Historic barn to be converted into brewery and distillery
Township commissioners who bought Willows site also planning apartments
A brewery and distillery could be coming late this summer to a Lower Macungie Township property that’s well known within the community.
Last year, township Commissioners Ron R. Beitler and Ron W. Beitler, a father-and-son pair, bought the former Willows Restaurant property, where area residents would come for Pennsylvania Dutch classics like pig’s stomach, scrapple and corn pie. But the neighborhood restaurant was forced to close after a series of floods in 2017. The building had to be demolished.
A 114-year-old barn on the property will not go to waste. The Beitlers intend to turn the bottom floor into a distillery and brewery, with two apartments on the top floor.
The distillery, Three Little Birds, will be owned by Gregory Smith of Hop Hill Brewing Co. in Lower Saucon Township. The brewery — its name is still to be determined — will be owned by Ron W. Beitler and Jason Mulligan, a former assistant production manager at Voodoo Brewing Co.
Beitler envisions a family friendly atmosphere, with a deck and a food truck.
“We want a family to come and bring kids and let kids run around on the lawn and go up to and interact with the river while the parents hit up a food truck and have cocktail or wine and beer,” Beitler said
Someday, they could bring in a bluegrass band on Sunday afternoons and families could bring lawn chairs and blankets, he said.
Beitler said the project still needs conditional use approval from the township.
Brewery and distillery
Mulligan, the head brewer, said the brewery would be a small nanobrewery and likely have four or five flagship beers on tap as well as guest taps from other Pennsylvania breweries.
Smith, who will own Three Little Birds (the name is a nod to his three
children), plans to make a variety of products including whiskies, brandies, vodkas and rum. He’ll also sell wine from local wineries.
He lives in Macungie and has wanted to bring some of his business closer to home.
“I like to give back to the community where I’m at so I wanted to try and get the business over there and help out,” he said.
There aren’t any distilleries or breweries that brew on site in the Macungie area, he said, although there are a few in Emmaus.
He said the project in the barn will provide a place for people to relax.
“There’s a lot of green space out there. You can bring your family out, enjoy yourself and try some locally made products you won’t be able to get anywhere else,” he said.
Beitler said he’s committed to creating a walking trail to connect to township property on the back of the Willows property.
He also plans to keep some Willows memorabilia around, including some old signs and knickknacks. He plans to hang blue, ceramic platters from the restaurant on the walls.
Saving a piece of history
An architect was hired to build the barn in 1907, according to a memo to the township from Sarajane Williams, president of the Lower Macungie Township Historical Society, provided by Beitler. For the next 75 years, it served as a popular site for events that drew crowds, like square dances, pig matches, cattle and horse auctions, and parties, according to the memo.
Beitler said sometimes people have stopped by the site to tell him their fraternities or sororities held parties at the barn back in the day.
“Old timers would tell me wild stories of the barn,” he said. (He doesn’t plan to generate more such tales under his watch: “We are not interested in that,” he added. “It’s definitely going to be a different vibe.”)
There are also lithographs on the barn walls that Beitler plans to preserve. He intends to leave the outside alone other than to build a deck.
Beitler is also preserving a 130-yearold spring house that was under the restaurant.