When a basic beer won’t cut it, the Lehigh Valley delivers something stronger. Across the region, distilleries are mixing up house-made spirits, creative cocktails and plenty of atmosphere.
Here are five spots worth raising a glass to.
Gallows Hill Spirits Company
Address: 2208 S. 12th St., Allentown
Hours: 5-9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 5-10 p.m. Friday; Noon-10 p.m. Saturday; 2-6 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday.
Part witchy cocktail lair, part meeting hall and part classroom, Gallows Hill Spirits Company is a Salem witch trial-themed distillery serving up a wicked menu of drinks.
Pointy witch hats float above tables while signs on the wall warn customers against turning each other into frogs. The bar is clad in black paneling, constructed to match the front of the historic “Witch House” in Salem, Massachusetts, where several witch examinations are believed to have taken place in the 17th century.
Owner and founder Bob Piano is a 10th-generation descendant of one of the 19 individuals executed during the Salem witch trials, a fact he stumbled across while building his family tree on Ancestry.com. He opened the distillery in 2018 after a lifetime affair with home beer brewing.
Gallows Hill Spirits Co. owner Bob Piano is seen in his Allentown distillery. (Ryan Kneller / The Morning Call)
“To open up another brewery or distillery or even winery, you need a good product,” Piano said. “But you also need some other reason to come there. You need a story.”
The distillery produces spirits with names like “Soothsayer Vodka” and “Moonstone Rune Moonshine,” alongside liqueurs in flavors like cinnamon, amaretto and ginger. Piano’s cream liqueurs — called by their colonial name, “posset” — come in vanilla chai and chocolate raspberry. One of the first products he trialed, Piano said his posset had regulars at his former brewery saying, “We need more,” before Gallows’ doors even opened.
The espresso martini — made with the distillery’s vodka, vanilla chai posset and coffee liqueur — is “one of the best in the valley,” according to Piano. Another favorite among customers is the Witch’s Tea Party, made with limoncello and Earl Grey-infused vodka.
The distillery is also a hub of Wiccan rituals and celebrations, all open to anyone interested. Some Sunday afternoons see classes on subjects like divination or crystals with a local Wiccan leader, while Wednesday nights bring tabletop role-playing games, cornhole or “Goth Night” karaoke and bingo.
County Seat Spirits
Address: 905 Harrison St., Allentown
Hours: Distillery open by appointment; partner location hours vary
Founded by attorney Anthony Brichta and his uncle, former air traffic controller John Rowe, County Seat Spirits has been distilling spirits with hometown flair since 2015.
Many of County Seat’s products are an ode to the Lehigh Valley. The Lock Keeper Gin is named for Easton’s canal lock tenders, Hidden Copper Bourbon for Allentown’s sheltering of the Liberty Bell in 1777 and Sand Island Rum for Bethlehem’s riverfront park.
The distillery also experiments. During the pandemic, it launched a bourbon series using different varieties of single-source, heirloom corn — think blue, orange Creole or Bloody Butcher — to spotlight the grain itself.
“If you’re a bourbon fan, you really can’t miss those,” Brichta said. “You get to really experience each grain differently.”
County Seat Spirits (CHRIS SHIPLEY / The Morning Call)
Locals can see many of County Seat’s spirits in action at one of the distillery’s three partner locations.
At La Maya, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Hellertown, County Seat’s agave spirits appear in drinks like the Matcha Libre (Reposado agave spirit, matcha cream of coconut, lime and pineapple) and the classic margarita, made with Blanco agave spirit and orange liqueur.
Espresso martinis, which Brichta said are “having a moment,” are the crowd favorite at the Tipsy Crow, a sister location to an Easton brunch spot called The Raven 96. At The Gulch Tavern in Bucks County, an old fashioned made with County Seat’s River Valley Rye is a top pick.
Hausman Farm Distillery
Address: 2822 Limeport Pike, Coopersburg
Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday
June marked a new chapter at Hausman Fruit Farm: alongside its fresh produce and baked goods, bottles of house-made spirits now line the shelves.
Co-owner April Hausman said the limoncellos have become the standout since opening. Made with farm-fresh strawberries and blueberries — a peach variation is also on the way — Hausman calls these “true limoncellos,” not as sweet or syrupy as what you might find in the liquor store.
In the fall, the distillery will begin stocking its apple pie moonshine and caramel vodka. For Hausman, it’s not just about the extra income, but the chance to make and perfect flavors on her own terms. Her caramel vodka, which she said she finds too sweet in the state stores, took several batches to nail.
A family business through and through, the tractor emblazoned across many of the distillery’s bottles belongs to Hausman’s 13-year-old daughter, Lily, who started fixing up the vehicle with her dad at age 11. Many of the drinks carry a German name, like Kokonuss (or coconut) Rum, a nod to Hausman’s husband’s Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.
Cocktails are also available. A lavender gin spritz or an Orchard Breeze, made with coconut rum and peach whiskey, are some of customers’ summer favorites, according to Hausman.
The first Saturday of every month brings line dancing to the bar, and starting in September, Hausman said, every Thursday will see music and a food truck on the farm.
Social Still
Address: 530 E. 3rd St., Bethlehem
Hours: Noon-10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; noon-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday
Social Still bills itself as the Lehigh Valley’s first post-Prohibition distillery. Ironically, it is housed in a bank built during the country’s 13-year dry spell.
Visitors can see the distillery at work from nearly every seat in the bar, with the towering steel and copper still enclosed in 25-foot-tall glass walls. Behind it, large arched windows give way to a view of the SteelStacks campus.
“We really wanted to let people understand, hey, you’re not just here for a restaurant or just a cocktail,” co-owner Adam Flatt said. “This is how it’s made. And that’s like a little peek behind the curtain.”
Beverage-making, Flatt said, runs in the family; his mother founded Franklin Hill Vineyards in Bangor in 1982, the Lehigh Valley’s first winery since Prohibition.
After years in the wine industry, Flatt and his wife, Kate, decided to branch out, telling the same family story but through a different craft.
After 11 years of operation, Social Still’s flagship product is its Sasquatch Bourbon, inspired by Flatt’s travels in the Pacific Northwest. Made with Madagascar vanilla beans and real maple syrup, Flatt calls this drink a “gateway bourbon,” a good starting point for those who don’t know whiskey, and a “nice treat” for those who do.
Cocktails in Social Still’s restaurant balance sophistication with play. A longstanding favorite on the menu is the Jalapeño Heist, made with jalapeño vodka, lime, caramelized pineapple and smoked salt, while other drinks and food items are tailored to what’s fresh, in season and in demand.
Flatt emphasized encouraging exploration with the menu; greatness, he said, happens “by accident, always.”
Sunday brunch at Social Still is its own event, with cocktail specials like the Breakfast Margarita (Blanco agave spirit, orange marmalade and orange liqueur) and interesting seasonal bites like the lemon poppy pancakes or breakfast pad thai.
Inside what was previously a bank, Social Still serves spirits distilled on site along with food Wednesday in Bethlehem.
///ADDISON GEORGE / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL
Eight Oaks Farm Distillery
Address: 7189 PA-309, New Tripoli
Hours: 4-8 p.m. Thursday; 3-8 p.m. Friday; 2-8 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday through Wednesday
Eight Oaks Farm Distillery operates by the motto, “we grow what we drink,” and for founder Chad Butters, growing the community around him is just as important as growing the corn for his bourbon.
The idea for Eight Oaks came in 2012 when Butters’ now-deceased wife, Jodi, was diagnosed with colon cancer. During her recovery from a particularly intense surgery, the pair sat down and made a list of everything it would take to make them “exceptionally happy.”
The final list only had five items: spending time with each other, spending time with family and friends, running a small family business, working in agriculture and having fun.
Opening a distillery checked off everything on the list.
Eight Oaks Craft Distillery in New Tripoli. (JENNIFER SHEEHAN / THE MORNING CALL)
Nearly a decade later, Eight Oaks maintains 50 acres of rye, barley and corn, and stocks bottles of craft whiskey, vodka and gin throughout the state.
The farm’s flagship products are whiskeys and bourbons. Butters said the Pinot Bourbon, aged in a French oak barrel previously used for Pinot Noir wine, is among the top sellers, as is the traditional applejack (“About as classic of an applejack as you can get”) that Eight Oaks adds in the fall.
At the bar, Eight Oaks’ cocktail menu changes with the season. On offer for the summer are drinks like a blueberry cobbler old fashioned or the Firecracker, made with cucumber vodka and watermelon. Arriving soon for the fall will be a staff favorite, the Log Cabin, made with vodka, pear nectar and ginger beer.
Jodi Butters died in 2024, but her husband still builds on their shared values. Eight Oaks is run by a close-knit team of friends and family, and Chad Butters emphasized the brand’s commitment to supporting the local community and local nonprofits.
“Our purpose is at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
Elisabeth Seidel is a freelance writer.
Lehigh Valley Insider’s Guide is an occasional series on places to go and things to do and see. Have an idea for a topic or a place that we missed? Email us at goguide@mcall.com.
