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www.cheersonline.com 39 July/August 2015 • SCENE pork shank with roasted potato hash ($16) and a pan-seared Maryland-style crab cake with sweet pea risotto, lemon-dill compound butter ($22). Social Still also has a flatbread menu. BANKING ON HISTORY Social Still is housed in one of just eight buildings in the city that's been placed on the National Historic Places Registry: an historic bank on the South Side of Bethlehem adjacent to the old Bethlehem Steel facilities. The site was originally the Gosztonyi Savings and Trust, which helped Eastern European steelworkers settle in Bethlehem before be- coming Union Bank. Steelworkers cashed their paychecks until the plant closed in 1995. "We wanted to honor the past and repurpose the bank for the next generation," Flatt says. To that end, the restoration preserved as much as possible—including uncovering the original ceiling, using an old safe as the host stand, and aging whis- key in a former vault. A stool at the Social Still bar gives a front seat to the large glass jars of macerating concoctions. Just beyond a glass wall, the shiny copper stills remind guests that what's in those jars is made on the premises. A SMOKING SCENE The distillery currently produces vodka, gin and gum, and will soon be releasing unaged rye, un- aged rum, barrel-aged gin and bourbon. These offerings will give Social Still ample opportunities to play around with other boozy combinations. The bar recently began using a culinary smoker, infusing applewood, hickory and oak flavor direct- ly into the glass in drinks such as the Smoke & Stormy ($11). Flatt says the smoker adds an earthy flavor to cocktails and ups the "wow" factor. Flatt views Social Still as a meshing of the Chicago vibe with Brooklyn's hip culture. The bar's very name is a nod to the conviviality and interaction that ensues when people enjoy a drink or two together. And those challenges Flatt and his team faced at the onset about how to source ingredients for the shaker have proven to be the very thing that makes the concept unique. "We call our bartenders 'chefs,' and we are proud of how we reinvented the cocktail," he says. Kelly Magyarics, DWS, is a wine, spirits and life- style writer in the Washington, D.C. area. She can be reached through her website, www.kellymagyarics.com, or on Twitter or Instagram @kmagyarics. Social Still cocktails include the Raspberry Robbery, left, made with vodka, lemon, pineapple juice, raspberry simple syrup and egg white, and the Something About Berry, with triple-berry-infused vodka, lemon, basil, ginger-and- rosemary syrup and egg white. Large plates at Social Still include a pan- seared Maryland-style crab cake with sweet pea risotto and lemon- dill compound butter. Social Still uses a culinary smoker to infuse applewood, hickory and oak flavors directly into drinks such as the Weekend At Burnie's (with pineapple-infused rum, lemon, honey syrup, Kimi's orange bitters).