New Jersey’s Source Farmhouse Brewery Expanding to Philadelphia

Source Farmhouse Brewery is headed to Philadelphia.

The New Jersey craft brewery will open a new brewery and taproom in the city this August, taking over the former Fishtown Brewpub, which closed in November due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The location currently has a seven-barrel brewhouse and seven fermenters. The new brewery will have more than 20 beers on tap and will produce about 800 barrels a year, according to co-founder Phil Petracca.

“With all the demand that Philadelphians have for great beer that’s made locally, I think they could definitely support a lot more breweries,” co-founder Greg Taylor told Brewbound. “It really is the perfect storm for brewing.”

Taylor and Petracca founded Source in August 2019. They opened the brewery on an old dairy farm in Colts Neck, creating a taproom out of a 125 year-old, two-story barn. They started the brewery with the goal of creating a direct-sourced experience, procuring ingredients from local farmers in sync with local harvests.

The new brewery — located about an hour and a half from the Colts Neck location — will feature a large, U-shaped bar and outdoor beer garden, according to Breweries in Pennsylvania. The location will also have a full kitchen, which Taylor and Petracca said will feature food curated to complement their beer selections. Chef Kenny Cuomo will consult on food offerings.

“Beer will always be first for us, but we want to have the food aspect complement the beer,” Taylor told Brewbound. “If we’re able to have a hand in curating and elevating the culinary and beer experience, working with the local producers to tie things together, that’s just another opportunity for us to showcase the flavors and deliver a great experience.”

In the new “urban brewery,” Taylor and Petracca hope to continue their mission of creating an environment where people can enjoy “farm-to-glass” ales and lagers, while maintaining a diverse line-up of beers.

“We really don’t do flagships or core products,” Petracca told Brewbound. “We’ve run the gamut from lagers, to saisons, to fruited sours. … If we were just cranking out hazy IPAs every week — which is very tempting — we’d limit our customer base. We’ve been very hyper-focused on appealing to different parts of the beer drinking market.”

As part of the renovation of the location, and in keeping with Source’s emphasis on experimentation, the company is implementing a new draft system with different kinds of taps, including side-pull taps and nitro taps, which will allow every beer to be served with a controlled level of carbonation, and volume and density of foam, according to Petracca.

“The brewers have complete input and control on every single beer,” he told Brewbound. “And it’s offering a truly curated experience defined by the brewers.”

Source will also be expanding it’s New Jersey brewery, with a 6,000 sq. ft. space about a mile from its Colts Neck taproom. The space will be used primarily to build its mixed-culture and barrel-aged programs. Source has also added a dedicated bottling and canning room and additional cold storage.

Last year, Source maxed out production in its New Jersey brewhouse, producing 3,000 barrels, according to Petracca. He predicts the expansion and additional tanks will allow the company the potential to more than double production to as much as 8,000 barrels annually.

With the expansion, Source is searching for local employees to join their staff. The new location will create about 30 jobs, according to the Philly Voice. Source offers all of its employees training through the Cicerone certification program, providing full funding for courses.

Additionally, Source has partnered with the Siebel Institute in Chicago — Taylor’s alma mater — to provide a full scholarship for women and people of color to apply and help diversify the brewing industry.