Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, Western Pennsylvania was the epicenter of American Whiskey production. Before the Prohibition Era, Pennsylvania cornered the market in rye whiskey. It wasn’t until 2011 that a distillery returned to the state.
Matt Strickland, the master distiller for Iron City Distilling, wants to honor that history.
He’s not alone in his passion. Craft distilleries have been gaining popularity over the past few years and operate under limited distillery licenses in Pennsylvania.
According to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, there were 210 active limited distillery and distillery licenses in the state as of June 2025 — a large jump from 140 active distillery and limited distillery licenses in June 2020.
Despite the growing popularity and number of drinking spots, each craft distillery has found a way to stay unique and tackle a tough sales year in 2025.
On a mission
Curt Smith and his wife, Michelle, founded 7th Ward Spirits in Greensburg. The agave spirit producer is named for the place Smith and his wife met — Hilltop, the seventh and eighth districts of Greensburg.
Both had a passion for agave spirits. In 2022, the two began seriously experimenting with agave to see what they could create. After trying to locally produce agave spirit, Smith said they realized nothing could compare to the authentic spirits created in Mexico.
7th Ward is labeled an NDP, or non-distiller producer. Their still is in Jalisco, Mexico, which is also where they import the agave spirit from. From the drinks they produce to the bottles’ logo, the Smiths consistently try to weave Mexico’s culture into their products.
Katie Sirianni, owner of Love, Katie Distilling in Sharpsburg, wants her creations to act as a love letter to those who frequent her business.
“Love, Katie Distilling was created as a love letter from me to my fiance, Jen (Procacina),” Sirianni said. “It’s meant to be a love letter that can be shared with anybody.”
Sirianni said she is the first person to run a gay-owned distillery in Pittsburgh. She said it was extremely important to highlight love in all of its forms through her work. Love, Katie opened its doors on International Pride Day on June 28, 2023.
The distillery creates and sells vodka, gin, coffee liqueur and other spirits. Sirianni also has a front-of-house speakeasy-like cocktail lounge on the same site as her still. Her cousin Brian Zalweski helps her distill the spirits.
Founded in 2012, Wigle Whiskey was named for Phillip Wigle, who, in the 1790s, stood up for his right to distill in a physical dispute with a tax collector and unwittingly helped spark the Whiskey Rebellion.
The original distillery owners, the Meyer-Grelli family, lobbied for a change in state law that would allow distilleries to sell their products on site rather than strictly through state stores.
A distillery that helped pave the way for others in the state, Wigle has slowly grown over the years with locations in Ross Park Mall and pop-ups in South Hills Village and Westmoreland Mall. Wigle products are sold in stores across Pennsylvania and 42 other states. A Wigle cocktail bar and kitchen was opened in 2024 along Smallman Street in the Strip District.
“We don’t release anything under four years of age,” said Alex Moser, COO of Wigle Whiskey.
Wigle has five distillers on its team. The distillery stores their rye whiskey products for six years and their bourbon for four years.
“I really don’t believe I’m selling whiskey,” Moser said. “I’m selling experiences and memories.”
Moser said Wigle creates drinks with an intent to honor and remind people of the history of Pennsylvania rye whiskey. This is a sentiment shared by whiskey distillers throughout the area.
“Rye whiskey was a very important part of this country — you know, indigenous to this region,” Moser said. “We’re celebrating something that started here.”
Similar to Iron City’s and Wigle’s mission, Jim Hough, who co-owns Liberty Pole Spirits in North Strabane in Washington County, wants to rejuvenate the name and culture Pennsylvania Rye once had.
Hough co-founded the distillery with his sons Rob and Kevin and his wife, Ellen. Hough handles the finances, his sons do all the distilling and his wife specializes in marketing. Founded in 2014, Liberty Pole’s first location was in downtown Washington City in 2015. Steadily growing, the distillery moved and opened in its current location in 2023.
Considering the Whiskey Rebellion Festival is hosted annually in Washington, Hough said there was a lot of excitement when the distillery was announced.
The distillery’s tasting room is like stepping back in time to 18th century Pennsylvania, Hough said.
“We’re really working to honor the whiskey heritage of Pennsylvania.”
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pennsylvania was making three times as much whiskey as Kentucky, Hough said; most of it was rye. He sees the Iron City guys as kindred spirits since their aspirations to get the state back on the map as a whiskey powerhouse align.
“Prohibition really damaged Pennsylvania’s whiskey role, but we’re working hard to bring back the recognition of Pennsylvania as a real workhorse and birthplace of American whiskey,” Hough said.
Industry costs
As Jim Beam bourbon whiskey shutters its main distillery for 2026, citing lack of sales and federal trade policies, questions about the success of local craft distilleries loom.
For most local spots, trade policies aren’t an issue because imports aren’t in the conversation. Most craft distilleries in the area sell their wares within the state or county. Ingredients are also sourced locally if they can help it.
For the Smiths, local ingredients aren’t always an option — they depend on imports to create their products. Once the spirit reaches their production floor in Greensburg, Smith said, they work with the spirit enough to create drinks that are considered products of Pennsylvania.
“We found that Jalisco produced the best agave,” Smith said. “We did all of our testing locally, and it didn’t meet our standard of what we thought our customers deserve. If we were going to do this, we wanted it to be a quality product.”
Agave spirits produce tequila, mezcal, sotol, raicilla and bacanora. The couple experiment with a variety of the drinks, but for now, they focus on producing mezcal and a spirit similar to tequila. They’re planning to add more drinks to their repertoire later this year.
“We take what’s in Mexico, bring it here and process it,” Smith said.
Smith said the import costs are expensive, but nothing the couple didn’t expect when committing to work with Mexico.
“It’s a cost we signed up for,” Smith said.
The Smiths aren’t affected by tariffs, because agave spirits are considered a non-tariffed item under federal trade policies.
“We’ve been very lucky,” Smith said.
As for sales, after going public with their company in 2024, the Smiths can only report good things with their first year in business.
“(We’re) too new to say if sales are going up or down,” Smith said. “Last year my sales were zero.”
While Moser said there is a dip in spirits sales across the country, Wigle Whiskey has no intention of slowing production.
“We have about 100 employees. We barrel about 25,000 to 28,000 proof gallons of whiskey every year,” Moser said.
He said it’s a widespread trend that people are spending less in general and drinking beverages with lower Alcohol By Volume levels.
“There’s no question — not necessarily for us — broadly speaking, people are drinking less right now,” Moser said.
Moser said the Wigle team remains encouraged to keep barreling whiskeys because it’s a long-term market. He said that in four years, the market likely will have changed. Wigle always put products on the shelf with room to edit them depending on what the market will look like when it matures.
“2025 was a very challenging year for everybody in the industry,” Sirianni said.
She said her friends in the hospitality industry — including restaurant owners, brewery owners, distillery owners and specialty shop owners — have seen their sales dip the past year. Sirianni said she hopes business picks up in 2026.
Hough said Liberty Pole saw a little dip in sales in 2025.
“People are definitely being a little more cautious with their discretionary income, for sure,” Hough said.
He said he truly believes people are embracing the craft whiskey community and straying from big-name brands. Hough said major companies such as Jim Beam are owned by foreign entities and are operating on a much larger scale than Liberty Pole.
“We are making each bottle by hand, and there’s just a lot of uniqueness and great flavors,” Hough said.
Industry support
While each distillery is unique in its mission and process, one thing seems to remain a constant: The creators of craft spirits all support each other in the practice of introducing products that make people happy. They also regularly communicate with each other.
Sirianni credits her confidence to start Love, Katie to other distillery owners in the area. She said she particularly holds gratitude for Lucky Signs Distillery owner Christian Kahle.
“If it wasn’t for Christian, I might have never turned on my still,” Sirianni said.
She said her time in the alcohol industry has brought valuable friendships.
Moser said it’s all about friendly competition.
“Sure, I love Liberty Pole,” he said. “Do I want to sell more rye than them? I do. But I also love those guys and recognize they make a really great product.”
Local distillery owners will often spend time with each other and share a drink or two. They communicate regularly and form business relationships as well as friendships.
“It’s the most supportive industry I’ve ever been a part of,” Hough said. “There are no secrets.”
Strickland said he views the spirits industry as a place of respect and common goals. He said there’s a ton of room to maneuver and innovate while maintaining good relationships with peers in the field.
“Any project I work on, one of the first things I do is go in and take a look at what the local distillers are doing,” Strickland said. “I don’t want us to step on anybody else’s toes. We want to be friends with folks.”