Circus Wines, Beer & Spirits

Circus Wines, Beer & Spirits is a winery in Middletown, NJ, located at 1453 NJ-35. The shop carries wine, beer, and spirits from producers around the world, including imports from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, and Portugal alongside selections from California, Oregon, and Washington. Customers can browse wines by varietal, region, type, and bottle size, with options ranging from biodynamic, organic, and kosher wines to port, sherry, sake, and sparkling. The spirits selection covers bourbon, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka, whiskey, cordials, liqueurs, and prepared cocktails from producers such as Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, Bacardi, Jose Cuervo, Ketel One, and Smirnoff. The beer department stocks ales, lagers, IPAs, stouts, porters, ciders, hefeweizens, and variety packs from brewers including Guinness, Heineken, Corona, Yuengling, Coors, Miller, and Anheuser-Busch. The store holds a rating of 4.60.

Behind the business is a family with roots in Sicily, where earlier generations worked the land to make wine and other agricultural products. In 1910, grandparents Giovanni and Angelina Azzolina emigrated and eventually settled in the seashore community of Highlands, New Jersey, where they opened a small grocery store selling homemade Italian specialty goods, including handcrafted wine offered discreetly to local Italian families during Prohibition. The next generation expanded into the supermarket trade under the name Food Circus Supermarkets, Inc., and the beverage operation eventually grew into its own separate business.