Collingswood Brewery Has Been Sold, Closing To Public Soon

COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — A Camden County brewery has been sold, with Sunday marking Devil's Creek's last day open to the public. And it's not quite clear what will come next.

Current ownership says Devil's Creek Brewery isn't going out of business, but it's time for a change.

"I'm choosing to sell and have been in negotiations for a bit and I'm super happy about who is taking over the spot!" says a Tuesday message on the brewery's Facebook page. "I've been doing this since 2015, and it's time to try something else."

The establishment will remain open to the public through Sunday. However, it will close from 5-8 p.m. Saturday.

Devil's Creek became Collingswood's first craft brewery after local officials passed an ordinance allowing such businesses in the dry town. The brewery earned a silver medal at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival — the nation's premier beer competition.

It's not yet clear what will come next at 1 Powell Ln. The bill of sale hasn't been signed, and a non-disclosure agreement is still in place, says Devil's Creek owner Kathy Abate.

"Let's celebrate 7.5 years of a brewery that survived Murphy and Covid and the ever-evolving world of craft beer," Abate told Patch via email. "And that won a covered GABF medal to boot. I'm still open for business and I'm concentrating on that."

Gov. Phil Murphy has drawn ire from New Jersey's brewery industry in recent years. The state's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control imposed restrictions on microbreweries in mid-2022, which ban them from selling food and limit them to 25 events per year, among other restrictions.

Murphy has pushed for ending those regulations while overhauling state laws that impact other sectors of the alcohol industry, such as New Jersey's limit of one retail liquor license per 3,000 residents. State lawmakers unanimously passed a bill in June to lift the recent brewery restrictions.

But Murphy conditionally vetoed the measure Nov. 27, which sends it back to the State Legislature for revisions. The governor stated that New Jersey's alcoholic-beverage regulations require comprehensive reform.