# The Raccoon Has a Brewery: The Story Behind Swedesboro Brewing’s South Jersey Brand 2026-10-21 · South Jersey · Reported Feature From an old local place name to an IPA and multiple taprooms, Swedesboro Brewing has made the raccoon its calling card. From an old local place name to an IPA and multiple taprooms, Swedesboro Brewing has made the raccoon its calling card. --- A raccoon might seem like an unlikely ambassador for craft beer. At Swedesboro Brewing Company, it is a direct link to the town’s past. Before it was called Swedesboro, the Gloucester County community was known as Raccoon. The name is associated with the Narraticon, a Lenape community that lived in the Raccoon Creek area. When Swedish settlers established a community there in the 1600s, the name endured; it was changed to Swedesboro in 1765. That history now runs through the brewery’s identity. The most direct expression is Raccoon IPA, a hazy, juicy beer the brewery describes as tropical and soft on the palate, with less emphasis on bitterness than a traditional West Coast IPA. The character also migrated off the can and onto the door: the company opened Raccoon Taproom in Collingswood in June 2024, taking over the former Devil’s Creek Brewing space at 1 Powell Lane. Swedesboro Brewing’s story begins with Marvin Bowe III, whose background in creative work and advertising helps explain the unusually deliberate branding. The business was co-founded in 2020 by Bowe and Kevin Bain, drawing on their homebrewing experience; its Swedesboro location opened in 2021. The brewery’s stated approach is to combine brewing science with stories drawn from its communities. The brand has since grown beyond Gloucester County. Its current website promotes three locations, Swedesboro, Raccoon Taproom in Collingswood, and Raccoon Pubhaus in Burlington, in three South Jersey counties. The company also points to a No. 2 finish in USA Today’s Best New Brewery readers’ choice ranking as an early milestone. The brewing lineup is more than mascot-driven: its Brewer’s Select series is an experimental space where recipes can become regular offerings, including Jabberbocky Dunkel Bock and Shoobie Pineapple Habanero. Still, the raccoon is what makes the operation instantly recognizable. It is an unusually good piece of hometown branding because there is a real local story behind it. Planning a visit: Swedesboro Brewing lists taprooms in Swedesboro, Collingswood and Burlington. The Collingswood Raccoon Taproom is at 1 Powell Lane. The website lists daily hours of noon–8 p.m. Sunday; 5–10 p.m. Monday–Tuesday; 3–10 p.m. Wednesday–Friday; and noon–10 p.m. Saturday for all three locations. Verify hours, tap lists and events before traveling at swedesborobrewing.com. Sources and reporting notes Swedesboro Brewing — company story, locations and hours — https://www.swedesborobrewing.com/ Swedesboro Brewing — Raccoon IPA and name history — https://www.swedesborobrewing.com/raccoon Historic Swedesboro — town history — https://www.historicswedesboro.com/about-swedesboro/ Swedesboro environmental resource inventory — Lenape/Narraticon history — https://www.dvrpc.org/reports/10052.pdf Kathy Chang, Raccoon Taproom profile (2024) — https://lifestyles.media/2024/09/24/whats-on-tap-step-inside-raccoon-taproom/ Swedesboro Brewing — Brewer’s Select — https://www.swedesborobrewing.com/brewers-select --- ProbleMattic is written and maintained by Matthew Kulcsar, a software engineer, project manager, technologist, platform builder, emergency-services-trained helper, grandfather, and lifelong collector of broken systems, odd behaviors, and useful nonsense.