Triumph Brewing Company

Durge

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +2.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

There isn't a lot that I would add to the previous reviews. I have stopped in here several times over the past 15-ish years that I believe it has been in existence. It seems to have changed very little since that first year, other than having become a fixture in the social circles of the Princeton community for students, faculty and businessmen and jouneymen alike. It's a pretty big place with plenty of alcoves up, down and all around to eat and/or drink. They only had seven beers on tap, and 3 of the 4 I tried were pretty decent (the stout was notably weak in flavor). The food has always been on the trendy pub / workingman's gourmet side, and in my experience very good. I really enjoyed my Cuban sandwich although my buddy's pastrami sandwich was apparently a bit more ordinary. Service was reasonably prompt considering how busy the place was on a Tuesday evening, we never went dry but I would have to say that service with a smile wasn't really in fashion, but again, probably due to the crowd. Never got much of a chance to test the beer knowledge. The place was buzzing, a very good feel in the crowd. It's relatively dark and somewhat closed in, no windows, but I enjoyed the evening and the beers and grub, definitely worth a visit. And if you have time to sample something other than (or in addition to) Triumph brews while in beautiful downtown Princeton, I will tell you that I was glad to take the suggestion of another BA who said to try out Teresa's Cafe just a block or so away from Triumph. Teresa's had only four taps but they were goodies.

04-23-2009 01:33:04 | More by Durge

DrStiffington

New Jersey

4.15/5  rDev +6.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$

I have been to Triumph in Princeton many times and to the one in New Hope once. My wife and I love going to Princeton for the day. Awesome town. We almost always eat at Triumph when we visit. Love the atmosphere and it's never a problem with the kids. Noisy but nice. The food is fantastic and the beers are always good to very good. I must have the sampler when I'm there. They rotate it every season. My only complaint is that they refused to put their beer into my Dogfish Head growler. Cheesy move, if you ask me.

02-04-2012 01:48:48 | More by DrStiffington

christmasg

Indiana

2.38/5  rDev -39.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 2 | service: 1.5 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5 | $$$

Dropped in on Sunday Dec 11, 2011; mid afternoon, the early ball games were in Q3. There are 2 bars, an upper level and lower level; the upper was full, the lower had a few spaces open. Decided to sit at one of the high-top tables and waited at least 5 minutes before asking a server if this table was self-service at the bar; answer no you'll have a server... hmmm... 5 more minutes and finally we get a server. This would be NBD if the place was busy, but during this time we saw several waitstaff shoot the bull and walk around empty handed. It took 10-15 minutes to get a beer in my hand.

CONCLUSION 1 >>> POORLY MANAGED

The brewhouse sets behind glass 2-levels above the lower bar, serving tanks sit lined-up in the level in between. Good atmosphere.

Ordered the beer sampler, (after all this is a brewery and I'm typing on Beer Advocate)

Blonde Ale >>> astringent and flavorless/bland.
Amber >>> even more astringent, tastes like ice tea.
Pilz >>> under attenuated, tastes like wort; could have been a great beer if it had been lagered long enough.
Coffee & Cream Stout >>> Coffee overdone, probably the best beer in the line up.
IPA >>> Diacetal (butterscotch) bomb, second best beer once you get past the butter.
Gose >>> Tasted like an infected german hefe, did not taste any Corriander.
Porter >>> not a porter, a decent southern english brown; if they called it what it is this would be the best beer in the line-up, but it is a crappy porter.

CONCLUSION 2 >>> BELOW AVERAGE BEER

Once our server turned back up from being "overwhelmed" we ordered some food and pints. the $12 burger was decent, the fries were good.

CONCLUSION 3 >>> FOOD IS GOOD BUT OVER PRICED

12-12-2011 12:52:19 | More by christmasg

DoubleSimcoe

New York

3.5/5  rDev -10.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

The wife and I have been to Triumph New Hope many times, but this was our first time at the Princeton location.

The entrance is so narrow you could easily miss it among the busy shops of Nassau street in downtown Princeton... then comes a long corridor that opens up to a surprisingly cavernous space very similar to the New Hope location. Brewing tanks, outrageously high ceilings, cozy booths and a long bar. I like it enough here.

Unfortunately the beer choices here are not too exciting: Honey, Amber, Oktober, Irish Dry, Bengal IPA, Pumpkin and Old Tom Ale. We all had the Bengal IPA, which we know is always good.

Place was almost totally empty on a Thursday at lunch time, and yet service was only OK. Nothing amazing.

Food menu looked good and reasonably priced, with things like a pork-belly sandwich and poutine with foie-gras gravy. But the poutine (if tasty) didn't have any real foie, and the items my peeps got (grilled-cheese, fried pickles and grilled brie) were just fine but not amazing.

Power went out before we left and I couldn't pay with my card, which wasn't so great. All in all, a nice stop I will revisit next time I'm in Princeton, but still not the best brewpub around.

10-21-2011 03:00:02 | More by DoubleSimcoe

MadCat

New Jersey

4.38/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

Atmosphere: The atmosphere fits well with Princeton. It feels like a cool place to be. A little dark in there, but you can still clearly see your beer to accurately review the color. A little cramped due to it being narrow. Feels like a good place to get beer.

Quality: Outstanding. High quality food, high quality beer, high quality service, what more could you ask for?

Service: Very good, the server comes around often enough, but isn't asking if you need something every 5 seconds.

Selection: Good with what I expect from a brew pub. They have 7 beers available, which should be enough to please anybody. There are 2 to 3 beers that are always there, the Honey Blonde, the Amber Ale, and usually the Bengal Gold IPA (this may get rotated with other IPAs). They have 2 more rotating regular taps with some good stuff out of the ordinary. There is one rotating Nitro-tap with some kind of stout, which the Irish stout is seen most often. The seventh beer is a rotating cask on hand pump which is usually the most unusual. So everybody should be happy with the beer, and if you really can't decide, you can get a sampler. Food selection is good too, a decent sized menu, but not too extensive.

Food: Excellent high quality gourmet food. The Triumph Burger is the best burger I've ever had. If you're looking for regular entrees, there is a decent selection that isn't over involved. Plenty of sandwich/wrap selections, salads, soups, appetizers, and desserts. It is all high quality and delicious.

Value: Not cheap, but still reasonable prices. Sandwiches are about $9-15 and entrees are about $15-30. Appetizers are pretty much less than $10. Beer I'm pretty sure is all $5.50 regardless of what you order (size varies though, all served in proper glasses). Growlers used to be $15 for a new one filled, and $12 for refills, but that has gone up to $17 and $13. Not that big of a deal, and still a reasonable price. They now offer some 750ml bottles, but I didn't get one to go because of the price (don't remember, but it was between $10 and $20).

Overall I love this place, and I haven't gotten to go here as often as I used to. I would highly recommend it if you are in the Princeton area.

06-13-2011 01:48:41 | More by MadCat

stephadelphia

Pennsylvania

3.88/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Grew up near this Triumph (though now my local Triumph is in Philly) and love the industrial decor on the inside. Since it's located near Princeton University, there's a somewhat younger crowd here, but that doesn't mean locals of all ages don't love to come to Triumph.

The menu is slightly different here than it is in Philly, but I've never been disappointed with anything I've ordered. I do love Triumph beer, and also love their take on a cheesesteak (how could I not?). Wash it all down with a Honey Blonde, and I'm set.

Tends to get busy, especially on weekends and on breaks (like spring break) when all the locals are back in town. Can be hard to find a seat downstairs, and sometimes service slows, but never to the point where you're waiting endlessly.

Beer selection rotates, and I think there's a brew for everyone always available. Food offers a nice variety from the healthy to hangover foods. Nice to split a small plate with a friend on a night out.

Food's tasty. Not fussy, not overcomplicated, but delicious and well executed. No complaints.

Frequent this place with friends when we're all in town. Have yet to have a poor experience, so I'll keep coming back. Try it on a night with live music and things can get fun (and loud).

01-27-2011 04:36:16 | More by stephadelphia

lstokes

Illinois

3.83/5  rDev -2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

I have been here more or less every time I have been in Princeton over the past four years (which means maybe five times in total) and was surprised to see I hadn't reviewed it yet. It's a classed-up sort of restaurant space with seven different beers on tap at any one time--most of the beers are not great, but they're all at least respectable. This last time we said "Meh" to the amber but really loved our coffee stouts, and it seems that the darker, the better here at Triumph.

Food is hit-and-miss: we loved the fried pickles, but the hummus platter was so-so. Burger was good and juicy but expensive, steak sliders were a definite miss, today I had the gnocchi and found it adequate. It's probably fine if you know what to order and stick to the pub basics, but definitely not a food destination. A fun place if you're in Princeton but not worth a serious drive.

12-29-2010 04:37:05 | More by lstokes

snegopady

New Jersey

1.6/5  rDev -59.1%
vibe: 1 | quality: 2 | service: 1 | selection: 2 | $$

Having just moved to Princeton, I passed by and said, hmmm, a brewpub. In short, the place was crowded and loud, and the employees were rude. The bar was full, and so were the cocktail tables, but they wouldn't let us sit at a regular table just to drink beer even though they were almost all open. We gave it another try -- don't ask me why -- and were ignored for 20 minutes before leaving. I don't want to to try their beer badly enough to put up with that kind of service again. We are never going back

09-30-2010 01:03:29 | More by snegopady

BigIrishman

New Jersey

4.18/5  rDev +6.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$

I go to this place a lot and have experience with many of their servers and bartenders, so here goes...

Right in the heart of princeton, this place is pretty easy to pick out if you're walking around town. The place looks amazing, the have a huge vaulted ceiling with a two level bar and an upstairs for away from the bar dinner seating. Like most things in town, they go for a new/chic style with more gourmet dishes and a funky atmosphere that is kind of a brew pub/manhattan style restaurant/sports bar hybrid. The food is not typical pub grub and things like the lamb kabobs, crispy braised spare ribs, hanger steak sliders, etc are a nice change of pace from the normal pub food. The service can be spotty, but it's all dependent on when you go and who you get. If you're there from lunch till 7 or so you normally get very good service no matter who you have, but if you go after 7 you can get great service or miserable service (make sure you ask to sit upstairs if you're going late and there's a bunch of college kids in the bar area). They have 7 beers on usually (6 on tap and 1 cask) and do a special barrel tapping every first wednesday of the month. The beers range from "passable/okay" to awesome so you're never really upset with what you get. Growlers for takeout are available (~$15) but they really have no clue how to fill them properly so I'll pass on anything I really care to be carbonated (guess that leaves stouts). The prices are fair and I usually spend about $40 for me and the wife, although we've spent in upwards of $100 when we were really out on the town. When it comes to prices, realize you're in Princeton and hopefully that'll make it palatable (who doesn't expect to pay much for anything in Princeton?) as I'm sure this place must cost an arm and a leg to operate in town.

09-03-2010 14:43:50 | More by BigIrishman

BeerNemesis

New York

2.98/5  rDev -23.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

Triumph, which is situated on Nassau Street within walking distance of Princeton University is a fun little microbrewery / pub. They usually have a moderate selection of beers (5-7) of which 2-3 are seasonal. The beer tastes pretty good (B on average I would say) but the service is dismal. The place is very crowded and servers are rushed.

I've been there a number of times and have come to find that the service is not worth it, the food is only average, but the beers are what make it worth while.

Book in advance and have them confirm the reservation (ask for the person's name) so as to avoid any mistakes (which they're good at making).

All around worth it.

01-23-2010 20:07:02 | More by BeerNemesis