Founded 2012 | Headquarters Pittsburgh | |
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Wigle Whiskey (pronounced "wiggle") is an artisan small batch whiskey distillery in the Strip District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Wigle Whiskeys are the flagship products of Pittsburgh Distilling Company, LLC, which is entirely family owned and operated. When it opened in 2012, Wigle was the first distillery to open in Pittsburgh since Joseph S. Finch's distillery, located at South Second and McKean streets, closed in the 1920s. At that time, only two other distilleries existed in the rest of Pennsylvania.
Founders Mark Meyer, Mary Ellen Meyer, Meredith Meyer Grelli, Eric Meyer, Alexander Grelli, and Jeff Meyer named the distillery after Philip Wigle, a man convicted of treason in 1794 and sentenced to hang for his actions in the Whiskey Rebellion, before being pardoned by George Washington. Wigle had beaten up a tax collector and participated in burning down his house.
The distillery offers tours, which include some history of the Whiskey Rebellion.
The distillery uses local, organic grains from nearby Washington County, Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio and distills their whiskey from scratch, milling their grains on site.
Current products include "white" wheat and rye whiskeys, as well as a Dutch-style ginever, wheat and rye whiskeys aged in small casks, organic bitters, and a rum-like spirit distilled from buckwheat honey. Each month they feature an experimental, limited-edition spirit called Wigle's Whim. Wigle also sells small oak barrels for customers to age their own whiskey in a small cask.
The Meyer family worked with the Artisan Distilling Program at Michigan State University throughout the start up of the distillery. The founders of Wigle Whiskey were instrumental in creating new legislation, which led to the passing of a state law in December 2011 that allows for craft distilleries to sell their own products on site.
In 2013, the Meyer family opened a new facility in the Northside area of Pittsburgh, the Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse and Garden. A former produce warehouse, the barrelhouse offers a new destination for tastings and tours. In addition, the family purchased two vacant lots alongside the barrelhouse that will be used to plant botanicals used in the spirits.