Our dating anniversary is just after Valentine’s Day so we tend to celebrate it over the holiday. However this year we wanted to check out the January and February only thing Bellemara Distillery in Hillsboro, New Jersey has been offering — igloos! For $50, we were able to book a 1.5 hour time slot to have an igloo all to ourselves. We were in!
When we arrived, we saw the igloos took up the majority of their patio. The last time we were there, it was around summertime, and that space was filled with patrons at tables. Made sense with the cold to switch to this, even though the day we went it was unseasonably warm.
The menu
Bellemara does not serve full meals — they only have a man extensive cocktail list (not complaining) and a list of pre-packaged snacks. Their snack options included popcorn, nuts, pretzels, olives and (my fave) stroop waffles.
The variety on the cocktail list was much greater than the snack list. Right now, Bellemara is producing a gin and a single malt spirit. They’re working their way to eventually producing whisky. Excited for that to come!
We tried a few of their drinks from their menu while we were there. We have their tropical gin at home, which is a variety I hadn’t had before. I particularly enjoyed their Herbacious G&T — tropical gin, tonic, lime, Thai basil, jalapeños, cucumber and star anise. Just the right amount of punch!
Rounding out your experience
Rather than just snacks, we elected to order some food from a nearby restaurant. They in fact encourage you to use DoorDash, so we went with that. We ordered our food from The Landing. We ordered their maple bourbon sticky sprouts, pork carnitas tacos and caramel empanadas. The sprouts were delicious. The tacos weren’t really tacos, but were ok.
We had a great time for our afternoon date! Can’t wait to go back when the weather warms up and they bring out the food trucks.
Bellemara Distillery – 2 Clerico Lane, Building 5, Hillsborough, NJ – 609.578.9874
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