Heading to Princeton for business for a couple days in May. Staying at the Hampton. Any local insight as to where to eat with a good craft beer selection? BA lists Triumph Brewery... that any good? What about package stores in the area? I'm not very familiar with the NJ/Mid-Atlantic craft beer scene, what brewers and beers should I look out for in the stores (I'm into hoppier beers: pale ales, IPAs, etc.)?
Triumph is good, 5 beers on regular tap, 1 nitro tap, and 1 cask, they offer a sampler so you can try everything. They offer growlers and a handful of bottles to go. The food is amazingly good, menu changes often so the only thing I can recommend is the burger. As far as liquor stores go, there is a Joe Canals and a Wegmans with a liquor store on Route 1 nearby, those are the only places I'm terribly familiar with. Also, not too far from there in Ewing is Riverhorse. I've never been there but it might be worth looking into.
Triumph has really good food as said above. A newer place that opened up on Rt.1 (about 10 minutes from your hotel) is the Brick House Tavern. They had local breweries such as Kane, Carton and River Horse on tap at very reasonable prices and the sandwich I had there was pretty good. A little bit further of a drive is Uno's in Hamilton, NJ which a very good selection. If you are ok with traveling a little bit further, Vault Brewing in Yardley, PA is roughly 20 minutes from where you're staying (a little longer during rush hour). It's an old bank that is now a brew pub that has really good food and their hoppy beers are decent. You might be able to find some cans of Carton at the Joe Canal's on Rt. 1 and they might have some good stuff on tap for growler fills.
Getting growlers filled at a package store is something I'm not familiar with. Do the beers they have on tap stay fresh? Do I have to buy one of their growlers or can I bring some of mine from home?
They tend to have a lot of turn over from what I've seen (I go there maybe once a week or so). You can bring your own and they do 32oz and 64oz fills. Below is their beermenus page (if I can link to it, if not go to BeerMenus and look up Joe Canal's Lawrenceville, NJ). https://www.beermenus.com/places/2250-joe-canal-s-lawrenceville
A couple places in the Princeton area to eat and visit Winberies Yankee Doodle Taproom Alchemist and Barrister Triumph 15 minutes away from Princeton is the Rocky Hill Inn which I highly recommend if you can get there. Stores: Canals in Lawrenceville on 1 Wegmans off of 1
@Axic10 has it pretty well covered. And even though Uno's is a chain, the beer program at the Hamilton Location is really very good.
The UNO's on US 1 in Edison (bordering Fords/Woodbridge) is also a brewery. I haven't visited there in a while and the pizza is certainly questionable, but they were making some pretty good beers there last time I visited. There's also a JOE CANAL'S store about a half mile north of there on the same road.
I would go to Triumph. Awesome food, good beer and cool place. It's right across from the campus, which is cool to walk around, the town around it is nice, you might also drink a few at Yankee Doodle Tap room right in the square. Cool vines is a liquor store right by all this. You can get some good craft beer there.
Honestly, i would skip Triumph. I love supporting local but their selection isn't that exciting. If you do go, don't get the BA Imp Stout, its a waste of money and is a watery mess. I live 15min from Princeton and id rather drive to Vault or Harvestmoon. The food at Triumph can be decent but Princeton offers so much with great places like Winnberries and Alchemist & Barrister. I would check out Winberries for happy hour as the craft normally is a bit over priced but they have the best selection in town. Also in Princeton is the Public on Witherspoon, they have tons of Lost Abbey's rarer stuff on the shelves. On Rt1 the Joe Cannal is a must as they frequently carry Carton cans. Other places to check out are as mentioned: Uno in Hamilton is surprisingly awesome as is Tavern on the Lake in Hightstown, both about 15-20min. Blend Bar isn't far from Uno either. An important note, before you come down here, check on Hunterdons website what beers are being released that week so you'll know what to keep an eye out for thats fresh.
I agree on skipping triumph. I live in Princeton and rarely go. The food is overpriced for what it is, and the beer tastes like a decent home brewer made it not a big brewpub. Winberries and Alchemist & Barrister have good selections, but Winberries is pricey. Worth it though!
Echo the previous posters and would skip Triumph. Take that time and head to Rocky Hill Inn or Alchemist and Barrister or both. Better food, better price and better beer. Really hoping Iron Hill opens a location in the Princeton area. That may make Triumph up their game.
Just wanted to give a 'thank you' shout-out to everyone who contributed to this thread. I did not have nearly as much free time as I had hoped, so I was unable to check out Joe Canals or any other liquor stores. I did, however, take your guys' advice and I skipped out on Triumph and instead went for dinner to Winberie's. The food was good and the bartenders were great. I downed several pints of Kane's Head High which was a terrific beer. I thought their prices were on the very high side, as each pint cost me $9.50, but since the company paid for the first two and I only paid out of pocket for the last one, I didn't mind so much.
Hey all, My cousin is getting married in 9 days and the ceremony is in New Jersey. Since I am from Pittsburgh I would love to try some of NJ's finest beers that don't get distributed over here. I would definitely love to try Kane Brewing as I have heard good things but also any other suggestions would be a great help too. If anyone knows of any bottle shops in or around the Princeton area where I could find some awesome craft brews that would be wonderful. Thanks in advance.
Bring a couple growlers with you and head to Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville (3375 Route 1 South, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648). They have a decent bottle selection and do growler fills. They have Kane and Carton most of time so you might be able to do all your shopping there instead of travelling to the brewery if you don't have the time.
