Maggie’s Farm plans new 22,000 square foot distillery for expansion of rums and Personal Day vodka seltzer brand
Allegheny Distilling, the producer of Maggie’s Farm Rum and Personal Day Vodka Hard Seltzer, has announced plans to open a new 22,0000 square foot production distillery in Upper Saint Clair, Pennsylvania, approximately ten miles southwest of company’s original distillery in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood.
The acquisition of a former wig distribution warehouse on McLaughlin Run Road followed a recent unanimous zoning approval by both the Upper Saint Clair Township’s Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for the manufacturing of distilled spirits
“After a stressful few years of uncertainty awaiting a government decision on a fixed tax rate on distilled spirits production, followed by the pandemic, and a number of losses competing against developers in this commercial real estate market, I couldn’t be more excited to finally announce this huge win for our company and employees,” said Tim Russell, founder and head distiller of Maggie’s Farm Rum.
The company has been in the fortunate position to recognize and meet exponential demand for its packaged spirits, self-funding multiple expansions. Having maxed out the 3,000 square foot space and 1,000-liter still in the current distillery, recent growth has been costly. Supply chain shortages changed the buying of individual pallets of sugar cane and bottles to buying truckloads, all while rents for secondary storage of these materials also increased.
“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,” said Russell.
The facility’s two floors 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. This will help meet growing demand for Maggie’s Farm rums which are currently being distributed in ten states across the US. Included in the expansion is a new 40-can-per-minute canning line to be used for the packaging of a planned Maggie’s Farm Rum RTD lineup. This new packaging line will also support the growth of Allegheny Distilling’s recently launched Personal Day hard seltzer brand made with vodka and real fruit juice. A new tasting room with cocktail bar and kitchen is also being planned for the distillery.
“I’m also very happy that we were able to find great banking partners that stuck by us and committed to financing this project. It was important to me to retain the same ownership structure of friends since our founding without the need of outside investment.”
The project is being jointly financed between Enterprise Bank and the Regional Development Funding Corporation. The total investment is expected to be nearly $4,000,000. Construction is expected to be complete in early 2023. Once primary production of Maggie’s Farm shifts to Upper Saint Clair, it’s expected the original distillery in the Strip District will then be renovated to support a greater focus on retail and cocktail bar service.
ABOUT MAGGIE’S FARM RUM AND ALLEGHENY DISTILLING:
Allegheny Distilling LLC began distilling Maggie’s Farm Rum on a 75-gallon pot still in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District in October 2013 before opening its cocktail bar in the distillery in January of 2014. Production of Personal Day Vodka Hard Seltzer began in April of 2021. In the time since its opening, Maggie’s Farm has become one of, if not the most-awarded rum brand in the US with over 100 medals and commendations including:
AWARDS:
– AMERICAN CRAFT SPIRITS ASSOCIATION BEST-IN-SHOW SPIRIT
– SAN FRANCISCO WORLD SPIRITS COMP. BEST-IN-SHOW RUM
– SAN FRANCISCO WORLD SPIRITS COMP. BEST-IN-CLASS WHITE RUM
– 3X SAN FRANCISCO WORLD SPIRITS COMP. DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL WINNER
– 4X SAN FRANCISCO WORLD SPIRITS COMP. GOLD MEDAL WINNER
– 2X AMERICAN CRAFT SPIRITS ASSOCIATION BEST-IN-CLASS RUM
– 3X SPIRITS JOURNAL CHAIRMAN’S TROPHY FINALIST
– 2X NEW YORK INTL. SPIRITS COMP. DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL WINNER
– 8X RUM RENAISSANCE GOLD MEDAL WINNER
– 7X BEST-IN-CLASS/CATEGORY LIQUEUR
– 3X BEST-IN-CLASS SPICED RUM
