Birthright Brewing Company, Cajun Cauliflower
Cajun Cauliflower - Wood oven-roasted, cajun-seasoned cauliflower served with bacon, fontina cheese and huckleberry sauce
A couple years ago, I lost count of how many breweries/brewpubs there were in the region. And I say this as someone who writes about food and beverages and develops recipes for a living, and as a now 18-year resident of the Lehigh Valley who has seen an explosion of growth.
There are almost too many breweries in the Lehigh Valley to count—Weyerbacher, Brew Works, Two Rivers, Funk, HiJinx, Lost Tavern, Cave, Bonn Place, Hop Hill, Böser Geist, Taylor House, Separatist Beer Project (formerly Sole Ales). That’s not even all of them. And you know some might say that’s no good, that we’ve reached a saturation point, yadda yadda yadda.
But there’s seemingly no limit to the appetite for good beer, and Pennsylvania, with its rich beer (and spirits, for that matter) history, is no exception.
Enter Birthright in downtown Nazareth. It’s quirky, like all good brewpubs should be, and has plenty to distinguish itself by. Founded by brew master Wayne Milford, 41, and assistant brewer Mike Dailey, 28, Birthright opened in February 2018 to become the first brewery in Nazareth. It’s funny, though. When you walk in, the first thing you see isn’t necessarily the beer—that’s all housed in the back end of the brewpub. You see the Mugnaini pizza oven, imported from Italy. The high counter reminds one of a pizza joint—albeit one that’s home to the yeasty aromas of beer, too. “We wanted an open concept,” says Milford.
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Birthright Brewing Company
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Birthright Brewing Company
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Birthright Brewing Company
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Birthright Brewing Company
Milford’s name or face might be familiar. He was the original brewer at Two Rivers Brewing Company in Easton, after stints at various breweries, most notably for nine years at the award-winning craft brewery Dogfish Head in Delaware. After a couple years of planning and working as a consultant for many other breweries around the country and lots of hard labor—and borrowed and found and created materials from friends, family and the shuttered Nazareth Furniture store—Birthright was born. Milford says the name is a reference to his German and English heritage and the long-running tradition of brewing beer. “It’s one of the oldest professions and noblest professions,” he says. “It has so much history, and pubs have always been a hub and key to any community.” (Another reason it’s in a walkable downtown—like any good pub, Birthright remains open during all kinds of weather, which gives people a place to go, say, when it snows.)
Those reclaimed materials show up everywhere—old doors from the former Nazareth Hotel (which preceded the shuttered Nazareth Furniture next door) double as tabletops—and slate is regularly incorporated, as large slabs are a display surface for rotating specials. Birthright gives new life to the expression “old saw,” as enormous saw blades also double as tabletops. (Don’t worry—there’s a welded iron border around the perimeter so the jagged edges aren’t exposed). The blades are mounted on top of old bourbon barrels. Some of the materials you see in the brewery, including the black walnut bar top and reclaimed barn wood, come from his aunt and uncle’s property in Kintersville. (His uncle is also responsible for much of the handiwork required to reuse those materials, too.)
But enough about the interior—let’s talk about the beer and the food, right? Interiors set a mood and vibe, but that’s not why we go out.
Carbonara Pizza - Smoked pork belly, white sauce,peas, egg, truffle oil and parmesan
The goal here is NOT to create a reliable experience whereby you can drink the same beers again. “We don’t have flagships. We are a small-batch brewery,” he says. Birthright’s maximum capacity is 800 barrels a year; in contrast, when he left Dogfish, it was up to 386,000 barrels a year and that was more than five years ago. They have up to a dozen beers on tap at any given moment. Milford says they don’t have plans to distribute beyond what growlers can fill.
“Our philosophy is ‘always brewing, always growing.’ If we always have something new on, people come back in,” he says. Dailey says the regulars like new and different brews, and new people always ask about the beers anyway.
“We try to train the staff well enough so that they can walk people through the process,” Dailey says. What he means is if someone comes in as a regular Yuengling drinker, for example, a server will be able to point the customer toward a lager-like beer—not a Yuengling knock-off, mind you, but something with similar qualities.
He says there’s typically a lager, pilsner or amber ale on, “a few IPAs, always,” along with a stout, and porter, some seasonal beers, and so forth. Case in point—in December, when I went to visit, they had not only a stout, which you would expect in colder weather, but also a wit, which is more commonly available in the summertime, as it’s a lighter, crisper drinking beer. It sort of made me think of the supermarket approach to food—almost everything is available all the time.
The beer names are very Zen and flowy—they come right from what is happening in the moment. And of course, the brews would have to be equally ephemeral—you may or may not see the same one twice. Craft brew names are the definition of individualistic—they bear the sensibility of those that brew them. And that’s certainly true at Birthright. They often stem from things that have happened, phrases that stick out that people say. Milford keeps a list running on his phone—if something jumps out at him and makes him stop, or laugh or it otherwise feels distinctive, it ends up on the list. Case in point: I said something in passing that was funny during my visit, and it ended up on the list. You just never know where inspiration will come from, or how it will turn up in a beer name. Early Dismissal was named around the time when Milford’s kids had an unexpected early dismissal—it’s a super-hoppy IPA that’s “perfect for a snow day.” The stout called How Many Licks is made with, you guessed it, Tootsie Rolls. More than 400 pounds of them. The list goes on and on, and by the time you read this, there will be new beers on tap and these examples will be moot. Chain Job, an amber ale, refers to the way Dailey locked up one night when the keys went missing. “In here you’re going to get a little story about the beer and the food,” says Dailey.
“We’re very punny,” chimes in Joe Bruno, 32, the head chef.
Mike Dailey, Joe Bruno and Wayne Milford, of Birthright Brewing Company
Mike Dailey, Joe Bruno and Wayne Milford
Pizza and beer are the staples here, and it is hard to complain about that, right? Before opening, Milford and Bruno consulted with Rebecca Troutman, who worked at the beer-and-pizza spot Scratch at the Easton Public Market, on how to use the wood-fired oven and the pizza dough recipe. The dough is made with a real wild starter that gives you that elusive combo of chewy and crispy; Bruno says it takes three days to proof the dough, which helps account for its complex flavor—so does the garlic oil they brush on the crust. (The Carbonara is a favorite, but the gold standard for any pizza of this ilk is the Margherita. Both are hits.)
But pizza aside, there’s so much on the menu that’s worth investigating, with those punny names, to boot. Pretzel braids come either with everything seasoning or herb butter, along with a beer cheese fondue. Mac Attack is a mac and cheese that is creamy but deceptively light; with bacon and a fried egg, it’s a starter you can’t finish. “I’m not a mac and cheese guy but this is something I’ve perfected over the years—including the pasta choice,” Bruno says.
(He uses pipette, whose holes are the perfect traps for cheese.) Bruno has worked at many restaurants in the Lehigh Valley (Grain, Valenca, Sette Luna among them). And you can expect lots of local sourcing, including some flours from Castle Valley Mills produce from Good Work Farm (they grow “the cleanest tasting beets,” says Bruno). The pepperoni, for example, comes from Nello’s.
The way Bruno and his cohort, Kayla Hildebrant, run the kitchen is through menu changes every three to four months. There’s always specials listed on slates, which is often where seasonality surfaces. For example, during the writing of this article, I was able to sample a starter called “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” which is exactly what it sounds like. The pizza oven is responsible for most of the food production; before you think that’s limiting, remember cooking with fire is pretty much the oldest and simplest way to cook.
Another distinction that marks Birthright is the fact that Milford’s kids are often here—he has three of them, ages 4, 7 and 8. It might have something to do with why the brewery regularly hosts events for kids and parents and why there are lots of board games at the ready—although the latter is increasingly common and trendy these days.
This practice, however, isn’t new. Maybe 10 years ago, before craft breweries and brewpubs really took off here in the States, it might have seemed untoward to bring kids to a pub. But in Europe, it’s more traditional and something Milford and his wife, Shanna, observed when they visited breweries there.
“What we noticed and enjoyed was that there were multiple generations sitting at a table enjoying a little food and beer, but there were four- and five-year-olds with diluted beer in their cups sitting next to someone in their 60s. And this was at multiple breweries. And the local breweries were the hub or gathering place of their community,” he says. “So we are trying to bring that feel to our brewery. That’s why we have larger communal tables in the bar area and extra-tall high chairs for the higher tables, so that the children can be a part of it. And my kids, Gavin, Daniel and Audrey, are always there, talking with people, playing games. They are a huge reason of what we are about.”
That’s not something you typically hear out of a brewer’s mouth. But Birthright is different. You can just hang out there. They’ve already got regulars. It’s that kind of place.
Birthright Brewing Company
Birthright Brewing Company
Hours
Mon.: 6–11 p.m.; Thurs.: 4–11 p.m.; Fri.: 4 p.m.–midnight; Sat.: 11 a.m.–midnight; Sun.: 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
Parking
Metered street parking
Reservations
Only accepted for large parties; there’s a side room for special events and activities.
Payment
Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express
What to Order
Well, the Margherita is a must, and the Carbonara pizza with smoked pork belly, peas, truffle oil and parm, along with egg, is a hearty way to enjoy pizza. The Wood Oven Beets salad is abundant with beets, candied walnuts and chickpeas—and a vinaigrette that has goat cheese in it. The chicken and Brie sandwich, with apple onion bacon jam and beer braised chicken, is popular, too—and it, like all their sandwiches, comes on their own housemade bread. Mac Attack would easily feed several people or a really ravenous one.
57 S. Main St., Nazareth | 610.365.2225 | birthrightbrewingco.com
