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‘It is the immortal Fourth of July; all fountains must run wine today!” Melville wrote in “Moby-Dick” in 1851. “Would it be old Orleans whiskey now, or old Ohio, or unspeakable old Monongahela!”
Now, after nearly a century of obscurity, Pennsylvania rye is finally making a comeback — rye whiskey is one of the fastest-growing categories of spirits in the country.
There is now a Whiskey Rebellion Trail, a consortium of distilleries and historic sites around the Mid-Atlantic. And this fall the ghost giant Beam Suntory will release an Old Monongahela version of Old Overholt, a legendary whiskey brand from Pennsylvania it acquired in 1987.
Old Overholt is named after Abraham Overholt, whose family founded the huge distillery in Broad Ford, but started at a location called West Overton, 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. Today, in a museum complex called West Overton Villageassists Mr. Komlenic, the whiskey expert, in setting up an exhibit on the history of Pennsylvania whiskey.
West Overton Village is also starting with whiskey: last year Mr. Komlenic supervised the release of a very small batch of Old Monongahela, distilled and aged in one of the museum’s buildings. It’s spicy, earthy and herbaceous – a flavor that reflects Pennsylvania’s long distilling past, and possibly the future.
If you go…
Mountain Laurel Spirits 925 Canal Street, Bristol, Pennsylvania; 215-781-8300; dadshatrye.com
New Liberty Distillery 1431 Cadwallader Street, Philadelphia; 267-928-4650; newlibertydistillery.com
Stoll & Wolfe Distillery 35 North Cedar Street Behind, Lititz, Pa.; 717-799-4499; stollandwolfe.com
Mingo Creek Craft Distillers 68 West Maiden Street, Washington, Pennsylvania; 724-503-4014; freedompolespirits.com
Wigle Whiskey 2401 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh; 412-224-2827; wiglewhiskey.com
West Overton Village 109 West Overton Road, Scottdale, Pennsylvania; 724-887-7910; westovertonvillage.org
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