River Horse Brewing announces Ewing tasting room closing

I have been going to River Horse Brewing Company's tasting room in Ewing for years. Flights on a Friday afternoon with our former chief engineer, Frank. Events with Frank and other friends. More than a few bottles carried home for later. It sits right down the street from New Jersey 101.5, close enough that it has become part of the rhythm of working here.

So when I saw their announcement earlier today, it hit harder than I expected.

What's actually happening

River Horse, along with sister brands DuClaw and 1947, announced that beginning in January 2027, production will move to a Mid-Atlantic brewery outside New Jersey. The company was direct about why — their current lease at the Ewing facility expires at the end of this year, and renewing it turned out to be cost-prohibitive. This is not a merger or an acquisition by either party, the announcement makes clear — the two breweries will share the new production facility through what is called an Alternating Proprietorship Agreement, each brewing under its own name at the same site.

The beer itself is not disappearing. River Horse says it will continue distributing to local retailers and bars just as it always has. What is ending is the Ewing tasting room and the events built around it, and that is the part that actually stings for those of us who have spent real time there. The Tasting Room and Events will stay open through Thanksgiving, and the company is inviting the community to come by and share one more beer before that window closes.

What I'll miss

My go-to has always been the Hippotizing IPA, a genuinely well-built American IPA that never let me down. My wife is partial to the Tripel Horse, their strong Belgian-style tripel, and the Summer Blonde Ale might be the single best light summer beer I have found anywhere in this state. Those are not just beers to me. They are attached to specific Friday afternoons, specific friends and specific years.

I am far from alone in feeling this. The reaction online has been immediate and heartfelt. One longtime regular called it a real loss for Ewing, noting how expensive it has gotten to keep a business like this running here. Another commenter, more pointed about it, put the blame squarely on rising commercial lease costs, writing that greedy landlords will be the death of small businesses across this state. Others recalled trivia nights, bingo, Girl Scout cookie pairings and just called River Horse one of the best assets Mercer County has had.

That lease-cost detail is not a small aside. I have spent a lot of this year writing about New Jersey's affordability problem from different angles — corporate departures, property taxes and families weighing whether to stay. This is that same story, just wearing a different label. A business that built real community roots in Ewing for over a decade is leaving not because the beer stopped selling, but because the math on staying here stopped working.

One more visit before Thanksgiving

River Horse has been part of New Jersey's craft beer story since 1996, one of the state's oldest and largest craft breweries, and this Ewing location has been home since 2013. That is a long run, and it deserves more than a quiet ending.

If you have your own memories of that tasting room — your own favorite pour, your own trivia night or your own quiet Friday afternoon there — this is the year to go back one more time. Thanksgiving is not that far off.