluminum frame with a carbon-fiber seat post and fork, and it weighs about 22 pounds.

I’ve been trying to get my girlfriend, Melissa, to tag along by promising to keep the ride way under my usual 40 or 50 miles. My hope is to make these expeditions a little more fun.

The solution? What I call the destination bike excursion. These goal-oriented tours come with the promise of a meal and some beverages.

To share with others, as well as for consistency and mileage calculations, I start the rides at 14th Street on the West Side Highway bike path and usually offer a subway or commuter-train alternative for getting home.

So how the heck do you get across the Hudson River to Jersey City on a bike?

The George Washington Bridge is bike-friendly, but far out of the way for these starting and end points, and it would run up significant miles, including a lung-collapsing hill climb to the bridge.

Take the Ferry

My solution: Take the Staten Island Ferry, ride south to the Bayonne Bridge and traverse it into New Jersey.

Simply keep the river on your right as you wind along the streets of Staten Island until you see the bridge, which looks a lot like the Hell Gate railroad bridge across Manhattan’s East River, with its sturdy steel arch.

There are beautiful vistas from the towering heights of the bridge, but don’t linger because it makes the authorities nervous in this post-9/11 world. Taking photos on any New York- area bridge is never a good idea either. (The Brooklyn Bridge is an exception to that rule.)

Bayonne is like a little peninsula that separates Upper New York Bay from Newark Bay and features fairly large multistory houses with front and back yards and manageable traffic on weekends.

Once off the bridge in Bayonne, work your way over to Broadway and head north to Liberty State Park in Jersey City which is right beside our destination.

Best Wurst

Zeppelin Hall has gotten a lot of buzz since opening on June 26. A bike rack in front was a welcome sight and gave me peace of mind.

Manager and visionary John Argento partnered with Peter Mocco to offer a family-friendly beer garden in its traditional form. The first thing that strikes you when you walk into the place is the size. Occupying a whopping 22,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, Zeppelin Hall can accommodate as many as 800 thirsty imbibers with its 144 draft-beer lines.

On our Saturday-afternoon visit, the place was teeming with beer lovers, families with small children and double-wide strollers. Card games and baseball on the giant screen entertained the masses.

A grill in the back offers beer-hall standards like kielbasa, bratwurst and frankfurters. If burgers are more your speed, then try a cleverly named Hindenburger ($10.95).

Melissa had kept up with me quite easily on her Specialized Sirrus and was rewarded with a medley of bratwurst and kielbasa, (each $8.95 with fries) and a few mugs of Grolsch ($10).

Oktoberfest

Watch for an Oktoberfest extravaganza this fall, which will include live entertainment and probably some lederhosen.

Getting home was easy with the Grove Street PATH subway station just four wobbly blocks away. PATH trains are bike friendly, assuming you are strong enough to lift your mount over the turnstile.

The best way to navigate this journey is to plot your route on a mapping Web site like Google maps or Mapquest and print it out in various stages to take with you on your ride. A BlackBerry or iPhone with a mapping application can be handy as well.

Zeppelin Hall is located at 88 Liberty View Drive. Note though that it’s in the new community of Liberty Harbor, which isn’t yet listed on most GPS mapping systems. Go to 297 Grand St. in Jersey City and head south on Liberty View Drive. It’s right beside the NJ Light Rail tracks. Information: +1-201-721- 8888; http://www.zeppelinhall.com.

Wheel Numbers

Miles: 18.5
Average speed: 11.6 mph
Ride time: 1 hour 37 minutes (not including waiting for and riding the Staten Island Ferry)
Difficulty: medium

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Here’s evidence to support Foster Kamer’s theory that restaurants like Minetta Tavern are the new nightclubs: According to WCBS, the new Sonic in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, is so popular that the line is causing safety concerns, especially after an unlicensed driver angry at being turned away sped off and dragged a police officer with him. Momofuku Noodle Bar might want to take note of the Blue Coconut Slush rage before they introduce those new slushy machines. Meanwhile another newcomer is drawing large crowds in the Jerz: Former Danceteria owner John Argento has opened Zeppelin Hall, a 800-seat beer garden located four blocks from the Grove Street PATH station in Jersey City. Though it claims to have 144 beers on draught, a Yelp review shows they’re only at about 36 right now. Still respectable. And while the sausage selection isn’t quite on par with DBGB, they do have andouille, lamb, and a house bratwurst as well as some schnitzels and other Bavarian dishes.

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I’ll admit that I don’t remember much about my first trip to Zeppelin Hall Beer Garden, 88 Liberty View Drive, Jersey City, NJ, but I do remember the important things: the beer and food. The beer was excellent, the food good.

My friend and I wandered in to Zeppelin Hall about 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon, after getting lost among the new condo construction projects, and finally asking the owner of the Brownstone Diner, located a block West, for directions. The stress of our sojourn through “New Condo Land” made finally finding our beer oasis that much sweeter. We ordered a couple of brews inside the huge hall, and then wandered to the outside beer garden. I started with an old stand by-Smuuttynose IPA, a rich, cloudy, ale with a copper color, thick head, and a nice hoppy flavor. My friend had an Abita Purple Haze, a slightly sweet wheat beer, with a hint of raspberries. They are brewed in New Hampshire and New Orleans, respectively.

My cousins met us soon after and they ordered a Staropramen, an amber-gold pilsner with a hint of honey from the Czech Repuplic, and a Kira Belgian White, a straw colored brew with a hint of bananna, and a crisp, refreshing finish. As we sipped from our half-liter glasses, I remarked how crazy the people were who were drinking the liters. “Man, that guy is going to be tanked later”, I said from my high horse (which was quickly losing it’s footing). Little did I know that I would be “tanked” in a few hours myeslf (more on that later).

As the beer garden filled with thirsty happy hour fans we decided to order some food. I was very dissapointed that the “Sauerbraten”, advertised on the web site, was not on the menu. In fact, I was told, it might not be for a while. So, I settled for buffalo wings (average) and the “Sausage Sampler”, which includes three types of sausage from about a list of six. We went with Bratwurst, Kielbasa, and Andouille, which were all very good. The fries were cooked to the perfect crispness.

I washed down the meat massacre with a River Horse Double Wit, which has an almost orange tint, and a nice, frothy head. It had a clove spice to it and a nice peppery finish. And being in Jersey, I figured that I had to have at least one beer that is actually brewed in the Garden State.

The night pretty much deteriorated from that point on. I met an old work friend and met his friends and we had a grand old time at the huge wooden table by the window. By this point, the view of the brand spanking new condos was getting hazy and I knew it was time to go home, but I have a feeling I will be back to my new favorite Biergarten, and will hopefully be eating a big plate of Sauerbraten, and sipping on a nice Leffe Blonde Ale.

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