This time we decided to try one of the big boys. River Horse Brewing started out in Lambertville and now is in a space in Ewing that could fit several of the craft breweries we have biked to.
No sours, no fruity beers in stock for me. So did we miss our best chance for weird beer by not trying Feast Mode, with praline and pecan notes? Or the bottle of witbier aged in a bourbon barrel?
I thought the note that came with confirmation of our sit-down order (oatmeal milk stout) was pretty weird:
You’re supposed to reserve your indoor seating table at least two hours in advance. I couldn’t find the link, but when we walked in, we were able to get a table (just had to sign in because contact tracing). Or you can buy to go. (Yeah, figuring out how to carry home a six-pack…)
Loved the bike racks (next to the outdoor seating area when the weather is better), the 70s and 80s classic rock that played in the warehouse/indoor seating area (so I actually knew some of the lyrics).
Thumbs up for the bike ride, too. We relied on the amazing combination of the D&R Canal and the Lawrence Hopewell Trail for about half of it, then were mostly on roads that were either quiet or had a shoulder for the rest of it. (The Washington Road roundabout at Route 1 looks scarier than it is; everyone is stopped for the light and going slowly. You’ll be fine.)
The brewery is much closer than I thought it was — just over 13 miles from the Princeton Junction train station and less than half an hour from where the Lawrence Hopewell Trail crosses Lewisville Road in Lawrence.
It’s also a much easier ride than I expected, given the trails. The worse of it was probably the mile on Federal City Road because there really isn’t a shoulder, though I found it OK. Looking at the map again, you could avoid much of that by making the left onto Bunker Hill Road soon after the interstate crossing and paralleling Federal City Road on Nancy Lane. Of course, we’d have missed seeing Santa and his fire department escort if we had done that.
We’d have even more trail if a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over I-295 is ever built to connect the two halves of the Johnson Trolley Line Trail. But that’s a huge ask from area advocates, one that will need many stars to align.
This is the end of the Johnson Trolley Line from Denow Road, parallel to I-295:
Here’s the Ride With GPS link to the route. Once you turn on Ewingville Road/Upper Ferry Road, stay on it until Graphics Drive (ignore any suggestion to turn left.. thanks, Ride With GPS).
I wonder how we’d do trying to come from the Delaware River and needing to get around the airport…
More beer rides:
Because you want to bike to a farm brewery for ‘weird beer’
A ride to even weirder beer in New Jersey
A milkshake latte IPA? Another bike ride to yet more ‘weird beer’
Weird beer part 4: This one tastes like barbecue
Exploring by bicycle 
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