A few weekends ago, my aunt and uncle from Indiana were in New Jersey visiting my parents so my sister and I journeyed home as well. The best part about heading home is of course the proximity to the beach. Unfortunately, this particular weekend only gave us a few hours of sunshine.

On a normal rainy day, we may have just stayed in the house, watching episodes of “Hey Dude” and playing Trivial Pursuit from 1981. But since we had guests, we tried to venture out a little bit. We went to some antique shops, my dad and Uncle T went to the airport museum, Aunt J & Uncle T climbed the Cape May Lighthouse, and we went over to Cape May Brewery to see what they were all about.

I came across Cape May Brewery (aka Cape May Brewing Company) while I was looking into Cape May Winery, another potential rainy day activity. I’m not the biggest *wino*, but I am a pretty decent *whiner* so everyone agreed when I suggested the brewery over the winery. What most interested me aside from the beer itself was the idea of a brewery tour at 3 pm.

Had I known the brewery tour was only a few minutes long, I wouldn’t have pushed my family to make it there so quickly, but it was worthwhile. I still don’t really understand how beer is made but I did find it interesting that most of the ingredients are locally sourced and once the brewery is finished with the grains they use, the grains are fed to animals at local farms. This made me wonder if the animals could get drunk from this, but I’m sure everyone involved knows what they’re doing.

It sounds to me like Cape May Brewery is growing quickly. They make over 30 varieties a year and the brews can be found in stores, bars, and restaurants all over South Jersey. I envision them expanding the bar area and hope they put in some biergarten-style long picnic tables. The brewery was pretty packed with others who had the same idea on a rainy Saturday, so instead of staying for a few, we purchased two growlers for our dinner that night. I was part of the sampling team and we decided on Devil’s Reach and The Bog.

The descriptions from Cape May Brewery’s website:

A growler is only $20 and can be refilled for $10. Everyone enjoyed the beer, but I think my sister and I may have accidentally enjoyed more than everyone else. I’m hoping that every time we are home, my parents have made the trip to CMBC to fill these puppies up. I promise next time I won’t leave my mug of Devil’s Reach on the floor for my dad to trip over and spill and that it won’t leave another mark on the couch that my sister and I attempt to hide from my mom.

xx