Wigle Whiskey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Wigle Whiskey

Founded	2012
Headquarters	Pittsburgh

Wigle Whiskey (pronounced "wiggle") is a special distillery in the Strip District area of Pittsburgh. It makes small amounts of whiskey. Wigle Whiskeys are the main products of the Pittsburgh Distilling Company, which is owned and run by one family.

A Look at Wigle Whiskey's Story

Wigle started making whiskey in 2011. They opened their doors to visitors in March 2012. Wigle was the first distillery to open in Pittsburgh in a very long time. The last one had closed in the 1920s.

At that time, only two other distilleries were open in the rest of Pennsylvania. The people who started Wigle Whiskey helped pass a new law in December 2011. This law allowed small distilleries to sell their own products right at their location. This helped many new craft distilleries grow in Pennsylvania. Thanks to this law, Wigle could sell spirits directly to customers. In 2019, Wigle bought their distillery building and a nearby building. This gave them more space for tours, tasting their products, making whiskey, and hosting community events.

Who Is Philip Wigle?

The founders of Wigle Whiskey named their distillery after Philip Wigle. He was a person involved in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. This was a time when people protested against a new tax on whiskey. Philip Wigle was part of these protests. He was later pardoned by George Washington, who was the president at the time. Washington thought pardoning Wigle would help keep the young country peaceful.

Whiskey History and Tours

Wigle Whiskey became a big part of the "Pennsylvania Rye Revival." This was a time when rye whiskey became popular again. The distillery offers tours where you can learn about the history of the Whiskey Rebellion. The owners, Mark Meyer and Meredith Meyer Grelli, even wrote a book about it. The book is called The Whiskey Rebellion & the Rebirth of Rye. It talks about the history of rye whiskey and Pittsburgh. It also shares how to make rye whiskey and recipes for drinks.

In 2018, Wigle worked with the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. They made a special "Prohibition Rye" whiskey. This was for a museum exhibit about the Prohibition time in history. Wigle has also worked with other museums. These include the Mattress Factory and the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. They also partnered with the Allegheny Museum in Cumberland, Maryland, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C..

Wigle is also helping to create a "Whiskey Rebellion trail." This trail follows the Great Allegheny Passage, which is a path from Pittsburgh to Mt. Vernon. Wigle also partnered with the Omni Bedford Springs Hotel in Bedford, Pennsylvania. This town is where George Washington led his troops during the Whiskey Rebellion. Wigle also holds an annual party that raises money for good causes.

More Wigle Locations

In 2013, the Meyer family opened another place in Pittsburgh. It was called the Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse and Garden. It used to be a warehouse for fruits and vegetables. The barrelhouse became a place for tastings and tours. The family also bought two empty lots next to it. They turned these into gardens for plants used in their spirits.

In April 2017, Wigle opened a cocktail bar and bottle shop. It was called the Wigle Whiskey Tasting Room and was inside the Omni William Penn Hotel. In 2018, Wigle opened another Tasting Room and Bottle Shop in Ross Park Mall. During the holiday shopping season, Wigle also has small shops in South Hills Village Mall. Wigle has weekly "labeling parties" every Tuesday. Guests can help label bottles and get drinks in return.

How Wigle Whiskey Is Made

Wigle Whiskey production area, before it got bigger

Wigle is an "organic grain-to-glass" distillery. This means they get their ingredients from nearby farms. These farms are in Washington County, Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Wigle grinds the grains at their distillery. Then, they distill them and serve the finished products right there. The Meyer family worked with experts from Michigan State University when they started the distillery. Wigle makes their whiskey from scratch.

Wigle also did a two-year study about "terroir." This word means how the land and climate affect the taste of a product. They made batches of Rye Whiskey using rye grain from different farms. These farms were in Saskatchewan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. The distillery found that the whiskies tasted different. These differences came from the grains grown in those specific regions.

Wigle Whiskey Products

Kilted Rye & Deep Cut bottles

Wigle Whiskey makes many different products. These include Organic Straight Rye Whiskeys and Organic Straight Bourbons. They also make Dutch Style Gins, Rum, and Bitters. Wigle's Bourbon was the first bourbon made in Pennsylvania in over 40 years. In March 2020, Wigle started making hand sanitizer. They made it for Pittsburgh's first responders to help with shortages.

Awards and Recognition

Two of Wigle's co-founders, Alex Grelli and Meredith Meyer Grelli, were recognized in 2018. They were named Semi-Finalists for the James Beard Award. In 2018, Wigle Whiskey's Organic Ginever was named Best in Class Gin by the American Craft Spirits Association. Their Bourbon won a gold medal. The distillery also won 16 more medals for its other products. This made Wigle the most awarded craft distillery in the country by the American Craft Spirits Association for two years in a row.