USA, NJ: Buttzville Brewing Company to pour its last pints by the end of July

The owners of Buttzville Brewing Company announced they’ll be pouring final pints in Washington at the end of the month, Lehighvalleylive.com reported on July 11.

The brewery, which opened its doors at 30 E. Washington Ave. in 2021, is expected to close on Sunday, July 27 or “whenever we run out of beer,” said owners Dave and Erin Anderson.

The couple introduced themselves and the Buttzville Brewing Company to the world via Facebook in 2019 after being approached by Hackettstown to turn their quirky homebrew fan page into a formal brick-and-mortar biergarten.

It was a volatile time for hospitality businesses, but they took the initiative and pushed for two long years to open the brewhouse. The business persevered through every challenge presented in the past five years, through the Covid-19 pandemic, skyrocketing material costs to renovate the space, unpredictable economic headwinds and bizarre state regulations on how craft breweries sell their products, they said.

Craft beer companies only recently received a major legal win last year, easing some restrictions and allowing them to expand the number of off-premise events they can vend at to 25 per year, but it was too little too late for many craft breweries.

“No one thing put us where we are now. We couldn’t have done it any better. The timing just wasn’t on our side,” said Erin.

“For us, opening a business wasn’t just about making money, it was about making our community a better place.”

The dream was sustained by regular customers who stopped inside while walking their dogs, waiting for laundry to dry at the laundromat across the street, to attend weekly events, after work, after bike rides and whenever a new beer premiered.

The owners wrote in a post to Facebook: “We have made so many good memories…We’re closing our doors with our heads held high.”

Regular weekly events are still scheduled to happen over the final weeks. Those include the line dancing party, Drag Queen Bingo event hosted by DJ Brad Scott, a Dungeons and Dragons game night and karaoke on Friday, July 25.

As a final thank-you, the brewery is offering $5 off all growler fills and will release one last beer — Graham Finale, an imperial stout brewed with graham cracker and chocolate — on Friday, July 18. It will be available on tap and in four-packs.