Cape May Breweries: None of Them Are in Cape May
Here's the sentence every other guide skips: there is no brewery in Cape May City. Not one. Every taproom on this page sits in Lower Township, Middle Township or Rio Grande, and the biggest of them is inside an airport complex.
That's not a complaint. It just means a brewery afternoon is a driving decision, and you should make it before the first pint, not after.
The thing every other guide leaves out
How to get to a brewery without driving
Cape May MAC runs it as part of the 2026 trolley lineup: 21+ only, four breweries plus lunch, departing from the Ocean Street Trolley Stop, across from the Information Booth at Washington and Ocean Streets. Arrive 15 minutes early — MAC trolleys don’t wait. It’s the only version of this day where nobody in your group has to stay sober.
Fine for one destination and back. Less fine for a three-stop route, and be realistic about pickup times at 9pm on Seashore Road.
The default, and the reason most groups only get to two breweries. Rotate the job if you’re here for a week.
The Cape May Beer Trails trolley
A rideshare
A designated driver
Accessibility note: MAC can provide an accessible trolley with two weeks’ notice — call 609-884-5404.
For how the trolley tours are priced and compared as a whole, see our Cape May trolley and tour guide.
Prices and hours verified August 2026. Call ahead — Cape May businesses change seasonally.
The five, plus one distillery
Cape May Brewing Co. — Rio Grande
1250 Hornet Road, Rio Grande 08242, inside the Cape May Airport complex. Open daily, 11am–8pm. Last call is 15 minutes before close.
The county’s flagship, and the only one on this page with hours we can print with confidence. Being in an airport complex sounds odd until you get there — the scale of the place is the point, and there’s parking, which is not a sentence you write often about Cape May.
The retail shop inside is the Brewtique. You’ll see it misspelled ‘Brewtania’ in more than one published guide; it isn’t that. Go there for cans and glassware to take home.
And to repeat the correction from the top of the page: this is the only company-operated tasting room. There is no downtown satellite.
733 Seashore Road, Cape May 08204. New Jersey’s first non-profit brewery, and the proceeds support Historic Cold Spring Village. That’s a genuinely unusual thing — you are, functionally, funding a living-history museum by ordering a beer, and it’s the answer we’d give anyone asking which brewery here has a story worth telling at the table. Pair it with the Village if you’re making the drive. Two stops, one parking decision.
Cold Spring Brewery — Seashore Road
513 Seashore Road, Cape May 08204. Look for the large blue building off Route 9, across from Church’s Garden Center & Farms. That landmark is more useful than the street number, because Seashore Road runs a long way and the signage isn’t what you’d call assertive. Same road as Cold Spring Brewery, which makes the two of them the easiest pairing on this page — one leg of driving, two taprooms.
Behr Brewing — Seashore Road
3860 Bayshore Road, North Cape May, in the North Cape May Shopping Center. The one that gets erased. CapeMay.com’s brewery directory omits Gusto entirely, which means a lot of visitors never learn it exists. A shopping-centre location doesn’t photograph well and doesn’t need to. Useful geography: Gusto and Turdo Vineyards are both on Bayshore Road in North Cape May, so a beer-and-wine afternoon on one road is genuinely available — Turdo runs noon to 5pm, closed Wednesdays, and you should phone first.
Gusto Brewing Co. — North Cape May
Nauti Spirits Distillery — Shunpike Road
916 Shunpike Road, Cape May 08204.
Not a brewery. A farm distillery, which is a different animal — there’s a tour, a tasting room, a bottle shop and a cocktail program, so it’s the one stop on this page that works for someone who doesn’t drink beer.
It’s also the best-suited to being the last stop of the day, because a cocktail list beats a fifth flight. Take the tour if it’s running when you arrive; understanding what’s in the glass is most of the value here.
All six at a glance
Place What it is Address Town Hours — — — — — Cape May Brewing Co. Brewery + Brewtique retail shop 1250 Hornet Road (Cape May Airport) Rio Grande Daily 11am–8pm, last call 7:45pm Cold Spring Brewery NJ’s first non-profit brewery 733 Seashore Road Cape May / Cold Spring Call ahead Behr Brewing Brewery, blue building off Route 9 513 Seashore Road Cape May / Cold Spring Call ahead Gusto Brewing Co. Brewery, North Cape May Shopping Center 3860 Bayshore Road North Cape May Call ahead Nauti Spirits Distillery Farm distillery, tours + cocktails 916 Shunpike Road Cape May Call ahead
Prices and hours verified August 2026. Call ahead — Cape May businesses change seasonally.
A half-day route by car
Two breweries and the distillery is a good afternoon. Four is the trolley’s job, not yours.
Cape May Brewing Co., 1250 Hornet Road
Open from 11am daily, so it absorbs an early start better than anywhere else. Buy what you want from the Brewtique now rather than carrying it around all day.
Seashore Road double
Cold Spring Brewery at 733 and Behr at 513. One drive, two rooms. If you’re only doing one, Cold Spring is the one with the non-profit story and Historic Cold Spring Village next door.
Nauti Spirits, 916 Shunpike Road
Finish on cocktails rather than a fifth beer. Take the tour if the timing lines up.
Swap in Gusto on Bayshore Road if you’re staying on the North Cape May side, and add Turdo Vineyards on the same road for a beer-and-wine hybrid day.
Back in town by 6pm and the free city shuttle is running — it operates 4pm to 10pm — so the car can stay parked for dinner.
MAC Harvest Brew Fest — Saturday, September 19, 2026, 10am–5pm, Emlen Physick Estate. Free to attend. A free-entry beer festival on the lawn of an 1879 Victorian is the best-value beer day on the Cape May calendar, and it lands in the best month to be here. Cape May Oktoberfest — September 26–27, 2026. The weekend after Harvest Brew Fest, which makes late September the two-weekend stretch to book if beer is the reason you’re coming. One thing to skip: if you see a ‘Craft Beer, Music & Crab Festival’ listed for 2026, treat it with suspicion. It’s absent from MAC’s 2026 calendar and Harvest Brew Fest appears to occupy the same venue and slot.
Beer events worth planning around
Frequently asked questions
Is there a brewery in Cape May City?
No. There is no brewery inside Cape May City limits. All five area breweries — Cape May Brewing Co., Cold Spring Brewery, Behr Brewing, Gusto Brewing Co. — plus Nauti Spirits Distillery are in Lower Township, Middle Township or Rio Grande.
You’ll need a car, a rideshare or Cape May MAC’s Beer Trails trolley. The free city shuttle runs 4pm–10pm but stays inside the city.
Where is Cape May Brewing Company and what are its hours?
Cape May Brewing Co. is at 1250 Hornet Road, Rio Grande, inside the Cape May Airport complex. It’s open daily 11am–8pm, with last call 15 minutes before closing.
The retail shop inside is called the Brewtique — you’ll see it misspelled ‘Brewtania’ elsewhere. It’s the company’s only operated tasting room, so there’s no downtown Cape May location.
Does Cape May Brewing Co. have a taproom downtown?
No. The brewery operates a single tasting room, at the Hornet Road location in the airport complex. Plenty of bars and restaurants in town pour their beer, but that’s a bar visit, not a brewery visit.
How does the Cape May Beer Trails trolley work?
It’s a Cape May MAC tour: 21 and over only, visiting four breweries with lunch included, departing from the Ocean Street Trolley Stop across from the Information Booth at Washington and Ocean Streets. Arrive 15 minutes before departure.
It’s the only way to do a multi-brewery day with no designated driver. An accessible trolley can be arranged with two weeks’ notice on 609-884-5404.
Which Cape May brewery is a non-profit?
Cold Spring Brewery, on Seashore Road, is New Jersey’s first non-profit brewery. Its proceeds support Historic Cold Spring Village, the living-history site next door.
If you’re choosing one brewery for the story rather than the taproom, that’s the one.
Is there a distillery near Cape May?
Yes — Nauti Spirits Distillery, 916 Shunpike Road. It’s a farm distillery with a tour, a tasting room, a bottle shop and a cocktail program, which makes it the best stop of the group for anyone who doesn’t drink beer.
We’d put it last on a brewery route rather than first.
Can I walk or bike between the Cape May breweries?
Not sensibly. They’re spread across three separate roads — Hornet Road in Rio Grande, Seashore Road, Bayshore Road in North Cape May and Shunpike Road — and none of those are pleasant cycling with a few beers in you.
The two on Seashore Road, Cold Spring Brewery at 733 and Behr Brewing at 513, are the only genuine pairing.
Prices and hours verified August 2026. Call ahead — Cape May businesses change seasonally.