Three hundred years ago, this name belonged to a tavern. Today it belongs to New Jersey's first and only coffee roastery and craft brewery under one roof, and to a five-year fight we would do all over again.
So we built New Jersey's first and only coffee roastery and craft brewery under one roof. The coffee never stops — espresso, cold brew, and flights from 7am right through the evening, and nearly a third of it poured after 2pm. The taps open at noon. Same wood tables, same crew.
Beans roasted right here, pulled as espresso, cold brew, and coffee flights — morning, afternoon, and night.
16 taps of beer and seltzer, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, all brewed on site.
Long before we poured a single pint, there was a tavern.
In 1727, the Death of the Fox Inn opened its doors right here in Clarksboro. It took its name from the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, the first organized hunting club in the New World, whose riders would end the chase and come in to refresh. During the Revolution the inn became a recruiting center and a military headquarters. The original building still stands a short distance from where we brew today.
We did not choose that name by accident. We established Death of the Fox in 2014 and opened our doors to the public on August 14, 2017, to bring that spirit back to life. A place where the community gathers. A place with a little history in its bones and a little fight in its character.
Turns out we would need the fight sooner than we thought.
We opened as something unusual from day one: a brewery and a coffee house under one roof. Beer by the pint, coffee by the cup, the same room, the same neighbors. Then the state tried to take a piece of it away.
New Jersey's ABC capped us at 25 events a year, banned us from advertising them on social media, restricted food trucks and coffee sales, and made customers take a tour before buying a full pint. No legislature. No public comment.
RestrictionsWorking alongside Lower Forge Brewing, we turned frustration into a petition, then a movement. The state paused enforcement to talk.
The ruling was reimposed and later codified. In July 2022 the state wrote 18 of them directly onto our licenses. What started as our fight grew into a statewide movement. Two dozen New Jersey breweries brewed a collaboration beer to fund it, and we kept the pressure public.
With the Pacific Legal Foundation behind us, Death of the Fox filed suit, arguing the restrictions violated free speech and skipped the legal process the state is required to follow. The Wall Street Journal opinion page wrote in our favor.
Read the full case →We started the petition. We sued the state. We were the loudest voice in the room. But we were never the only one. Dozens of New Jersey breweries and the New Jersey Brewers Guild took up the fight and carried it through, and the public outrage did the rest. In 2024, Governor Murphy signed the Craft Beverage Act into law and rolled back the worst of the restrictions. Five years. Thousands of hours. Worth every one.
Chuck broke down the state's "18 New Jersey Commandments" one a day until a hundred thousand people were following along. A few of them:
Click a rule. Push back.
Here is the part that matters most. The fight was never really about beer. It was about this: a gathering place. The kind of room you walk into and feel it right away, people you know, music you like, a seat that feels like yours.
One of the legislators who stood with us through the fight cares about a cause most businesses won't touch: getting menopause taken seriously as a real medical issue, and funding the research that has been missing for decades.
So we brewed a lager for it, with a luchadora on the label, and the money it raises goes straight to that work. A beer, a friendship that started in a statehouse, and a real cause. That is the kind of thing we show up for.
None of this is for show. It is just who we are. Chuck spent two years as chair of the county Chamber of Commerce. We host Coffee with a Cop, where the Glassboro and East Greenwich police pull up a chair with the neighbors over a cup. When United Way needed a hand, we roasted two hundred bags of custom-label coffee for them to sell.
Different causes, one instinct. A business can sit in a community, or it can be part of one. We would rather be part of it.
People think the coffee came later. It did not. We opened as a hybrid from day one, a brewery and a coffee house in the same room. What changed the game was roasting our own beans on site, and the coffee side took off from there. But we have always been a brewery, and we always will be. The beer is not a footnote. It is the foundation.
So we are turning the volume back up on the brewery. New releases. Seasonal beers worth planning a Saturday around. A pumpkin kickoff and an Oktoberfest to send the summer out right. And for the bars and restaurants who want us on tap, we are the very first brewery listed on Keg Up, the app accounts use to order kegs straight from the source, so getting our beer to your taps is easier than it has ever been.
Not every brewery can pour you a great pint and a great cup in the same room. We can, and we are leaning all the way into it.
Everything we do falls under one of four pillars. But they add up to one idea: the whole place is meant to be experienced. Not a coffee, not a beer, but somewhere you feel like you belong.
Almost three hundred years ago, this name belonged to a place where people came together at the end of a long ride. That is still the job. Pull up a stool, roll out a mat, or lace up for the run. Have a great cup or a great pint. Bring your people, or come meet some. You are not a customer here. You are part of it.