Draught Diversions: Spellbound Brewing (Mount Holly, NJ)

Draught Diversions is the catchall label for mini-rants, think-pieces, and posts that don’t just focus on one beer here at The Tap Takeover. We hope you don’t grow too weary of the alcohol alliterative names we use…

Today, another brewery from the vibrant Mount Holly area is featured here at the Tap Takeover. Since opening in 2014, Spellbound Brewing has been crafting tasty, award-winning beer and attracting loyal customers and fans to their brewery and beer. The story may be familiar: homebrewing friends, in this case Mike Oliver, John Companick, and Scott Reading, made beer their friends liked so they figured they’d start a brewery. With the law change in 2012, opening a brewery, and making a hangout destination, became a viable option. They settled on the name Spellbound after whittling down a list of fifty names with the aim of something that would have appeal beyond the borders of New Jersey. Personally, I love the name, but I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction and played Dungeons and Dragons so the name appeals to me. Plus that logo is absolutely fantastic.

Spellbound Lineup (Courtesy of Spellbound’s Facebook)

The brewery is nestled in an industrial area, but it is far from ordinary. There’s a fancy black gate that opens to a path which leads to the brewery doors. Entering the brewery you’ll see the hand-written tap list on the far wall, a beautiful bar along the right side, some tables along the middle, and a refrigerator for some packaged beer to bring home. The heart of the brewery, of course, is the beer.

The Taplist on the day of our visit , November 17, 2018

The brewery has a focus on some core styles and beers: IPA, Porter, Porter aged on Palo Santo Wood (GABF Silver and Gold!), Cherry Belgian Tripel, Peach IPA, Major Nelson, and Pale Ale.

It was a gray day in November and Spellbound was the second brewery I visited on the day and out of the six breweries visited that day, their beers stood out the most. We also visited shortly after their 4th anniversary party, so there were some special beers still available. I had a couple of their beers about a year ago and I’ve been aware of Spellbound for a few years.

I’ve seen people who have checked into their beers on untappd (especially Mike K of NJ Craft Beer) rate them fairly highly or have good things to say about their beers. One of the people I managed about a year ago brought me some of their beer, he lived near the brewery and knows some of the guys who either work at the brewery or started it. One of the beers was Spellbound’s most popular beer, their IPA. At the time I was still on the fence for IPAs, but this one from Spellbound helped me turn the corner and since then, I’ve really embrace IPAs as a style to seek out.

The other beer is even more impressive and is an indicator of the type of quality beer Spellbound Brewing was producing early in their “career.” The beer – Porter aged on Palo Santo Wood – received the Gold Medal Gold Medal at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival in the “Wood Aged Category.” Not bad for a small brewery only about 3 years old. I liked the beer so much, it ranked #4 on my Favorite “New to Me” beers of 2017.

Those beers are available in New Jersey in stores and in a growing number of bars. But on to the beers I had during my visit to the brewery…

There were many beers to choose form on that day I visited, From the taplist (pictured at the top of this post) I selected the Peach IPA, Major Nelson Pale Ale, Cherry Belgian Tripel, and Living the Dream?! Bourbon Barrel Stout.

The Peach IPA was good, but I was expecting the peach to sweeten the finish more than it did. There was a nice hop profile, but the sweetness was less pronounced than I hoped it would be. This was the beer I liked the least of the flight. By no means a bad beer, but one always has to settle to the bottom.

I broke up the hop forward beers with the Cherry Belgian Tripel, which stood out as my favorite beer from Spellbound during the visit. The cherry compliments the Belgian-style yeast perfectly. I would be interested in trying Spellbound’s take on a straightforward Tripel without the cherry. I liked it so much I brought home a 4-pack.

I know it isn’t the proper glassware for a Tripel, but I usually default to the brewery;s glassware

The next beer, the Major Nelson Pale Ale was the most surprising beer from them that day and was really popping with wonderful citrusy hop flavor. Listed on untappd as a “Pale Ale – New Zealand,” I’ve come to really like the hops from New Zealand. This is a beer I’d have as a regular rotation beer. I finished off the flight with the biggest beer Living the Dream?! Bourbon Barrel Stout. This is a really nice barrel aged stout aged on Coffee and Maple.

Couldn’t pass up this beer since my father-in-law’s name is Nelson. Glad I didn’t because the beer is damned tasty.

Those were the beers I had while at the brewery on that day, but I suspect I’ll be enjoying more of their beer. Why? Over the past six months or so, I’ve been seeing Spellbound cans appearing on the shelves in stores around me. Mainly their three core beers, IPA, Pale Ale, and Porter. This is a good thing for NJ consumers because Spellbound’s beers are on point for the style they are trying to represent and above average compared to styles made by other breweries. That Palo Santo Porter, as I said, is an outstanding beer. Spellbound Brewing may not have the reputation that the heavy hitters of NJ brewing have (Kane, Carton, for example), but I haven’t really seen anybody in the online community say anything negative about the quality of the beer.

I’ve written about the community element relative to independent/local/craft breweries and that sense of community is evident with Spellbound Brewing. Most recently, as a result of Spellbound’s 4th Annual Century Bicycle Ride, the brewery was able to raise $33,000 (bringing the four year total raised by the Bicycle ride to $70K) to donate to Mounty Holly Township. They’ve partnered with fellow Mount Holly brewery Village Idiot for an annual holiday Toy Drive, too. They often have Food Trucks in the parking lot and have had book signings for local authors.

Would I recommend visiting Spellbound Brewing? Without hesitation. A comfortable taproom, beers that are well above average, and beers you can enjoy on premises or take home make for an ideal brewery visit…especially if there are some food trucks in the parking lot. Whether you want to spend a couple of hours at the brewery or make Spellbound part of a brewery tour (as I did) given the quantity of breweries in the immediate region, Mount Holly and Spellbound Brewing should be a destination for folks looking for quality beer in NJ.