Guess which is my beer: the pint of Mr. Pig Pils or the 5-ounce blueberry one?
No surprise that I went for 1) the fruit one and 2) the small size.
This was a bike ride to Needle Creek Farm Brewery in Pennington, which only opened earlier this year. Consider it a mid-ride reward for tackling just a few of the hills in the Sourland Mountains.
First, wow, what a barn! It’s a restored 300-year-old dairy barn that rivals Flounder Brewing’s restored barn in Hillsborough. (Here’s that ride.)
The farm-to-glass vibe and the outdoor seating reminds me of Screamin’ Hill in Cream Ridge (that ride here), though this one is much more kid-friendly with a play area with a farm feel. Kids tromp on hay bales, the slide is attached to a round bale, and there’s a “sandbox” filled with dried kernels of corn. And if you want to see pigs and cows….
There’s about 15 picnic tables outside plus seating inside the barn. And this being New Jersey, breweries can’t sell food beyond a packaged snack. A food truck focused on hot dogs was there during our visit, but we also saw a family unpacking a vast picnic. Bring your own is definitely allowed.
So chill.
The beers on tap may not have the range and “weird” beers of either Flounder or Screamin’ Hill, but you’ll find plenty of options, not necessarily listed on the website (that would be our two). So maybe there sometimes is “weird” beer (meant in the nicest way)? The IPA guy called the pilsner crisp and refreshing. Me, I like the less beery beers. Berry beer is good.
This seems to be a place that likes Springsteen. That’s most of what we heard while sipping our beers outside. As we left, the band was just getting started with a Stray Cats number.
The ride
You can find a way to the brewery that’s as hard or as easy as you like. Our route took us through Princeton and Hopewell. We could have gone further north and had more climbing before heading here.
For those who want something easier, it’s only just over a mile from where the Lawrence Hopewell Trail and the Watershed Institute meet, if you’re willing to ride on a road with no shoulder (but pretty quiet). (Here’s my version of the LHT loop.)
The historical ingredients
The brewery is on John Hart Farms. John Hart was a signer of the Declaration of Independence who hid out in the Sourlands as George Washington retreated through New Jersey in 1776 (ahead of the Battle of Trenton) and fed Washington’s troops on the way to the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. We passed his grave while biking through Hopewell. His great-great-great-great grandson owns the fam today and grows the barley that ends up in Needle Creek beer.
If you want to see where John Hart hid out, or at least the marker for the cave, keep going up Province Line Road and right onto Hopewell Amwell Road, which becomes Lindbergh. Be warned: this is a big huff-and-puff climb.
Province Line Road, btw, was the line between East and West Jersey in colonial times. Now we just argue about where the imaginary lines for North, Central and South Jersey are.
Want to raise another glass to the Revolution? Princeton of course is the capstone of the “10 crucial days” that saved our fight for independence. As we biked home through Princeton, we passed the cemetery where Aaron Burr is buried. (For more on that and the Battle of Princeton: A weekend bike tour around Princeton NJ: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.)
Exploring by bicycle 