Brewery Thirty-Three is a new brewery opening in Riverton NJ directly at the town’s River LINE light rail station. They hope to be open in early fall, likely sometime in October.
I stopped in last Monday and got a tour of the beautiful new brewery from owner and Brew Master Tom Cimino, who with his wife Lisa own and developed the brewery. The couple are locals, living in Cherry Hill.
Tom previously was an Assistant Brewer at Zed’s in Marlton, and he and Lisa are both eager to open Brewery Thirty-Three up for the local community, as well as beer drink lovers from afar!
Honestly brewery Thirty-Three is exactly what small towns are looking for when they approve breweries to be developed.
South Jersey residents Tom and Lisa took an unused maintenance facility building and turned it into what is clearly going to be a true destination brewery…located not only in the center of the small downtown area, but immediately at the Riverton light rail River LINE station!
Absolutely beer lovers will be jumping on the River LINE from other towns to get the experience of riding the train (I’ve never been on it!), and then stopping at the brewery. You could make it a small brewery/bar train crawl as they stop at other bars and breweries along the way such as Burlington City’s Third State Brewing.
And of course you can drive (or take Uber) as there is plenty of parking.
While beer brewing has not started yet, Tom plans on a “something for everyone” approach to the beer selection. When I return for the opening I’ll have a lot more to say about the beers!
The last remaining big item before they can start making beer, is receiving their final approved New Jersey brewery license. Brewery Thirty-Three is in “waiting mode”.
Brewery Thirty-Three – A Riverton Revitalization
Brewery Thirty-Three is located at 601 Lippincott Ave. in Riverton NJ.
Today Brewery Thirty-Three is a wonderfully designed brewery with one of the most perfect layouts I’ve seen for a brewery of its size.
The tasting room offers a bar with seating for 12 as well as tables and windowed garage doors leading to an outdoor area.
The brewery room space is immediately adjacent to the tasting room on the right, and offers a large glass window to connect the two spaces.
When you visit the brewery you’ll believe that everything is all new construction. Every surface is new. This is not a simple “slap a coat of paint on the interior concrete cinderblock” remodeling!
But things were much different with the property just a few years ago.
The building has been around since 1970, and for 50 years operated as a contractor/maintenance facility. Five large garage door bays allowed construction and maintenance teams to store materials at the building, and utilize the large garage doors to load and unload materials from their trucks.
Looking at Google Street maps photos from 2013 I wouldn’t go as far to say the space was an eyesore, but it’s use as a truck/maintenance facility definitely wasn’t the best use for its residential neighborhood location.. as well as being so close to an economic drivers such as the River Line and the small downtown district.
Before the rebuild the entire property was surrounded by a chain link fence which was overgrown with ivy, and the building’s upkeep (what could be seen of it) was definitely inline with a 50 year old maintenance building.
Things absolutely have changed for the prime Riverton property.
Today Brewery Thirty-Three is a beautiful rebuild, and when opened it will clearly become a highlight in the neighborhood and the town. A destination which can drive growth in the area’s other businesses.
Revitalization may not be a strong enough word for what Tom and Lisa have achieved, as Brewery Thirty-Three really is an full brand new construction, smartly designed to best utilize the building and property.
The full property is almost one acre in size and the brewery building itself is 4,000 square feet in a single story. The building sits at the back of the property facing out towards the light rail station and Riverton downtown.
This leaves plenty of space for a dedicated parking area as well as a fenced-in outdoor seating area.
The exterior of the building is fully complete with fresh painting, signage, outdoor lighting… it looks like a brand new building.
Inside, the brewery offers a large beer brewing area, and an even larger tasting room with bars and tables supporting 48 seats.
The openings from the original five garage doors have been utilized smartly within the new brewery to create windowed areas for natural light, access to the outdoor customer area via windowed garage doors, as well as a brewery room garage door to allow delivery of bulk ingredients directly into the brewery space.
With the frames of the former bay doors evenly spaced, it’s easy to describe the areas of the tasting room and brewery areas;
- Brewery Room (40%): the area represented by the two rightmost bays is the brewery room, fully outfitted with sophisticated Alpha Operations Brewing equipment and a cold room.
- Tasting Room (60%): the area represented by the three bays on the left is the tasting room and bar (along the front), with office space and storage in the back. There is also a side door on the left which opens up to a small outdoor lounge area.
The bar of the tasting room seats 12 people and is positioned to the right side next to the brewery room space… This is basically the center of the building.
A very large window connects the tasting room and the brewery area, and the smart placement of brewery equipment away from a window gives a clear view to everything that’s happening on either side of the glass.
The bar area has a brick facade along the back wall with three television screens (at least one of them functioning as a beer menu), and 12 taps.
The bar features a nicely built wood top with a diamond steel play bar front façade.
In front of the bar and also close to the brewery area are several tables.
On the left portion of the tasting room are additional tables and the two glass garage doors which open up to the outdoor tasting room area.
Continuing the smart design decisions the Cimino’s we’re able to allocate a somewhat large outdoor area which today has several tables with umbrellas. Future plans include cornhole, and Tom has several ideas for the space in the future.
Brewery Thirty-Three : Locally Owned, Brewery Experienced
Owners Tom and Lisa are new small business owners and live in nearby Cherry Hill, NJ.
While almost every small new brewery story I write starts with at least one of the owners beginning as a home brewer, Tom took his experience much further by becoming an assistant brewer for several years at Zed’s Beer in Marlton where he was part of the brewing team that created award winning beers for Zed’s.
His real world experience in the New Jersey brewery business can be seen in the design of Brewery Thirty-Three, and his choice of brewery systems.
Before his brewing career, Tom served as a firefighter and EMT-Paramedic in area communities such as Cinnaminson (where Tom grew up), Mount Laurel and Camden NJ. Tom is retired now from Emergency Services and has made brewing beer and the new Brewery Thirty-Three his new fulltime career.
The name Brewery Thirty-Three really comes down to being Tom’s “Lucky Number”, as it was his jersey number as a kid in soccer, his hockey jersey number as a young adult, and then his badge number in the fire department!
Tom credits his wife Lisa with introducing him to the broader varieties of beers. 25 years ago on their first date he was guzzling a generic “light” beer, while Lisa was sipping a dry stout!
Today Lisa is also a huge part of Brewery Thirty-Three where she will use her education and Corporate management skills to be an essential asset to the taproom operations and customer service.
Lisa will still maintain her Corporate career but is excited to be a big part of the Brewery Thirty-Three customer experience… with a goal to meet every single person who visits the brewery!
Brewery Thirty-Three : Opening When?
From what I could see in my visit last week, Brewery Thirty-Three is ready to go!
But the last key piece of the puzzle ahead of opening the doors is receiving the final brewery license from the State of New Jersey. So the Fall/October opening date is really Tom offering his best guesstimate on when he thinks he’ll receive the Final State approval.
And then of course Tom has to start brewing beer! While the 10bbl Alpha Brewing Operations system is fully in place, not much can really be done with it at this point. Tom can’t even make test batches.
But once it’s all approved, getting delicious beer brewed shouldn’t be a problem for Tom, who spent several years as an assistant brewer at Zed’s Brewing literally learning the craft… the craft of craft beer brewing. Tom is ready to immediately get “hopping” on producing an amazing variety of beers, and getting the doors open for customers.
Links and Location
Brewery Thirty-Three (Opening Soon)
601 Lippincott Avenue
Riverton NJ 08077