Wigle Whiskey – Distillery Visit – Pittsburgh

Want to visit the birth place of American whiskey?  No, you are not going to Kentucky, you need to be headed to Pittsburgh, PA.  Pittsburgh is located in Allegheny County which by 1850, produced a half of a barrel’s worth of whiskey for every person in America.  **MIND BLOWN**

While visiting Pittsburgh, we always try to make our way to the Strip District to spend some time shopping, eating and people watching.  You never know what you are going to see, eat or purchase down there.  One of the newer additions to the Strip District is Wigle Whiskey.  Normally we visit the Strip District early in the day.  This visit was different because we had a dinner reservation at Butcher and the Rye restaurant (post coming soon), so we went down town a little early to stop by Wigle Whiskey.  We had planned on stopping in for a quick whiskey tasting and maybe buy a bottle, but we were surprised by so much more!

We entered Wigle Whiskey on a Tuesday night, which we thought would be a quiet, low key time to look around the facility.  To our surprise, the place was packed with people!  Wigle Whiskey hosts “labeling parties” for their customers and fans to attend.  The place was busy with people moving boxes, eating cookies and labeling bottles.  Although all of this was going on, we were greeted promptly by one of the Wigle Whiskey staff members.  They explained what was happening with the labeling party and let us know we were free to join.  FYI… If you help label, the Wigle Whiskey staff pays you in drinks and snacks!  They also take a group photo at the end.  It is a unique way that Wigle Whiskey connects with their customers on a personal level.  As for us, we had our reservation at Butcher & The Rye, so we were not able to join the group labeling.  Drinking only for us!

We started by having a cocktail while we perused the menu of flight options.  There are four different choices of flights, so it took a little time to pick one out.  While making our decision, we had fun checking out the inside of the bar/common area of Wigle Whiskey.  A lot of people were having fun drinking and labeling bottles for future customers.

What did we try?
Aged Collection(all Organic):  Straight Wheat Whiskey, Straight Rye Whiskey, Pennsylvania Bourbon and Barrel-Rested Ginever

All of the whiskey is very young.  Most have been aged at least 12 months in small oak casks.
See my full review of one of my favorites: Organic Pennsylvania Bourbon

As you can see by the wall/bar area of Wigle Whiskey, there are many different things to drink!  Wigle Whiskey has a variety of Whiskey, Bourbon, Rum, Absinthe, Ginever & bitters to sample while at the distillery.  Plan on spending some time here to fully enjoy everything they have to offer!  The cocktails are $6 each and the flights are $10.  Well worth the price to try out some craft distilling made onsite from scratch.

After the cocktails and flight, we tried out a couple more… ok, a lot more!  We had some of the Walkabout Apple Whiskey, Hopped Whiskey, Cherry Whiskey, Barrel Aged Ginever, Grappa, Spiced Landlocked(Brandy/Rum) and Absent Minded(Absinthe).

One of the workers asked us if were going to be able to join them for a tour on Saturday.  After we told him that we wouldn’t be able to make it, he graciously took us on a shortened version of the tour, but we did get in all of the highlights. We learned about the history of whiskey in Western Pennsylvania, the distillation process and also a little more about how Wigle Whiskey uses all local and organic ingredients to make their award winning alcohols.

If you live in Pittsburgh or plan on visiting, make sure to take some time to stop by Wigle Whiskey for a drink.  They are open 7 days a week with tours on Saturdays.  As you can see from the pictures, there are a many choices of bottles for purchase.  Wigle Whiskey has their staple products, but also has some seasonal and experimental/limited edition bottles.  We picked up a bottle of the PA Organic Bourbon, Walkabout Apply Whiskey and the Organic Bourbon Cask Strength to bring back to Texas with us.

Have you been to Wigle Whiskey?
Is your MIND BLOWN knowing American Whiskey was born Pittsburgh?
Do you want a drink right now?

Let us know in the comments!