How hard should you blow? That’s the crucial conundrum for contestants heading into the Ugly Mug Froth-Blowing contest. “The harder you blow, the harder it is to win,” says Jeff Kahn, former Mug bartender and son of Ugly Mug founder and contest creator, the late Sam Kahn. “The more air that goes down into the beer, the more foam is created.”

Not necessarily so, counters Ray Heslip (known locally as “Cousin Ray”). Ray’s technique is unapologetically more aggressive.

“You gotta nail it,” says the 2022 United States National Froth-Blowing champion (after many years of trying). “It’s really about getting the most air in your lungs to push the most head out of the glass. If you come up from that and you’re not wearing beer on your face, you did something wrong.”

A silly, sloppy slice of sudsy fun apparently unique to America’s Original Seaside Resort, the Mug’s contest debuted in 1954 (definitive records are scarce, but 1954 is the consensus). A froth-blowing craze hit Great Britain in the mid-1920s, but Jeff and his sister Arlene MacDonald don’t know if their father knew about that. Seems fair to assume that, in 1954, a beer froth-blowing contest in Cape May or New Jersey or the United States was unprecedented.

“He was beyond his time,” says Arlene, whose dad coined the Ugly Mug name in 1949 after earlier taking over the Kahn’s family restaurant. “My father was such a good marketing person.”

While now open to anyone 21 and over, the contest initially began exclusively for members of the Loyal Order of the Ugly Mugs (aka the Ugly Mug Club). To gain membership, Ugly Mug drinkers purchased a personalized mug to be suspended from the bar’s ceiling when not in use. Mugs are turned east to face the Atlantic Ocean when a club member passes away.

Today, the Ugly Mug ceiling is still adorned with hundreds of dangling mugs, including ones that say Obie, Cuz Ray Froth Blowing Champ 2022, Beaker, Dana 06 Champion, Cold War, Toots, The Ox, and Hog Head. Ugly Mug manager Tanya Branch created a handy, dandy map to help customers find a specific mug.

The Loyal Order of the Ugly Mugs’ creed is “Mix a little folly with your wisdom, a little nonsense is pleasant now and then.” What’s more nonsensical and pleasant than competing in this mostly annual (there’ve been some frothless gaps — most recently 2020-21) and totally zany contest? Besides, nowadays, the only way to join the Ugly Mug Club is to become a froth-blowing champion.

Interested in entering? Here’s the (b)lowdown: Ugly Mug, 426 Washington Street, Sunday September 13. Signups begin at 5pm, contest at 6pm. It’s $5 to sign up — competitors can sign up multiple times. T-shirts are $10. All proceeds go to the Cape May Police Welfare Fund (Christmas toy drive, National Night Out). Groups of five contestants line up at the bar and each gets a 6oz glass filled half with beer (Miller Lite) and half with froth. No hands on the glass. Competitors get one blow when host DJ Denny Oh exclaims, 3-2-1... Blow!

Lieutenant Tony Genaro and fellow Cape May police officers serve as judges, scrutinizing each glass to determine which contains the least amount of remaining foam. Judges and bartenders are typically decked out jn protective rain gear, umbrella hats and Hawaiian shirts.

“It’s part of the fun, to act goofy for a night,” says Lieutenant Tony, appreciative of Ugly Mug’s yearly donation (approximately $1,500 in 2025). “If you’re coming to compete, certainly don’t wear your Sunday best. You’re gonna get beer on yourself. Everything’s a mess by the end of the night.”

Opening-round winners advance to semi-final rounds and when the final round concludes, the 2026 United States National Froth-Blowing champion will be crowned. Bragging rights, a cool trophy and a personalized mug hanging from the Mug ceiling with forever membership in the Ugly Mug Club to the victor.

Some playful blowers arrive sporting outlandish costumes — some depart with dripping, frothy beards. Cape May’s Cousin Ray spotted past winners wearing sashes and dollar-store crowns, while Jeff witnessed blowers blow so hard they slip and land on their butts. Packed crowds will stretch necks and stand on booths for better views of the messy action. Some blow straight, others from the side. Some blow up close, others from a distance. And some blow controlled, others give it everything they’ve got.

“People are excited and they wanna win,” says Lieutenant Tony, who’s witnessed 20 years of froth-blowing, plotting, planning, and strategizing. “They blow too hard. Then it churns up the beer and it just creates more froth. You have to have a nice even blow.”

Or…

“You just gotta go right down center and blow as hard as you can,” says 2024 champion Kyle Stillwagon. “Just one big breath. Keep it right in the center of the glass, and that’s it. Short, quick and boom.”

Kyle, a Tiny Cruise Line captain, is a familiar face at the Mug and spent plenty of time there and next door at the Pilot House (now Fins), where his late father Mark worked for decades as executive chef. Yet, Kyle didn’t take part in the contest until 2024. “I definitely heard about it for many, many years,” he says. “I was chatting with some buddies and says, ‘Let’s go try this out, see what it’s all about.”

For Lower Township’s Kyle, magic seemed to be in the barroom air — or, perhaps, it was something else.

Mark Stillwagon was an Ugly Mug Club member. His now east-facing mug, hanging at the bar, says “Wagon” and is adorned with a black-and-gold Steelers wristband and an elastic beaded band that spells out ‘DAD,’ tributes from his kids. Kyle drank from his dad’s mug the night of the ’24 contest.

“I usually drink Crown Royal from his mug, but I thought, you know what, I’m gonna drink some beer out of it today,” Kyle says. “Who knows? Maybe the old man brought me some luck.”

Kyle didn’t accept the coveted Ugly Mug Club mug — at least not for himself. Instead, he gifted his winning mug to buddy Captain Doug Ortlip and the Tiny Cruise Line. “I’d rather have my old man’s mug and use my old man’s mug.”

Other contestants utilize good luck rituals, too. Some sit beneath Ugly Mug’s black-and-white photos of froth-blowing relatives while others bring loved ones’ trophies. When Greg Wall captured the trophy in 1991, he reportedly brought along his future mother-in-law, Mary Anne Barnes, the 1958 champion.

Maybe, for some, blowing with all their might is a form of good luck.

“You have to be a little more delicate,” says Arlene MacDonald.

Cape May’s Carl Schnekenburger, 93, froth blowing since 2001, rejects this “delicate” business. “Some guy told me to go face down and blow hard as hell — which is what I do.”

To settle the how-hard-to-blow debate, the Mug graciously allowed me to test my (lack of) froth-blowing prowess. To begin, I exhaled a good but restrained blow and — Ta-da! — only a little foam remained in the glass. For my second attempt, I unleashed a big burst of air and finished with lots of foam in my glass and a face, neck, shirt and eyeglasses (why on earth didn’t I take off my glasses?) dripping in beer suds.

Mug manager Tanya kindly judged my first attempt as “pretty solid.” My second try? “Not so much.” Conclusion: For me, a less powerful gust of air prevailed.

Our writer Chris Collins discovers that the technique is difficult to master.

While my prospects of dethroning 2025 champion Talha Ercan seem unlikely, a swarm of newcomers and veterans, including Schnekenburger, will battle for 2026 glory on September 13. “Listen, if I can walk, I’ll go back,” he says. “I’m hooked. I’m glad they invented it and glad they still do it.”

Since the contest’s launch in 1954(ish), Cape May has transitioned from a somewhat quiet coastal community to a busy, en vogue, must-see seaside spot, while ownership of Ugly Mug has changed hands multiple times. Yet, the bonkers, beloved froth-blowing game brought to town by Sam Kahn still endures and still enthralls.

“I think he’d be very proud of the fact that his little froth-blowing contest has become a tradition,” says Arlene.

Among many benches lining Washington Street Mall, one sits beside Ugly Mug’s entranceway, facing out at hopeful froth blowers entering the Mug. The name on that bench’s plaque: Sam Kahn.

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