Updates! The Move to Easton, Changes in South Bethlehem, and Looking Ahead

Well, time really flies by when there’s a pandemic and nonstop chaos. Just kidding, actually, the last post feels like it was written a decade ago instead of two years.

As most of you probably know by now, we have finished our move out of Allentown and our tanks are being installed in Easton at the Weyerbacher Brewing facility. The decision to leave Allentown was hard in some ways and easy in others. Being a tenant of an incubator, we were never supposed to be in that building forever, and we were pretty aggressively looking for new space in early 2020. But the plan had always been to try to find space in the Allentown area, especially after we opened the tasting room in Bethlehem.

Remember this setup? Making mead in 2013 was, in retrospect, kinda ratchet.

Of course, finding space that can handle production and a tasting room is much easier said than done, and much easier done three years ago than now. So when our conversations with the new owners of Weyerbacher started picking up speed over the last year, we couldn’t help but be excited at the opportunity. We know that it will leave some of our Allentown regulars with a drive to get our stuff now. We hope someday to reopen a place near you guys; in the meantime, we’ll try to find some good accounts where you can get it (if you’ve got a local place, have them reach out to us and we’ll get them stocked up).

The next 90 days are going to be pretty insane for us, just as the last 90 have been (moving during our busiest season was definitely an adventure). Here’s the best information we have at the moment:

• Did Weyerbacher and Colony merge?

  • At the moment, it’s best described as a very close partnership. We love the team there, are longtime fans of the brand, and can’t wait to be growing together.

• When will you be able to buy bottles to go in Easton?

  • Hopefully within a few months, but some of this is up to when the various agencies say things are ok. In the meantime, Weyerbacher has at least five meads on tap there and flights.

• What’s changing in South Bethlehem?

  • We’ll be reopening with winter hours next weekend: Thursday and Friday 3-8, Saturday 12-8, Sunday 12-5

  • Ian left us to take a job that gave him more time with his newborn son, Miles. We’d be upset about it but… that kid is realllllllly cute. In the meantime, Mike and Greg and some others will cover as we get that tasting room up to speed for 2023.

  • We will have 8 Weyerbacher beers on tap there, and will continue to expand that as soon as we can sell bottles to go (kind of the flip side of the answer above).

  • We are also going to be 21+ for on-premise consumption. I’ll get into a full explanation below.

• Can I still get stuff shipped and through the Wine and Spirits stores?

  • Yes!

• Where’s my drinking horn?

  • Currently, probably in Bethlehem, but we’re happy to give it to you or keep it in Easton if that’s easier.

Once again, we can’t express enough how much we appreciate your support and patience through all of this. We’ll do our best to be as transparent and open as possible, as we always have been.

Okay, so: the decision to be 21+ in our South Bethlehem location.

We know this will inconvenience some people. But here is our reasoning:

1. The fact is that we truly have nothing in that building for people who are under 21. We don’t have food; we don’t make NA mead.

2. There are many BYO restaurants nearby that are perfectly happy to have you bring the family in with a bottle or 4-pack of mead. If it were an area where there was nowhere else to go, that would be one thing, but it’s downtown South Bethlehem; no one is without food and drink options.

3. When we look at the landscape of South Bethlehem and our place in it, we’ve sought from the beginning to create a mellow, adult, safe space for people on the South Side. That’s our niche. We have tabletop games to play and weird movies on (unless Greg is working and the Sixers are playing). Part of what makes the South Side so awesome is the diversity of options; you’ve got sports bars, college bars, farm to table restaurants, authentic ethnic foods, fine dining and everything else. None of us succeed by trying to be everything to everyone. Our niche is to be a place for adults to enjoy the best beverages made in PA in a relaxed, chill environment.

4. We now have a huge kid-friendly tasting room in Easton with food and all sorts of outdoor space, where those with families can bring everyone, drink mead and have a wonderful time.

So, those are the updates. We are very excited about 2023 in Easton, Bethlehem and beyond. We love all of you and we can’t wait to see you as we continue our journey into its second decade.

View from the Shutdown 5: The Problem With the Governor's Latest Rule

Yesterday, in a press conference at around 3 pm, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced new rules in response to rising rates of COVID-19, after a few weeks of improvement in the Commonwealth. His new rules were mostly focused on bars and restaurants (which includes PA breweries, wineries and distilleries). It banned ALL on-premise consumption of alcohol… unless it was accompanied by a meal. The rule went into effect at 12:01am this morning. Always trying to find some humor in dark times, we put up a Facebook post joking that, apparently, eating food protects you from COVID and expressing our frustration at the rule’s implementation. About one-third of people who responded joined us in an expression of “that sucks; sorry to hear it”; another third decided this was a call to action against the Governor, masks, laws and other things; the final third expressed disappointment in us for being selfish, blaming the governor for his rule instead of people who didn’t wear masks, not taking the virus seriously, and missing our chance to be a “community leader.”

If the shutdown should have taught us anything by now, it’s that 1. some will ruin a nice thing for all of us and 2. don’t read the comments. We’re dumb, because it apparently we didn’t learn.

A few things to clarify first, before getting into the real issues with the ruling:

1. Masks help stop Coronavirus spread. Wear them. Don’t be a jerk.

2. If you define being a “community leader” (in quotes because it was an odd phrase that several people used) as accepting every government action, or agreeing with one person, all the time, we were probably never going to fit that description. In fact, we spend a lot of time and energy trying to get rules we find unfair changed for the betterment of many communities of which we consider ourselves a part. It’s fine to disagree with us, but please don’t confuse that with a lack of character on our part, and we won’t on yours.

3. Of course governors everywhere have an impossible job right now trying to balance competing imperatives, and of course their primary duty is to protect citizens. But that doesn’t mean that they are immune to criticism when they do something wrong. So the idea that Wolf isn’t responsible for the shortcomings of the decisions he makes unilaterally is frankly ridiculous. Again, disagreement is good.

4. We absolutely agree that something needed to be done to protect people; we just don’t think this will do that, and it will cause real economic harm in the process of not helping.

On that note, let’s dig into the main issues with this rule, from the perspective of those of us who have to live it, every day:

Stolen from our friends at the Mint Gastropub: https://www.bethlehemmint.com/

1. The Timing.

   The rule was announced at his press conference, around 2pm. In it, he seemed to indicate outdoor seating would be unaffected. Then the press release came out around 3pm, which indicated that it was subject to the same meal restriction. The rule took effect at midnight, less than 8 hours later. As of this writing (around noon on Thursday) we still have no guidance from the state as to what constitutes a “meal”.

   This comes on the heels of two weeks in “green” and about a month in “yellow.” Every time we get set up for a state of operations (which involves things like new procedures, new seating arrangements, and new equipment to keep everyone safe), the rules change, with no warning at all. This is absurd, and does not need to be this way. If the governor’s office were considering this rule all week, giving us a heads up on Monday would have helped us prepare (for example, we have tours booked for this weekend). So, either: The governor’s office was thinking about this and was deliberately not transparent with its licensees, or this was a decision as rushed as it appears to be, and I’m not sure which is worse.

2. The Capriciousness

   This rule seems to boil down to: a person can sit in a seat at a table at an establishment. If they order a drink but do not know what food they would like yet, they can not have it. If they would like a drink but not food, they can not have it. If they order a meal and a drink, it is okay. There is, so far as anyone can tell, no justification for this on any level. Eating, like drinking, requires the removal of a mask. Either way, the person is seated at a table. Either way, the person is drinking. The only difference is the presence of food. This is what leads everyone to make memes about how COVID-19 apparently hates chicken fingers. It’s not grounded in any science, and so there’s no reason to believe this will help protect anyone.

   Some on Facebook made the argument that alcohol lowers inhibitions, and so people looking to get drunk would be less careful than those looking to eat a meal. Let’s set aside the rather cringe-inducing stereotyping embedded in that assumption, and examine it on its face. Either way, you have to sit at a table. Either way, social distancing and mask rules are still in effect. Either way, maximum party size rules were already in effect. The presence of a sandwich changes nothing.

   Ok, now to hammer the pretty ugly stuff under that assumption. It’s one thing to assume you’re a better person than someone else because of your behaviors and choices (it’s uncharitable, but at some level we all do it). It’s totally another to assume you’re better because you can afford to eat out with your discretionary income whereas someone else can only afford to have a couple drinks, or that someone else finds it healthier or more compliant with their diet or religion to eat in and drink out. There’s nothing morally superior or more socially conscious about your burger and glass of wine than someone else’s IPA and popcorn.

   Lastly: I’ve seen a few local places that are definitely not adhering to the rules. I’m not going to call anyone out, but they’re the same ones everyone has seen playing fast and loose with the rules. You know what they all have in common? KITCHENS. This rule stops us, not them. Which leads me to…

3. The Toothlessness

   We already had a lot of rules. Like most responsible business owners, we were abiding by them, and we were doing it in spite of the fact that we knew there was basically zero enforcement. Not everyone was so conscientious, and the ones who ignored the rules did so mostly to their benefit. The LCE (liquor cops) released their report for July 6-12, and it shows 77 warnings and zero violations given in 4,360 visits statewide. To some extent, I don’t blame the LCE. Everyone is winging it, and all of us were put in charge of policing someone else’s rules at our own establishments, so there’s a case for leniency.

   But, maybe, before enacting more rules that don’t promise to do much, we could try enforcing the ones we had? Because as far as I can tell, this will only impact the people who were already doing their best to keep everyone safe. The bars that ignored this before can still do it (again, they all sell food). Wolf is effectively demanding more of the responsible businesses because he finds it too hard to punish the unreasonable ones.

In case you thought July 4 weekend was more enforced.

The point of all this isn’t to complain; we know, lots of people are going through hard things, and our ability to sell mead is appropriately low on your priority list. But to the folks who dismissed this as being “inconvenient” on our feed: It’s way more than that. Decisions like this very much hold in the balance the ability of businesses like ours to exist, pay debts, and employ people. That matters a great deal to many people, and much more so when you multiply it out by all of the companies subject to this rule. Not to mention that, when a leader makes decisions that appear poorly-conceived, -planned and -executed, it raises questions about everything they do subsequently. But, even if you don’t care about the principles of fairness, effectiveness and transparency from governance, we hope you can at least care about the people whose families are affected.

So, what would we have done? Personally, I think almost every brewery/bar owner I talked to was fine going back to yellow rules, with outdoor seating only. Everyone understood them, and it was those procedures that kept the numbers moving in the right direction. Plus, it lines up with the research we have, that outdoor spaces are MUCH safer than even controlled indoor ones.

Instead, we appear to have preserved the far more dangerous indoor dining - albeit at a level that no establishment I know of can support, at 25% capacity including staff - put the hurt on responsible businesses who had just invested in outdoor spaces, and managed to do it all in a slipshod way that exacerbated partisan divides and undermined confidence in decision makers.

Once again, if you disagree with our assessment, we fully respect that. We understand that there’s a lot of not-very-clear information out there, and what we do know can lead smart, well-meaning people to disagree. We thank you for taking the time to read our views on things and consider them, and we hope to see you back in the tasting rooms soon.

Rescue Mead: Colony Meadery Teams Up with Area Shelters to Find Homes for Pets

LEHIGH VALLEY, PA— The only thing better than a can of mead is a can of mead with your next furry companion on it.

The Colony Meadery - a Lehigh Valley producer of the gluten-free craft beverage, mead - has teamed up with two Philadelphia area shelters by putting images of adoptable dogs and cats on their next can release. 

The shelters, Providence Animal Center and the Brandywine Valley SPCA, were connected to the meadery via their shared relationship with the Rights to Ricky Sanchez, a podcast about the Philadelphia 76ers hosted by Spike Eskin and Mike Levin.

"Our podcast is really about two things; basketball and dogs,” said Eskin. “When the basketball is bad, the dogs are always good. We're so proud to partner with Colony Meadery, Providence Animal Center and Brandywine Valley SPCA to raise awareness, and help find some pets forever homes."

Inspired by similar efforts by Fargo Brewing Company and Motorworks Brewing, Eskin made the connection, and a shared love of animals took care of the rest.

“We were thrilled to be able to steal this incredible idea from the breweries who came up with it,” said Colony Meadery CEO Greg Heller-LaBelle. “We know seeing these faces on cans will help these good boys and girls find their forever homes.”

“We love the passion the folks at Colony Meadery have for rescue,” said Adam Lamb, BVSPCA CEO. “It’s creative initiatives like this that make the biggest difference in raising awareness for adoption and saving more lives.”

“Providence Animal Center is honored to have our pets featured on Colony Meadery’s cans,” said Justina Calgiano, Director of Advancement & Public Relations at Providence Animal Center. "This sort of collaboration helps us reach a larger population of potential adopters, ones who may have never considered adoption. In essence, these cans are truly lifesaving.”

As part of the efforts to raise awareness, the first 76 purchasers of a case will receive a poster “signed” by one of the pets of the Meadery’s management team. Tucker, Monkey and Disraeli were not available for comment, but are assumed to be grudgingly on board with the stunt.

The cans will be released online March 16 at bit.ly/colonyship, and released to the public on March 20 at the Meadery’s Allentown Location at 905 Harrison St Suite 115 Allentown, PA 18103. A portion of the proceeds from can sales will benefit the shelter partners.

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About the Colony Meadery: The Colony Meadery's mission is to produce the boldest and most innovative meads in the world. Since 2013, they have been making award-winning gluten-free honey-based beverages that burst with flavor. They have locations in Allentown, Bethlehem and Scranton, and are available on shelves in four states. For more information: colonymeadery.com

About the Providence Animal Center: Providence Animal Center (PAC), formerly the Delco SPCA, is a lifesaving nonprofit animal welfare organization. Since 2010, PAC has found homes for over 34,000 cats and dogs. PAC’s adoption center and low-cost wellness clinic are located at 555 Sandy Bank Road, in Media, PA. To learn more about PAC’s lifesaving mission and meet animals available for adoption, visit ProvidenceAC.org.

About the Brandywine Valley SPCA:  Founded in 1929, the Brandywine Valley SPCA is the first open admission no-kill shelter in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 2019, the BVSPCA cared for more than 13,000 stray, owner-surrendered, wayward owned, and abused and neglected animals while achieving a 96% live release rate. The BVSPCA provides animal protective services for Chester County and much of Delaware County in Pennsylvania, and it holds a five-year contract with the Delaware Office of Animal Welfare to provide state-wide animal services for dogs. Animals are placed through three adoption centers: the West Chester Campus, the New Castle Campus, and the Georgetown Campus. In addition, the BVSPCA provides families with safety net and low-cost veterinary services at its three clinic locations: the Malvern Animal Health Center, the New Castle Animal Health Center, and the Georgetown Animal Health Center. The BVSPCA also operates the Animal Rescue Center (ARC), a facility dedicated to helping animals with additional needs prior to being ready for adoption, such as cruelty cases, disaster victims, and infants.  bvspca.org.

About the Rights to Ricky Sanchez: The Rights to Ricky Sanchez is the only dog-focused podcast about the Philadelphia 76ers sponsored by a gluten-free alcoholic beverage made from honey. Rightstorickysanchez.com.

The Colony Meadery will be at Tomato Fest in Pittston, PA August 18-21

Mark your calendar because The Colony Meadery will be at The 2016 Pittston Tomato Festival!

The festival will run Thursday August 18th through Sunday, August 21st, 2016. But what does the tomato fest entail you may ask? Well, that’s a great question because it’s going to be a blast.

 We’ll be here serving up all sorts of mead deliciousness. You see, mead goes with pretty much everything, and tomato based foods are definitely no exception. We are very excited to join in such a fun event. But don’t just be excited for us, because the festival has so much more to offer.

“Over fifty thousand people will attend the four-day event that has been touted as one of the best festivals in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Delicious food, a variety of live entertainment, a parade, 5K run, games, rides, arts and crafts, bingo and of course home-grown Pittston tomatoes keep bringing an enthusiastic crowd to the festival year after year.”

And there’s a tomato fight on Saturday the 20th! What’s that?! You heard right. It costs $10 to enter, where you’ll be hooked up with some protective goggles in order to partake in the tomatoey fun. What’s better than chucking squishy, slimy, and acidic veggies that are full of vitamin C  at your fellow human beings? Not much.

Beyond that, there’s a tomato parade, tomato 5k, and even a Little Mr and Little Miss Tomato Contest for kids two to six years old. What exactly does a child need in order to qualify as a Lil Mr or Miss Tomato? At this point, your guess is as good as ours… maybe they’re judged on their saucy personalities. (Ha! You see what we did there?!) 

So if you LOVE all things tomato, (the vegetable that hipsters will argue is technically a fruit) come on down, and don’t forget to bring your antacids. Read more about the festival here.