Lower Forge Brewery in Medford: Review
Downtown Medford is a great place to visit, but having two breweries there is definitely helping their local economy. Back in November I got a chance to visit and tour Lower Forge Brewery, located on Main St, and got a chance to sample their fantastic beer.
Lower Forge Brewery was started by Head Brewer Sean Galie, his wife Abbie, and his mother Pola who is also his second brewer. Both brewers are residents of Medford, living walking distance to their brewery which opened in May of 2016.
The brewery has a nice open flow, with plenty of seating for their patrons. I also really liked that it was family friendly, and there were a few families while we were there spanning generations.
While I was there I tried their seasonal beers. They had 9 beers on tap when I was there, hosting a nice blend of IPAs, Stouts, Light Beers, Fruity beers, and more. This is definitely a brewery that loves to experiment on different beers and provides a lot of variety.
Beers I Tried:
– Blueberry Fields, a light beer made with local blueberries 4% ABV
– Cranberry Rake, a witbier made with Shamong cranberries, 5.1% ABV
– Cinn and Redemption, a pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla ale 6.7% ABV
– Harvest Crown, a Belgian and German style beer, 6.3% ABV
I also loved getting a tour by Pola who is clearly passionate about what she does.
I highly recommend checking out Lower Forge Brewery! This hometown beer destination is filled with happy people who love their craft, and make amazing beer.
Interview with Sean Galie, Head Brewer and Owner of Lower Forge Brewery:
What made you want to start a brewery?
I’ve been homebrewing for almost fourteen years, after getting into it as a hobby. Over time, I found it was a great counter to the hectic pace of my day job as a Firefighter/EMT first in Medford, and now at Princeton University. In 2012, I was part of a small group that tried to present Medford as a potential location for an expanding brewpub chain in Pennsylvania/South Jersey. Although, together with the Medford Economic Development Commission, we were unsuccessful – the basic research we did showed that Downtown Medford was perfect for something like a small craft brewer. That fall, when New Jersey started reforming the Production Brewery laws which lead to much more potential for small nano- and micro-breweries being viable through sampling room retail sales combined with wholesale keg sales.
As these changes passed into law, the same people who worked with me to try and attract an outside brewpub chain began encouraging me that perhaps a homegrown brewery with Medford roots would be a better fit after all. I live only a block from Lower Forge now, and have lived in the “downtown village” of Medford for over 20 years after moving here from Philadelphia. I’ve watched the good times and bad times, and a few years ago – as all of this unfolded, our downtown was in bad shape. “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs vastly outnumbered the shops trying to weather the bad economy,
Unfortunately, the township had a series of prohibitive ordinances and zoning laws that all but restricted any production brewery or other Class A license anywhere within Medford.
Why did you decide to start your brewery in Medford?
Medford is a town with some surprising heart, we built things for generations from pouring iron into molds to make shot for George Washington’s Army to being the shipping point for fine glassware and other products made in local factories through the early twentieth century. The house I live in, is one of the older homes built by the families that managed the glass works and textile mill that used to be in town.
Over time, even though that “build something” reputation faded with new development and a “bedroom community” mindset from our town leaders at the time – it’s still here beneath the surface. I watched our neighborhood fall into an economic pit, and saw myself being part of what would “reboot” Main Street. At first, it was with the effort to attract someone else here – but once the idea took root that I could build something myself, it’s tough to shake. It’s like getting a song stuck in your head, giving up or turning away would be worse than trying and failing.
It took multiple law changes starting in 2013, all the way through until today where we are still working on fixing some very old-fashioned restrictions that hurt the town’s small businesses. Now that we’re open, it’s worth it – that “build something” ideal that our town was founded upon was still there… and I think we’ve tapped into it.
What makes your beer unique than beers at other breweries?
A tough question for any brewer, but I think one of the things that guides us as a brewery – since it’s not just me – is the fact we’re all willing to experiment and try something new. We’re not stuck just brewing one style, or trying desperately to appeal to one crowd – we’re driven by the idea that we can brew something for everyone.
It seems to be the right idea too, if we have eight to ten beers on tap I can feel confident that someone is going to find two or three they like. You may not like all our selection – but with beers ranging from IPAs, Imperial Porters and Stouts to Lighter Hefeweizens, Fruit Fermented Ales, and Mild Ambers – you should feel comfortable somewhere in our lineup.
One of the frustrations that I had as a craft beer drinker is that many, many breweries will go “all in” on a single style and neglect some amazing possibilities elsewhere in the beer world.
What can people expect when they come to visit?
Under New Jersey law, the first thing we need to do is provide a tour when visitors arrive in our sampling room. Although some breweries will skip over this requirement and others treat it as a chore, our brewers enjoy sharing our craft and many times we can help veteran craft beer fans and newer craft drinkers find something they may not have tried otherwise.
Even better, depending on the brewer you meet – you may receive a different tour or update each time. Many people tell me that my tours are very much drawn from brewing science textbooks (I’d agree) with insights into the things we experiment with for different results in production. Next, you may meet Pola, my Mom and co-brewer since my homebrewing days, who will introduce you to the history of brewing and role of women in brewing (which was huge before the Industrial Revolution). Or you may meet one of our assistants like Pat, who is an amazing homebrewer scaling his art as part of our team and usually found talking with other homebrewers on the things that scale and don’t scale from 5-10 gallon batches to our larger production system.
What makes your brewery/location different than other breweries?
Our location is absolutely part of what makes Lower Forge unique. 14 South Main Street, our building, started life as a historic home in the nineteenth century. Over time, it was part of the general store on Main Street and eventually expanded and merged with the building next door. It was a music store, a piano shop, a cafeteria (briefly) and finally a printing plant for decades that ran presses for everything from the local paper to guidebooks from past festivals that Medford still holds.
When the economy soured, it became one of the many vacancies on Main Street that thankfully managed to avoid major disrepair thanks to the property owner, who himself is a local entrepreneur. When we had issues with our first location, this turned into a solution that “was meant to be”. We’ve revived the old space, and used the “bones” of the print shop repurposed into the frame we built for our bar and the things you see when you walk into our tasting room.
Additionally, we’re a group of family and friends. While I might be the Head Brewer, I’ve brewed for years alongside my Mom, an herbalogist, botanist and beekeeper – and the very different styles and approaches we take to brewing give us perspective that you may not find in other shops. Our friends helped us over the years it took to reform local laws to make it possible, and then some joined us in putting together what we needed to buy our equipment and open. Other friends joined the team introducing visitors to our beer. It’s all of us together that created the “personality” of Lower Forge Brewery.
What beer or brewery inspired you to start your brewery?
A tough thing to say, while New Jersey had a handful of amazing breweries before we started our journey that absolutely are worth noting – I found some of the best inspiration in the farm breweries of New York and New England; some of the little breweries in Pennsylvania; and have always been impressed by that spirit that imbues everything that comes out of Dogfish Head in Delaware.
If anything, some of my earliest failures may have been at the heart of what pushes the brewery now. As any homebrewer will tell you, some of those first batches most of us make in our garages, kitchens or backyards are not always good – but they are better than 90% of the big beer you find saturating the market. Once you get a taste of what “might be possible”, it’s easy to dive down the rabbit hole of seeing what is possible – especially as you become a better brewer. It might seem crazy but opening Lower Forge was a natural part of that path.
Additional Information on Lower Forge Brewery:
Medford’s Main Street Brewery, Locally & Independently Owned
Address: 14 S Main St, Medford, NJ;
Check out more info on their Website Facebook Instagram Twitter
For more information on New Jersey Breweries and/or Reviews, Click HERE
