A South Jersey craft brewery that spent nearly six years pouring pints in downtown Hammonton is packing up and heading across the river, trading its cramped New Jersey tasting room for a sprawling new home in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood. Chimney Brewery and Kitchen, formerly known as Chimney Rustic Ales, is preparing to open inside The Pump House at 2157 E. Lehigh Ave., a nearly 5,000-square-foot space that dwarfs its old digs.
Owner Dan Borrelli launched Chimney Rustic Ales in Hammonton in 2020, and the brand quickly became a fixture on Horton Street before closing its doors in June 2025 to make way for the move to Philadelphia, according to philadelphia.today. Borrelli told the outlet the brewery is moving into a much larger facility in Pennsylvania, one that's nearly three times the size of the Hammonton brewery it's leaving behind. Per the 97.3 ESPN, the roughly $500,000 buildout in Philadelphia is expected to create about 12 new local jobs once it's fully up and running.
A Much Bigger Brewhouse Behind the Bar
The new taproom will run on six 30-barrel tanks capable of producing about 1,200 barrels a year, and Chimney plans to add four more tanks down the line if demand calls for it, per the same account. That's a serious jump in output for a brand that built its reputation on a small-batch approach in South Jersey. Borrelli utilizes a modified 7-barrel brewhouse system to fill those larger fermenters, according to WhatNow Philadelphia, and the lineup leans heavily on European-style lagers, Belgian ales, barrel-aged beers and house-made seltzers.
The 5,000-square-foot space is laid out in a flag shape, with brewing tanks tucked into the rear and the kitchen, tasting room and dining area occupying the front portion, WhatNow Philadelphia reports. When finished, the taproom is expected to seat roughly 50 people indoors and another 60 on an outdoor patio, for a total capacity of 150. A 16-tap beer system and six draft cocktail lines round out the setup.
Full Kitchen Was the Big Draw of Crossing the River
Unlike its old New Jersey tasting room, the Philadelphia location will include a full-service kitchen, serving burgers, cheesesteaks, wings, fries, lobster rolls and crab cake sandwiches. The seafood additions trace back to Borrelli's earlier venture, Minnow Seafood Co., a local food truck whose recipes are informing the new menu, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The paper reports the kitchen is aiming for elevated bar food rather than fine dining.
Pennsylvania's laws around craft brewery licensing played a direct role in the decision to expand across state lines. The commonwealth allows craft breweries to run full-service restaurant kitchens on-site, while New Jersey has historically restricted limited brewery license holders from serving prepared meals, 97.3 ESPN notes. New Jersey did modernize some of its brewery laws in early 2024 to permit snacks and food trucks, but Pennsylvania still offers a more direct path to operating a full kitchen. Borrelli reported in 2025 that Chimney had secured its federal brewing license and found Pennsylvania's liquor licensing process notably smoother than New Jersey's system, per the same outlet.
New Life for the Old Hammonton Spot
The Pump House itself is part of a much larger transformation underway along Lehigh Avenue. The 278-unit mixed-use apartment development was built by Borkson Properties and designed by DesignBlendz, turning a former industrial strip along the border of Port Richmond and East Kensington into a multi-building residential complex with ground-floor commercial space, according to OCF Realty. Chimney's arrival gives the corridor another anchor tenant as it fills in with new foot traffic.
Back in Hammonton, the vacancy Chimney left behind didn't stay empty for long. A local bakery called The Bakeshoppe moved into the former 15 Horton St. space in November 2025, the same outlet reports. That address has something of a rotating history in the local beer scene; Chimney itself had filled the spot after Tomfoolery Brewing Company shuttered there in late 2019, according to South Jersey Beer Scene.
Chimney has not announced an opening date for the Port Richmond location, with construction and permitting timelines still in progress. There's also a personal story behind the brewery's name: Borrelli named it after a childhood hangout spot in the woods near his home, where an old hunting cabin had deteriorated over the years, leaving only its stone chimney standing, WhatNow Philadelphia reports. When the town later cleared that spot, Borrelli said it pushed him to build a new gathering place of his own — a mission he's now bringing to Port Richmond at triple the scale.
