Since Andrew moved to Jersey last year we’ve been talking about doing a Philly trip. It’s only a two hour drive and there are so many great breweries in the area. Somehow we never got around to it, until we finally just said this weekend let’s go. So I did my usual map building, route planning, and researching. I asked my favorite facebook beer drinkers, reddit and instagram what we had to visit. Technically, I knew our answer was going to be all the breweries but it’s nice to get other people’s opinions. Because we decided to go kind of last minute all the hotels in City Center were ridiculously expensive so we settled on the Holiday Inn at Cherry Hill to be our base and drive/uber our way from there. (Although looks like Philly and Uber/Lyft are not friends anymore so good timing us!)
Anyways, we’ll split this post up so it actually gets posted. Despite the title, this post will actually not take place in Philly!
Vault Brewing Company of Yardley, PA came highly recommended by the internet as a must stop on the way to or from Philly. Known for it’s phenomenal pizza and literal beer vault, Vault brewing was a high class establishment in a small, well kept town.
It was a relatively short drive from Morristown, NJ to Yardley, PA. It probably would have been shorter if Google Maps decided not to rout us around local roads and over a wire frame bridge that could be construed as a first year engineering students project. Terrifying plunges into a river aside, we were hungry and the pizza at Vault was calling.
With flights in hand and pizzas in the oven, we got to work on Untappd. The Kolsch, Crystal Stout, New Zealand IPA, Harvest Pale Ale and Barrel Saison were available for consumption that day. The Kolsch was one of the weaker representations of the style we’ve ever had and do not recommend it. The Barrel Saison was a solid, funky farmhouse brew that while enjoyable, was not worth a deviation to Philly. The other beers in the flight were good to wash down a pizza, but didn’t do much else in terms of unique or amazing flavor.
At the end of the day, Vault Brewing Company was a super classy establishment, had provided us two great pizzas but only an average beer flight. Vault earns a disappointing 2.75 safety deposit boxes worth stealing out of 5.
Broken Goblet Brewery Brewery of Bristol, PA was a brewery with an identity crisis. I’m not entirely sure how to describe it, but it was a weird atmosphere that conflicted and clashed. On one hand they had edgy and punny beer names, edgy live music and even edgier patrons. On the other hand, it was well kept and the decor was more reminiscent of a Starbucks than a brewery.
Aesthetics aside. Broken Goblet had some great beer. Starting from the average we have Steinbeiser Buried Treasure Cream Ale. Its an all day kind of beverage but it’s still no Genny Cream. Ying Yang Oatmeal Stout and Hoppy Amber are excellent replicants of their selective styles, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Now we get into the interesting stuff. Impact! IPA was a straightforward, hop in your face, beer with little malt to the body. Normally I strive for balance, but this was just so crisp and palatable I couldn’t help but not to enjoy it. Fools & Kings was more king than fool of a Belgian Dubbel. Malty, smooth, and super sweet, this was a beer for Melissa and not so much me. So if you love sweet beer, grab one of these because it won’t disappoint.
Pineapple S’wheat Stache is not for everyone. Neither Kait nor Melissa really enjoyed this beer but holy hell was it a pineapple wheat. I’d get a small sample of this beer because like I said, it really isn’t for everyone. Last beer on the flight was my first experience being teabagged in pub…. I mean, getting tea bagged by Bubba. Bubba’s Tea Bag is a Broken Goblet favorite. It’s a malty pale ale thats had been tea infused instead of hop bombed. I’m not sure what tea they use, but there is no subtle flavor here.
Broken Goblet had some mighty fine beer and in addition to live music, Broken Goblet is also host to a weekly trivia night and bi-monthly movie night. I’d happily take 3.75 more tea bags to the face out of 5.
Neshaminy Creek is one brewery you’ve probably heard. Be in in a can or keg, Neshaminy is a local staple in this region (NJ/PA) and I was mighty excited to visit them in person. Housed next to a machine shop in a backwater industrial park just 5 minutes away from Broken Goblet, Neshaminy Creek pulled some Time Lord trickery with its size. Two small grain silos flanked a Philly food truck and in a small parking lot. Unexpectedly, walking into this place could only be described as a massive aircraft hanger. A dozen or so picnic tables lined the room, a full quarter arcade lines the side wall and a larger than life tap system could have a local drunk there for hours. I’m talking around 20 taps of their own beer.
It’s already been a long day, and we still had a few breweries left so we played it safe and got 1 round; but there was so much more to be had…
Punkless Dunkel, Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Chocolate Mudbank Milkstout (longest name ever), Blueberry gose and the Churchville Lager. The lager, not our favorite type of beer was our 3rd wheel Kaits pick (she likes to be included in things, so shhhhh, don’t tell her there were more interesting choices). The Blueberry Gose was certainly blueberry oriented, but didn’t really stand out in a sea of gose that is flooding the US. Melissa did really enjoy this beer, so she gave it slightly higher marks than I did. The Punkless Dunkel was of course their pumpkin beer. It is true with most pumpkin/yam style beers that spices are in the plenty, so much to the point some beers taste like one of those bastardized coffees from Starbucks… This was borderline bastard. I’ve had worse, and I’ve had better. If you haven’t already over-pumpkined this season, I would recommend this one if you need more pumpkin in your life. Standing tall at 10% abv, the Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Chocolate Mudbank Milkstout earned not only a 4.5 / 5.0 on Untappd, but my favorite drink of the night that could have been served on the rocks in a tumbler. Thats right, this was potent to the core and any more than a few oz’s of this precious liquid would drop an ox. But it sure as sh*t was enjoyable. This gets our must try seal of approval.
For the longest time I thought Neshaminy was either a macro, or a medium sized contract brewer with unorigional beers based on what I’ve had from them. Well it turns out that Neshaminy is just hiding the good stuff in the brewery and probably on local shelves. Food trucks, tons of seating, an arcade and a plethora of great beer makes Neshaminy a must stop 4.5 (how the f*ck do I pronounce their name anyway?) out of 5.
We traveled back into the dirty for our final three breweries of the night. Our next stop was at Third State Brewing in Burlington, NJ. Being back in Jersey meant the mandatory brewery tour learning experience. But these guys gave us a quick tour knowing we’ve learned the brewing process many times before and handed us cards saying our tours were good for a year! Good idea Third State! As we were trying to wind down the night and knew we had a lot of beer planned for the rest of the weekend we settled on a flight to split. I enjoyed the Pumpkin Pale while Andrew liked the Sooo Bigger 2x IPA but the clear winner of the night Chocolate Peanut Butter Soul which was made even better on nitro. Seriously delicious Reese’s cup tastes. Third State seemed like a chill local hangout and everyone was very friendly and excited to chat about beer.
Third State resides in a not so nice town, but it has a big heart for beer and entertaining owners. If you’re traveling around the Burlington area, and Reese’s cup is on tap you will be in for a treat if you decide to stop. Third State earns a solid 3.75 “Ok, so we had two flights here because the beer was really tasty and the company was great” out of 5.
We headed towards Cherry Hill and had two more quick stops before bed. Tonewood Brewing in Oaklyn, NJ was super loud and packed at 9pm on a Friday! Clearly the place to be! But wait we have a special announcement!
PSA: STOP BRINGING ALL OF YOUR LITTLE SH*TS TO A BREWERY. If you’re going out to a high-end brewery, I think you can afford a sitter for 2 hours. This is not a day care. They don’t even serve food here, or at your average brewery. And worst of all, if they’re running around, bumping into other customers, playing hide and seek between my legs with a beer in my hands, put a leash on them you rude sudo-adults.
Anyways. In order from average to great, we have the SIPA Session, Saison, Terminal DIPA and the Belgian Golden Strong. Now we’re always fans of a good SIPA and Saison, but these two beers we’re underwhelming to average at best. The DIPA on the other hand, was rather enjoyable. Kait and Mel don’t really have the pallet for a DIPA, so I got to enjoy this beautiful beer all by myself. And at last, the Belgian, an excellent example of a Belgian Strong might I add, had to be split 3 ways. This beer, I would say was the highlight of the brewery.
Tonewood of Oaklyn had some average beer, some good beer and one great beer. Had it not been so late and a little more child-free, this hipster paradise would have been a more pleasant stop. Tonewood earned itself a solid 3.5 out of 5.
Our last stop of the night was Devil’s Creek Brewery in Collingswood, NJ. Like Tonewood, this brewery was hopping on a Friday night. Which was surprising to us as the brewery was supposedly closing in about a half hour. But no worries. We grabbed a table and ordered our last flight of the night.
Of course my personal favorite was Pucker Up, a shandy. It was perfectly light and sour for closing out a summer night! The rest of the flight consisted of the 1888 Old Ale, Wits End Midnight Witbier, and Hip Hop Imperial IPA. Pucker Up was the only interesting beer from Devil’s Creek, as the rest were immediately forgettable.
Devil’s Creek had the perfect atmosphere. Low lighting, minimally loud music, and tables designed for conversation, not food. Had the beer been a little greater than average, we would have stayed until the last call. Devil’s Creek fell a few levels of hell short of our expectations and earned a meager 2.5 out of 5.
