Rum Distillery Moves From Lacey To Larger Berkeley Location

BERKELEY, NJ — Island Beach Distillery has moved from its location in the Forked River Industrial Park to a new shop in Bayville's Baywick Plaza. The storefront features several upgrades, including double the space and a more desirable location, according to owner Peter Martorelli.

Island Beach Distillery’s location in the industrial park made it difficult to attract new customers, especially since Martorelli says he couldn’t advertise on nearby Route 9.

“We couldn’t achieve the things we wanted to do back there,” Martorelli said. “Over four years, people would still pop in and say, 'We didn’t even know you were back here.' It was frustrating.”

Island Beach Distillery celebrated its first day open in the new location on Saturday, just one day after Martorelli received approval from the Division of Alcohol Beverage Control.

The distillery currently serves six different flavors of rum and a mix of cocktails. Island Beach Distillery also offers tours so people can see the manufacturing area where all of the rum is made from scratch, flavored and bottled.

Another feature of the new location is its climate control, which Martorelli says will improve the rum’s quality in the event of extreme weather.

“There’s gonna be no variation so things will be even more of a close tolerance when we start serving the product. Each bottle will be exactly the same no matter what even though we’re pretty close to that now,” he said.

Martorelli plans to host live music on weekends and display nautical photographs and paintings from local artists on the large walls of the new storefront.

A grand opening date will be announced on Island Beach Distillery’s Facebook page in the future.

“We want to get things settled a little bit more and make it look a little homey,” Martorelli said.

The distillery is located at 333 Route 9 in the Baywick Plaza. The distillery is open Monday through Thursday from 1 to 9 p.m., Friday from 1 to 10 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

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