More Than A Distillery: Try Social Still's Restaurant

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“We are starting to create a name for ourselves,” says Adam Flatt, owner of Social Still in SouthSide Bethlehem, along with his wife, Kate. It feels like an unseemly or maybe even ironic thing to say after four years in business, but restaurants take time to really catch on. Social Still, however, isn’t your run-of-the-mill restaurant. It’s also a distillery.

Or maybe it’s a distillery with a restaurant. Or a distillery restaurant in an old bank dating back 100 years or so, with many original interior details intact, such as marble floors and the original vault. Ah, it all depends on your perspective!

As the story goes, Flatt, whose mother Elaine Pivinski owns Franklin Hill Vineyards, became inspired to open a distillery after visiting some that appealed to him in Colorado. In 2012, after much lobbying on the part of some distillers, Pennsylvania began to make limited distillery licenses available, and Social Still became the first one to open in the Lehigh Valley since Prohibition. The entire process can be described in the words Flatt says his mother often uses: “It’s ready, go, set!”

In other words, running a business like this one is a little like putting the proverbial cart before the horse. You have to be able to jump in when you are ready, but it takes time before things become sorted and settled into an order. And even when that does start to happen, food and beverage businesses require a dynamic approach, because trends are always changing, dining habits shift, beverage preferences need attention and so forth. (Social Still is always trying new aging techniques, for example.) So that ethos is pretty much modus operandi. “You have to be fearless at times in order to create something new,” says Flatt.

But that’s a digression. In the beginning, the menu was much more limited than it is now; it was full of tapas and a seriously innovative and well-focused cocktail menu. One might remember it more as a tasting room with light fare. Perhaps, like some folks, you didn’t realize Social Still also served food, or the restaurant was actually also operating as a distillery. (Flatt says this happens sometimes—people don’t put the pieces together, despite the plain-sight evidence of distilling equipment.) Such a combo, along with the allure of house-made spirits in an architecturally compelling space, marked Social Still as a great place for a first date. And, let’s face it, just a cool spot to check out, regardless of your level of attachment.

Of course, things morph, and because of the hybrid nature of the business, balancing the demands of both a distillery and what has turned into a full-fledged restaurant, ownership needs to be especially plugged in and responsive. These days, Social Still isn’t just a place for tapas and cocktails, although guests will be rewarded with both, especially the latter, when sitting at the bar and engaging their bartenders in conversation. (That’s how you discover what kinds of infusions and bitters they’re experimenting with, and how to find great cocktail ideas that may not be on the menu.) In July, Social Still added lunch, Tuesday through Saturday. And the menu, in general, has grown through the years to include a wider range of dishes, with foods that are sourced as locally and seasonally as possible. It, too, is still well-focused, but Flatt notes, “We accidentally found ourselves heavy on seafood.” It’s something people really enjoy ordering when they go out; a well-executed piece of fish or an order of scallops, for example, is rewarding. Despite all the fish and seafood, patrons won’t find fried calamari on the menu—they don’t do much to fry such ingredients. And you’ll find choices, too, if your diet tends toward mostly plants.

“Everything is super, super fresh,” says Chris Kurtz, the head chef, who arrived at Social Still in 2016 after training at the Academy of Culinary Arts in Mays Landing, New Jersey, and working in various parts of the aforementioned Garden State, including Atlantic City. The freshness is, in part, due to the fact that Social Still doesn’t have any walk-in refrigeration—which is not to say they’re without refrigeration (don’t worry!). They just don’t have excessive storage for food. “The purveyors we use, we get things every day,” he says.

“Almost everything is made from scratch,” says Flatt. Restaurants that operate without walk-in refrigeration need to be so much more scrupulous about how much food they order so as to eliminate waste. “People aren’t accustomed to that. It’s a challenge, but it’s great marketing,” says Flatt. It’s kind of an accidentally smart marketing move. Sustainability isn’t sustainable unless it works for the farmers, the diners and the restaurant owners, right?

Social Still changes things up on the menu a few times a year, but many items will always remain. The crab cake, for example, is a mainstay, along with the Jail Island salmon—guests might see changes in its preparation or accompaniments. One of the more unique items on the menu at Social Still includes the seared sea Scallops. They’re served with a sushi-styled roll that consists of Thai peanut noodles—yes, noodles that are rolled in maki like a sushi roll. House-picked veggies are part of this, but it’s the unusual nature of this starter that makes it a hit.

Another popular snack is the Smokehouse Nachos. The kitchen has come up with its own ancho-ranch seasoning blend that imparts a Doritos-like flavor to the tortilla chips, but without that telltale orange residue left behind. The nachos are drizzled with a sharp cheddar cheese fondue mixed with Social Still’s own bourbon, along with brisket, chipotle black beans and other accompaniments. Kurtz notes they smoke 120 pounds of brisket per week, which takes 12 hours from start to finish. Another riff on a pop-culture food item is the Social Stack, a burger with two four-ounce patties and a series of condiments and a taste that is reminiscent of a major burger chain, without all the negative connotations that such a burger might carry. “It’s everything you want a Big Mac to be, but never is,” says Kurtz.

A place like Social Still is continuously innovating when it comes to its cocktails, for multiple reasons. First of all, there is no end to people’s interest in local spirits—especially America’s original spirit, bourbon. So that drives the process. “I think folks are so happy that we’re distilling right from the grain here in Bethlehem. And locals love to gift our spirits to friends and families who may not live here. People in Bethlehem are very community-minded,” says Andrea Blumstein, general manager.

Locavorism has its own unique role in the creation of new cocktails at Social Still, but not in the stereotypical way a restaurant or bar uses local produce in season. No, cocktails need to be inventive because Social Still doesn’t have the same kind of license as a regular restaurant and bar; it’s limited to Pennsylvania wine and beer and, of course, its own spirits (and it means they have to stop serving at 11 p.m.). “Our bartenders are like chefs,” says Blumstein. At any given moment, they are working with potentially several dozen house-made bitters, infusions and tinctures, made from things such as coffee, orange, ginger turmeric, habanero, peach—you name it. Be on the lookout for rebranding (new names and graphically engaging labels) on their Vanilla Maple Bourbon (renamed Sasquatch), Freakshow (bourbon) and White Witch (spiced rum); the latter two are in the process of being rolled out over the coming months.

If you’ve been paying attention to the craft spirits world, or the spirits world in general, you likely know that it’s experiencing a well-deserved surge, something we wrote about several years ago, after Social Still, Triple Sun, Eight Oaks and County Seat all became operational. Much in the way people become enamored of their local brew and seek out new and unusual beers, the same is happening in craft spirits. (One of Social Still’s recent creations was the Barista Bourbon—in which they cold-soaked a custom roast of coffee beans in its premium bourbon—a collaboration with Lit, right down the street.) New technologies are driving the industry forward when it comes to flavor, aging and so forth. Still, Flatt says that people “in the know” always ask for rye whiskey. And they take their role seriously at Social Still, whether it’s trying to create a memorable experience for people with excellent service and presentation, or something that’s part of the bigger picture.

“We try to be a gracious ambassador of the renaissance of whiskey,” says Flatt.

Social Still

530 E. 3rd St., Bethlehem | 610.625.4585 | socialstill.com

Hours

The retail shop is open the same hours as the restaurant; Tues.–Thurs.: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Fri.–Sat.: 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Tours are available on Saturdays at 3 p.m. for $10 and include sampling.

Parking

Lot adjacent to the building, street parking

Reservations

Recommended for weekends

Payment

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover

What to Order

Social Stack, Smokehouse Nachos, Seared Scallops. Cocktails? Lady Marmalade is signature; Moscow Mule is their biggest seller.

Specials

Tues.: 4–8 p.m.: $5 craft beers and $5 tacos; Wed.: 4–8 p.m.: $5 Franklin Hill wine and local cheese plate (such as Calkins Creamery from Honesdale); Thurs.: 4–8 p.m.: $8 Bourbon & BBQ with featured items from the onsite smoker; Fri.: 4–6 p.m.: $5 specialty fries and $6 bartender’s choice cocktail specials.