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Raising the pole: Distiller opens new Whiskey Campus

3 min read
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Photos: Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter

The Meetinghouse also is a greeting house for Liberty Pole Spirits.

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Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter

Kevin Hough escorts a small group on a tour of the production area of Liberty Pole Spirits.

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Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter

Ellen and Jim Hough, and son Kevin, left, speak to guests about opening their distillery campus.

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Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter

A mural, featuring Hough family members on the right and individuals in Whiskey Rebellion era garb on the left, adorns the bottle shop and tasting bar.

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Rick Shrum/For the Observer-Reporter

Debbie Weaver and Pocholo Reyes tend bar at Liberty Pole Spirits.

An intoxicating atmosphere continues to prevail in Washington County.

Little more than a week after the annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival enhanced the spirits of thousands, owners of Liberty Pole Spirits unveiled their new Whiskey Campus at 800 Adios Drive, a short trot from Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The grand opening took place Saturday in North Strabane. This is where Liberty Pole Spirits, bourbon and Mingo Creek’s other whiskeys will be produced.

“This has been in the works a little more than three years – from design to financing to construction. But that time has gone in the blink of the eye,” said Jim Hough, proprietor of the business.

Ground was broken for the campus 14 months ago on a two-acre tract off Racetrack Road. It was not a true groundbreaking, but a ceremony featuring the raising of a liberty pole, a symbol of protest during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion – the inspiration behind this endeavor.

The rebellion occurred when Western Pennsylvania farmers and distillers protested the federal government’s establishment of a whiskey tax. Washington attorney David Bradford, a leader of the rebellion, and his family resided in the historic Bradford House from 1788 to 1794.

More than two centuries later, whiskey again is at the forefront in Washington County. Mingo Creek Craft Distillers, purveyors of Liberty Pole Spirits, has shifted all business operations to the campus, operating with three times the space it had previously at 68 W. Maiden St. in downtown Washington.

Hough, who founded the distillery with his wife, Ellen, and their sons, Rob and Kevin, had supervised the endeavor since it opened for business on West Maiden in the summer of 2016.

The Houghs have a lease on the West Maiden property through 2025. Jim said the family “may reopen it with if’s, the primary one being if they can secure a sufficient number of employees. “This may be a challenge.”

The campus is dedicated to high-level production of spirits and more – a highlight being eye appeal. Visitors approaching the property are immediately impressed by the elegant Meetinghouse, a tasting room with a colonial theme.

Other features include a five-story barrel warehouse; a production facility; an open mezzanine from which visitors can view stills and staffers while sipping a drink; and a massive five-story, 3,600-barrel rickhouse built by Buzick Construction of Bardstown, Ky.

“Our Whiskey Campus not only celebrates our heritage and craft but also serves as a tribute to our unwavering commitment to producing boldly authentic Pennsylvania whiskeys,” said Jim Hough (pronounced “Huff”).

The production area has four 1,000-gallon fermenters plus a 1,000-gallon cooker supplied by Deutsche Beverage Technologies of Charlotte, N.C. The facility also features large pot stills: a 1,000-gallon stripping still from Vendome Brass and Copper Works of Louisville, Ky., and a 600-gallon spirit still from Specific Mechanical of Victoria, B.C.

The Houghs opened their business a few weeks after Red Pump Spirits Craft Distillers launched two blocks away, on North Main Street. The two operations became the first legal distilleries in Washington County since Prohibition (1920-1933).

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