Hi. I am traveling to Flemington for one day this week and was wondering if there are any good craft beer bars/restaurants and/or bottle shops? I am staying at the Hampton Inn (on Royal Road) with no personal transportation, so anything close to that location would be perfect! Thanks in advance.
I think your best bet would be to check beermenus.com and put flemington in. I've been there but I don't remember the name of the bottle shop I went to or if it's near your hotel. There's also a brewery there (Conclave) but I think they're only open on weekends. Sorry!
I second that. Moved from the area a few years back, but whenever I visit friends, I visit this store too! The Hampton Inn runs off Church, it's definitely a do-able walk.
Great place to go but what your prices sometimes they are spot on other times they are super high. Got a BCBW and a Regal Rye from them and it came to over $60. There is also Central Wine Merchants in town sister store to Little Brothers. But they also have a lot of things the other store doesn't.
Little Brothers does have a good selection and is about a 10 minute walk from the Hampton Inn. Note that most of Little Bros craft selection is warm if you intend to drink some same day. Bourbon Street on Rt 31N (too far to walk) also has a good craft selection and much of it is refrigerated.
If you're willing to drive/uber your best bet for bars and restaurant is Tapastre in Somerville. Amazing food and a consistently good craft beer selection including flights.
Awesome place but it's a bit of a drive from Flemington, especially with all the GD lights in between.
I used to go to Central Wine Merchants regularly, but stopped going several years ago because I was seeing a lot of badly out of date beers on the shelves. Are they any better at inventory control now?
Concur about Little Brothers, especially on the pricing. Just be wary. Bourbon Street on 31 North is also a solid place as @bdelucie mentioned. It's been a long time since I've been there, but is Jake's still around in Flemington?
Little Bros is terrible and price gouge, Conclave Brewing just opened and make solid beers. Probably can't get anywhere good without driving, it's New Jersey.
Know the OP said he had no car, but The Ship Inn (who gets little attention here for some unknown reason) is nearby.
I like Ship Inn but it gets ignored here because they do exclusively British style ales, which are under-appreciated by most beer geeks. Also, most people would have to make a significant detour to get there, because it's between all of the major roads in that area. Not every brew pub has to be crawling with beer geeks though and Ship Inn has been in business for a long time (they claim to be NJ's first brewpub), so something must be working for them.
I know they've been around for a while, I started going there when they first started brewing- but I'm not a beer geek. I don't think the bias against English Style beers is so strong here that a place that brewed good ones would get ignored. And you right, it is out there and that is probably a major reason, but it is worth the trip. I always liked the food as well.
