United Nations of Beer

River Horse Brewery

by Andrew Schanel
(Beer Delegate, NJ, USA)

River Horse Brewery
Lambertville, NJ, USA

river horse noun: massive thick-skinned herbivorous animal living in or around rivers of tropical Africa syn: hippopotamus, hippo, Hippopotamus amphibius

Kind of a strange name for a brewery in NJ, right?

Agreed. No less strange is their use of capital and small case letters (and sometimes numbers) in the same word:

LAGeR
HOP hAZARD PALE ALE
SPECIAL aLE ESB
SUMMER bLONDE ALE
BELGIAN fREEZE
TRiP3L hORSE

Despite the weirdness here, the actual product is far from strange. River Horse has been brewing here since 1996 and does it quite well, I assure you.

Located on the banks of the Delaware River in Lambertville, River Horse Brewery is not as big as I had imagined it would be with distribution from Massachusetts to Maryland. The operation inside the compact two-storey brick building looks very humble and efficient.

Upon entering the brewery there is a small gift shop and a tasting bar with four samples on tap. You can sample beer here seven days a week, from 12-5 pm. Here are my thoughts on the samples offered (links to my reviews):

River Horse Hop Hazard Pale Ale

River Horse ESB

River Horse Belgian Freeze Ale

River Horse Tripel Horse Belgian Tripel

The River Horse Brewery Lager and the Blonde Ale were not available when I visited.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend visiting the River Horse Brewery in Lambertville, NJ. Have a full round of the samples (it was only $1 for all four beers) and take a walk into the brewery afterwards.

There is no real tour, as it is self-guided. I was impressed with the operation as a whole. If you can’t make it, order a six pack from your local beer store!