Colony Meadery to debut first satellite store at Moravian Book Shop

Stacy Wescoe//July 21, 2015

Stacy Wescoe//July 21, 2015//

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Brewed in the Allentown Bridgeworks manufacturing incubator, where the beverage is sold on weekends, the meadery’s first off-site retail location will be opening in the Moravian Book Shop on Main Street in Bethlehem.

Colony CEO Greg Heller-LaBelle said his goal is to get the shop up and running in time for Musikfest next month, which will help the company get exposure for their mead – not only to local shoppers and residents in Bethlehem but to the international audience that floods the city for the festival.

He said he doesn’t expect to have any trouble meeting that goal.

“It’s happening very quickly. Everything has moved extremely smoothly,” Heller-LaBelle said.

The meadery will take over the space that had been home to a number of different delis over the years.

The space will continue to serve light fare along with mead. Heller-LaBelle said the brewer will partner with other food producers for that aspect of the business.

“We’re really good at making mead. We’re not really in the restaurant business,” he said.

At the Bridgeworks, he said, people can tour the facility and learn how the product is made, as well as interact with the County Seat Distillery and HiJinx Brewery – two other alcoholic beverage manufacturers in the incubator.

At the Moravian Bookshop, there will be more of a retail feel. Heller-LaBelle said it is a great atmosphere for people to sit and enjoy a glass of mead in a charming atmosphere.

Richard Santee, president of the board of directors of the Moravian Book Shop, said bringing in the meadery is not only an exciting way to attract a new crowd to the bookstore, it’s also an appropriate addition to the historic landmark’s offerings.

“Mead was very likely produced and served in many homes of Colonial Bethlehem and the greater Lehigh Valley during the 18th and 19th centuries,” Santee said.