Midnight Whistler opening soon in former Hough’s space in Greenfield
Midnight Whistler is the nickname for a bigfoot — hence the bigfoot head you will see on the wall of the pub that’s replacing Hough’s Taproom in Greenfield.
The new place is expected to open in early November, pending some permit approvals.
“Midnight Whistler is a nod to bigfoot,” said owner Ben Butler. “It sounded like a good name for an English pub.”
The name for this new establishment came from a beer brewed at Necromancer Brewing in Ross, which Butler also owns. He and his team have spent the past few months remodeling the Greenfield space, including the installation of a new draft system that has 18 taps. It will have a few guest taps as well as cocktail taps.
Necromancer opened in 2021 by resurrecting brews of the past, such as Kentucky Common, a pre-Prohibition dark cream ale and Grisette, a Belgian mining town fresh table beer, among others. It still continues to bring back old beers and is up to 30 of them.
Some of those will be served in Greenfield. The plan is to consistently have English styles available, such as Necromancer’s World Beer Cup winning English Style Pale Ale and Indiana Brewer’s Cup Dark Mild, Butler said.
There will be regular cask ale program. With cask ale, yeast is added to create carbonation naturally, rather than by fermentation. Once tapped, it’s fresh for about 24 hours.
The sole production will continue at the Ross location, where the canning system has been upgraded. Midnight Whistler will also serve cocktails made with Pennsylvania spirits. Mocktails are also on the drink menu.
The food and beverage part of the business will be handled by general manager Mindy Heisler, and her husband, bar manager Hart Johnson. The couple previously owned Mindy’s Take & Bake in Sharpsburg.
Heisler said she looks for seasonal ingredients when creating a menu.
“It is important to have fresh, made-from-scratch foods,” Heisler said. “We are open to menu changes. We want to know what the people of Greenfield want to eat and drink.”
Complementing the beverages will be a menu of homemade items such as sausage, bratwurst and kielbasa. Midnight Whistler will make its own biscuits, bread and butter pickles, and cheese sauce.
Starting out, there will be smoked wings, brisket that has been brined for 24 hours, hot honey baked brie and pastrami, and fried chicken sandwiches.
The big smashburger comes with two patties of a custom ground beef blend, special sauce with a mayonnaise and paprika base, and house made bread and butter pickles on a Mancini’s brioche bun.
The cheesesteak smash is a patty melt with peppers and onions on grilled Mancini’s Italian bread. The Bangor mash has English sausage links with mashed potatoes and beer and onion gravy.
“That is such a comfort food,” said Johnson.
They will also offer vegetarian options.
“It is important to have great food because people have many choices of where to spend their money,” Heisler said. “We want to make food that is worth leaving the house for. I love to feed people and it is important to put some heart into what you are making.”
Butler said Heisler and Johnson are perfect to lead the food and beverage side of the business with their restaurant experience and that their food is amazing.
The plan is to serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, which will include homemade breakfast pizzas and pastries.
They will open at 8 a.m. seven days a week and feature coffee from 19 Coffee in Whitehall. They will serve specialty coffees, espresso, breakfast sandwiches, pastries and homemade biscuits. There will be a coffee den with a fire place and comfortable seating, great for guests who want to do some work.
David DiOrio, owner of 19 Coffee, said when Heisler asked about being part of the coffee program, he immediately said yes.
“This is a wonderful idea,” DiOrio said. “This is happening in other places across the world where there is a coffee concept in the morning that becomes a beer and cocktail concept in the afternoon. It will be great to have our coffee in Greenfield. I am glad to see Hough’s getting a second life.”
Midnight Whistler is located at 563 Greenfield Ave.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region’s diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of “A Daughter’s Promise.” She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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