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A Visit to Village Idiot and Spellbound Breweries

One of the most interesting things about today's beer world is the different ways that brewery owners choose to run their brewery.  You can open a brewpub or have a production brewery.  In your production brewery you can have a small tasting bar, a larger bar where you can serve flights and pints, or you can not let any patrons in the brewery at all!  The size of your brewery also makes a huge difference in your business plan. Two breweries in Mt. Holly, NJ, Spellbound Brewing and Village Idiot Brewing, really showcase many of these differences.

 Both Village Idiot and Spellbound Brewing Companies have been open for a short time, and with quite different business plans.  First, the things they have in common.  1)  Both in Mt. Holly 2) Both production breweries (not a brewpub, so they don't serve food)

Village Idiot Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Welcome to Village Idiot Brewing
Village Idiot Brewing opened up on High Street in downtown Mt. Holly, NJ in December of 2013.  Owners and brewers Rich and Vince decided to open small, brewing their beers in 1.5 barrel batches (equivalent to a little more than 47 gallons of beer).  That's a relatively small number compared to lots of other breweries, but it is still almost ten times more than most homebrewers brew in a single batch (most homebrewers start and brew with 5 gallon batches).

Village Idiot Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
The bar welcomes you at Village Idiot

Village Idiot's small size means they have to brew quite often to keep the taps flowing.  That also means they're able to offer a variety of different beers, which increases the chances of a new beer being on tap every time you stop in for a drink.

Village Idiot Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Price Board at Village Idiot

While we were there Rich and Vince had seven beers on tap, including Teddy Hopper Double IPA, Oatmeal Chocolate Stout, Infinite IPA, Walter White wit and Bridgetown Blonde Ale.  I love how they let you get 1/2 pints.  They're more than you get in a flight glass or taster, so its enough to really get a good feel for what the beer offers.  Want to eat some food while enjoying Village Idiot beer?  Bring your own from any of the Mt. Holly take-out restaurants, or fill some beer in a growler or Crowler to take home!

Village Idiot Brewing
42 High Street, Mt. Holly, NJ


Spellbound Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Welcome to Spellbund Brewing
Spellbound Brewing opened in an industrial park on Lippincott Lane in Mt. Holly, NJ in September/October 2014.  Right off the bat Spellbound owners Mike, John and Scott decided to brew on a 20-bbl brewhouse. That is roughly 630 gallons per batch.  

Spellbound Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Spellbound Tap Room
Even with such large batches, they are able to keep a nice variety of different beers ready to drink in their tap room.  While all the beers were good, my favorites were the Palo Santo Porter, NJCB Collabortion Triple and the Peach 2XIPA.  Since Spellbound doesn't serve food, they let you bring in food from local Mt. Holly businesses!

Spellbound Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Beers on tap at Spellbound
Spellbound also has their own canning line which they currently use to package their stellar IPA.  You can pick up six-packs of their IPA in the taproom, or at some liquor stores in Burlington, Mercer, Hunterdon, Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

Spellbound Brewing, New Jersey, Craft Beer
Spellbound IPA cans getting ready to be filled
Spellbound Brewing
10 Lippincott Lane, Suite 12, Mt. Holly, NJ
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Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 11, 2015 at 8:15 PM

    Sounds like two nice breweries. I might have to make a run to Mount Holly in the future!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJune 11, 2015 at 8:45 PM

      That area of NJ is growing breweries like wildfire. Third State Brewing is also now open in nearby Burlington, and not too far in Cherry Hill you can find Flying Fish and Forgotten Boardwalk. Its a good time to be a fan of NJ beer.

      Thanks for reading, Ed!

      Delete
  2. UnknownJune 13, 2015 at 12:18 PM

    Nice read Ryan! Looking forward to visiting these spots ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJune 13, 2015 at 2:08 PM

      Thanks for reading, Paul! They're definitely worth the trip!

      Delete
  3. UnknownJune 25, 2015 at 2:28 PM

    I want to visit Spellbound soon, I hope we start to get some of their cans up here in North Jersey soon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJune 25, 2015 at 4:03 PM

      It is definitely worth the visit. I know their current distributor only services the counties around Burlington, but yea, hopefully they can sign on with another one and expand their NJ distribution.

      Delete

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