S.S. Brumbaugh Near New Enterprise, South Woodbury Township Bedford County RD# 34 9th District “Brumbaugh whiskey, bottled expressly for medicinal use,” was so well known that people began to identify […]
The History of the Miller Pure Rye Distillery
The Wheatland Distillery Miller & Mooney Womelsdorf (Ryeland) Berks County, Pennsylvania RD# 75 1st District There were many large-scale distilleries in Pennsylvania before Prohibition, and though most were in the […]
Pennsylvania’s Highspire Distillery Company
Highspire Distillery The Wilson Distillery (1823-1893) Highspire, Pa Dauphin County RD# 1 9th District There is little doubt that Highspire Distillery would have flourished into the 20th century if […]
A Little History on a Pennsylvania Classic: Rittenhouse Rye Whisky
Good ol’ Rittenhouse Rye Whisky. It’s been a standard sipper for the American rye drinker since it was launched by Continental Distilling Corporation as “Rittenhouse Square Straight Rye Whisky” in […]
The Hughes Brothers’ “Belle of Bedford”
One of the more exciting rye whiskey brands in 2023 is named after a pre-Prohibition rye whiskey from Bedford County, Pennsylvania. It is not a unique thing to start a […]
What is Rock and Rye?
What is Rock & Rye? Simply put, it is a rectified rye whiskey. Some Pennsylvanians may remember Rock & Rye from our childhoods as a medicinal treatment for a cold […]
What the Pre-Pro Master Distillers Still Have Teach Us…is a Lot.
I was talking with a distiller the other day about how little is known about pre-Prohibition rye whiskey distillers. It’s sad to think that about 200 years of generational knowledge […]
The Halloween Tragedy that Relocated a Distillery
On Halloween night, just outside Connellsville, Pennsylvania, a man was violently murdered for the gold in his pockets. Mystery surrounded the event, and for years the townspeople spun tales and […]
The Old Monocacy Creek and Her Distilleries
I was recently asked about distilleries that would have once existed in a specific area of eastern Pennsylvania. Why not, right? It seemed a good time to post about a […]
From 1925 to Repeal: How the Medicinal Whiskey Makers Changed Everything
We’ve discussed the early 1920s in the previous blog post, so let’s address what came next. We tend to think of Prohibition as the heyday of bootlegging and speakeasies…a vague, […]