Maggie’s Farm Rum has experienced years of awards for its Strip District-produced spirits, and the distillery now is parlaying that success into a new 22,0000-square-foot production distillery, tasting room and cocktail bar in Upper St. Clair.
Allegheny Distilling, which produces award-winning Maggie’s Farm Rum and Personal Day Vodka Hard Seltzer, announced plans Thursday to expand into a former wig distribution warehouse on McLaughlin Run Road in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, about 10 miles from the company’s original distillery in the Strip District.
The $4 million project is expected to be completed in early 2023.
Tim Russell, founder and head distiller of Maggie’s Farm Rum, said it was a long and arduous process to finally close a deal on an expansion space. The distillery had been planning an expansion for years, but real estate issues and the pandemic slowed things down.
“I couldn’t be more excited to finally announce this huge win for our company and employees,” said Russell in a release.
The current distillery opened in 2014 in the Strip District. It is 3,000 square feet — with a 1,000-liter still and small cocktail bar — and Russell said the company has maxxed out in the space.
Maggie’s Farm Rum has won more than 100 awards over the years, including “Best in Show” from the American Craft Spirits Association. The products are distributed in 10 states across the country.
The new facility in Upper St. Clair will include two floors that will be renovated to support a new custom-designed 3,000-liter copper pot still, over 12,000 gallons of fermentation capacity and barrel storage. It also will include a new 40-can-per-minute canning line to be used for the packaging of Allegheny Distilling products.
The plans have received unanimous zoning approval by the Upper St. Clair’s planning commission and supervisors, according to the release.
Russell said he is grateful for his customers for continuing to support Allegheny Distilling through the pandemic, and that support gave him confidence to expand locally.
“I saw the importance of ownership and investing in ourselves to preserve our future. Our customers’ continued support through one of the toughest small-business climates in history gave me the confidence to take a much bigger step on a property than planned and build out a state-of-the-art distillery in a space that should support our growth for many more years,” Russell said.
