Enjoy “Plain and “Chocolate” milk tubes at the “Truck” in Medford
As we start 2025 we have seen a number of articles in the press about the decline of craft beer and breweries. According to the Brewers Association, 2024 was the first year that more craft breweries closed than opened. Go to a restaurant or bistro today and the drink menu is a mosaic of alcoholic and NA choices – from hard seltzer and iced tea, fruit forward punches and cocktails in a can. And now usually you can also find an assortment of non-alcoholic drinks too. If today’s social drinker doesn’t necessarily want to drink craft beer they have many diverse and interesting options instead.
That said, in some places local craft beer is still doing quite well, and new breweries are still opening. One of those places surprisingly (to me) is the quaint village of Medford, New Jersey. Located about 20 miles east of Philadelphia (and just a bit south), just before you enter the pine lands, you’ll find the attractive, unassuming little town of Medford, with a population of about 25,000.
Medford was once a milling town and glass manufacturing mecca, but all that went away by the early 1900’s, and it soon became a growing suburban bedroom community of metro Philadelphia. For you sports fans, Ron Jaworski, David Akers and Brandan Brooks of the Philadelphia Eagles were all born in Medford, as was Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams. Medford prides itself on its semi-rural location and maintaining a “quaint main street”, eschewing what it calls “suburban sprawl.”
And guess what? Medford has three craft breweries all within a 10 minute walk of each other, and yet another is under construction. They are all different in a number of ways, making it a great craft beer destination, along with an assortment of local shops, taverns and restaurants. It’s not a big town, but three – soon to be four craft breweries makes for big beer appreciation. (They also have a winery and a distillery that is 12 miles away – if you must).
All are welcome at Lower Forge
Starting in the southern end of Main Street your first stop is the “Lower Forge Brewery” located at the corner of Bank and Main. It is a funky treasure of a place, sort of a throwback to when visiting a brewery was like going into someone’s home and hanging out in their plush rec room. The owners and brewers are Pola and Sean Galie, mother and son, and they have a focus on friendly service, sustainability and using quality local ingredients, including craft malts. They work with a number of local farmers to source their ingredients, and can truly claim to have all “Jersey Fresh” beers.
They were the first brewery in Medford, and in 2014 the town was actually dry. So the Galie family worked with the local government to remove the ban and after two years – in 2016, they finally opened their 3 barrel nano-brewery. Sean was a home brewer and Pola also enjoyed working at the brew kettle – she even proudly points at the picture of the witch in the brewery’s logo. While Pola’s certainly no witch, at a recent visit she told me that she adds “a little witchcraft” to make the beer special. She is well aware of the origin of brewing by women, and is a fountain of information about the history and craft of brewing beer.
When I visited they had just kicked their most popular IPA, but they had an 8+ percent IPA called “Unmitigated Audacity” made with southern hemisphere hops that was very nice. They offered a very light bodied Hefeweizen and a Shandy, along with other more adventurous brews.
Sit down and enjoy a brew at Lower Forge with friends
“We are a small brewery, you never know what we will have on, as the batches are small”. Lower Forge is a fixture of the town, and welcomes locals and visitors to trivia nights, comedy nights and other special events. Drop in and say “Hi” to Pola, and don’t be surprised to find yourself in a great conversation about beer while sipping a great beer.
Walking a short 4 minutes north on Main you will find the somewhat more traditional and airy “Farm Truck” Brewery on Main St. – a half block up from Branch Street. Farm Truck offers a large open space with long shared tables and a cozy side room with a “plant wall”. They have a wide ranging list of beers with styles ranging from “Farm Truck Lite” and a Schwarzbier “Black Out”, “Czech You Out” Pils and “Hop Dabs” IPA. The list that I saw showed 15 different brews on tap. What I personally appreciated was the wide variety of beer styles available that were around 5% ABV, meaning you could taste a few and still stay on top of your game.
They completely renovated their building on Main St, and after years of starts and stops (COVID included) they finally opened in 2022. According to an article in the Burlington County Times, Brooke Tidswell, who is the operating partner, met Jason Kuhn, head brewer and partner, in a beer release line at Tired Hands Fermentaria in Ardmore, Pennsylvania in 2016.
Pull in to Farm Truck
A few things about Farm Truck that struck me – along with the the sheer quantity of beer styles available, there is an obvious focus on quality and science – highlighted by the very clean lagers and ABV percentages displayed on the menu at two decimal places (Hop Dabs at 6.29%!). And, they have at least four side pull Czech “Lukr taps” – meaning that they can create foam for a “Milko” or “beer tube” pours. While not as novel as it was a few years ago, the beer tube is a definite beer-geek delight. Their back wall of the tap room was covered with hundreds of polaroids of patrons chugging their foam. (We had one with the tapsters when we were on our way out – yum – try it with the dark lager).
Wall of Foam at Farm Truck
Farm Truck continues to grow in popularity, and it’s definitely a highlight of the Medford beer crawl. But, reluctantly we have to move on.
Next up and just around the corner from “Hole Hog” Barbecue, is “Kings Road Brewing” located at The Feed Mill at Medford Village at Main and Broad streets. It is a second location from the original Haddonfield brewery that they opened in 2017. According to their website, “King’s Road” refers to the Haddonfield address of Historic Kings Highway which they claim to be America’s oldest road. (It was reportedly built on the order of King Charles II of England, in 1681.)
Kings Road opened their first location in Haddonfield (another dry NJ town) with “five friends” including Vicki Jensh Cummins, Pete Gagliardi, Chris Thomas and Jeffrey Farrell. An immediate hit, there was a struggle to keep up production in the quaint reconditioned tavern storefront, so they expanded to a nearby larger location in 2019. Eventually they looked to expand to a new location, and in 2022 they opened their second location in Medford.
As quoted in the local paper, the owners explained: “There seems to be a real renaissance or redevelopment going on in Medford, with new and additional restaurants being added, we’re excited to be a part of it.”
Have a royal draft at the “King” in Medford
When I visited they had 14 taps on – including 6 IPA’s with ABV from 6.7 – 7.5%. There was a wide range of styles included “Black Musket” oatmeal stout, a sour, a wheat beer and a 5.8% fruited ale called “Poppa Don’t Peach”. My favorite was a beer flavored beer, a nicely hoppy pale ale called “Persistent One”.
And while three breweries in this little town would appear to be a good number, another larger facility is under construction on Main Street, from the north Jersey (Fairfield) brewer “Magnify Brewing”. It is supposedly set to open in early 2025. The ground up new brewery will be 8,000+ square feet with a large outdoor patio, and will house a lot of capacity – for both beer and happy beer quaffing patrons. Located just a block north of the groundbreaking Lower Forge, adding Magnify to the brewery roster makes Medford’s Main Street a real brewery row.
Looking for an easy and interesting beer crawl location? Look into the little town of Medford New Jersey and experience for yourself the joy of craft brewing’s continued diversity and culture. And don’t ask the folks in Medford about the decline of craft brewing, instead ask one of their fine breweries for a tasty craft beer and enjoy it with them!
