Best breweries in NJ, according to TripAdvisor

From what I’m reading, craft brew began crossing over from the at-home hobbyist to the fringe of mainstream for-profit in the late 1980s to early 1990s. By now, it’s no longer fringe but very mainstream.

That timeline tracks because I remember an old friend in about 1987 inviting me over to his house to help him make beer at home in his kitchen from some kit he found. Let’s just say it didn’t go well. I remember feeling sick the next day. Maybe we missed a step.

There are now so many breweries dotting the New Jersey landscape that the competition is fierce. The flavors can be limited only by one’s lack of imagination. These often come with insanely cool, weird names. A place that used to be in Middlesex had ones like Monkey Breath Banana Bread, Mop Water Spiced Ale, and Bringing Sexy Bock.

There are so many to choose from that maybe some people need a little direction of where to go. Others who are hardcore beer nerds and have been to almost all New Jersey has to offer might wonder if their choice for number one best would match up with someone else’s.

Either way, below is a ranking of the Top 30 best breweries the Garden State has to offer. This was compiled by Stacker and achieved using Tripadvisor data. They used a combination of metrics, including overall rating, reviews, and number of page views. Because of this combination, a business with a 5 out of 5 overall rating might rank lower than one with a 4 out of 5. The data used was as of June 6, 2024.

Full disclosure: I’ve only been to #9. However, I’ve heard great things about many others on this list. And just a warning, #1 might be a bit of a drive.