The Lost Elephant Brewing Company is now open in Elmer New Jersey, in a quaint converted barn which retains much of its early years rustic charm!
Owners Tom and Marghi have done an awesome job building out the brewery space with a small bar in the left segment and on the right, table seating and the brewery area.
There is also an outdoor lawn section immediately outside of the right-side table seating area.
Besides the really awesome rustic charm of the building, it has a glass garage door at the front of the bar section which the owners Marghi and Tom open up to the outside when the weather is beautiful.
The brewery name is inspired by the Elephant Swamp Trail, which earned its name from a lost elephant 150 years ago! From the New Jersey Audubon Website:
In the 1880s an escaped circus elephant disappeared into the swamp from a train and gave the site its name.
New Jersey Audubon Society Website
Lost Elephant aptly calls themselves a “nanobrewery”. The Lost Elephant is one of the smaller breweries I’ve visited in South Jersey and in keeping with that theme they have very focused hours.
Their current full hours are Friday evenings 5pm-9pm and Saturday from noon to 6pm. They are not open on Sundays or any other days. Just those two days!
There is no onsite parking but there is public parking in the area.
I know 42Freeway fans love visiting new places, and before everyone drives down at the same time immediately to check this new brewery out.. well I just want you to understand!
And if you’re taking the ride down consider also taking the extra 10 mile drive to visit the also new Farmers and Bankers Brewing which opened last June.
It’ll make for a nice way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Oh and New Jersey’s only DG Market is located around the corner from Lost Elephant but, also check out New Dodges Market!
Lost Elephant Brewery
Lost Elephant actually opened on Saint Patrick’s Day in a surprise post on Facebook “We decided that it’s time to get this thing going…”
I found myself visiting the very next day and enjoyed a delicious Bostwick’s Blonde Ale, and some great conversations chatting with the owners and locals.
As you can see it’s been over a month since I first visited and I’m just getting an article online now!
In a very true “soft opening” fashion, for several weeks the owners had not settled on an official locked–in set of operating hours.
As they were figuring out production levels and how much beer they could produce, while still managing their normal daily lives… over the last month they would announce random days and weekends that they would be open.
These moments are big and it’s important to us to celebrate and thank the friends and family that have believed in this dream and have been so instrumental in this coming to fruition. After today, we will be hosting a few friends and family soft openings before our official opening.
Marghi and Tom; Lost Elephant Brewing Company (Facebook)
Recently they celebrated their official grand opening with the Salem County Chamber of Commerce on hands … and locked in their official operating hours.
The idea for the brewery started over two years ago and on April 1st the owners called out it was two years ago that day when they had their first Zoom call with Elmer Borough Council to talk to them about an idea for opening a brewery in town.
To make this happen owners Tom and Margie had to ask the town to change the ordinances, to even allow breweries to operate within Elmer.
The building itself was originally developed as a barn but for many decades it has had a variety of uses including a butcher shop, a pizza dough making building, and even a retail store selling televisions.
A few years ago a local contractor and real estate investor purchased the barn and brought it back to its full rustic charm
To get the property fully ready, a building in front of the barn was removed, opening the property up to North Main Street.
The overhead tracks from one of it’s prior lives as a butcher shop still remain overhead, and numerous rustic details were added including corrugated steel walls which uses the variations of natural rust and weathered steel to create an inviting yet contrasting look to the barn’s wood structure.
Lost Elephant Brewing Company – Beers
I say this all the time, I enjoy drinking beer and it is my go to beverage… but I am far, far from being a beer reviewer. I’m not even going to pretend.
I mentioned their extended soft opening phase and in fact that very first weekend I visited, they were offering only two varieties of beer.
I tried both the Quinn Irish Red Ale and Bostwick’s Blonde Ale.
While I enjoy all varieties of beer I lean towards lighter beers, so these two were perfect options for me. Both offered delicious flavors that could easily be a tasty daily drinker.
The Bostwick’s Blonde Ale is a light beer that starts with grains from Rabbit Hill Farms in Shiloh NJ. Lost Elephant describes it as “Light, crisp, mildly sweet blonde that is mega drinkable”
The Quinn Irish Red Ale also uses Rabbit Hill Farms Grains and is a very traditional Irish Red Ale featuring roasted barley and a touch of rye.
We had high hopes that days like this would happen. Days when strangers would become friends, when laughter would fill these old walls, when our love for good beer would bring us all together. But never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined a day like today.
Marghi and Tom; Lost Elephant Brewing Company (Facebook)
They’ve been building up their beer list and I know they told me they would get up to 8 different beer varieties, although I do not know where they are right now with options.
The Untapped beer website shows nine different beers listed although I don’t believe all of them have been brewed for public consumption yet.
While just starting out in the brewery world, they already have their first collab beer, which was created with the team at Neck of the Woods. Called “It’s Evolution Baby!” and is available at Neck of the Woods (at the Total Turf facility)
Links and Locations
Lost Elephant Brewing Company
20 North Main Street
Elmer, NJ, New Jersey
Hours
- Friday evenings 5pm-9pm
- Saturday from noon to 6pm.