Distillery owner looks to boost Somerset County agritourism

Somerset County will soon have a new distillery.

By spring 2021, Maximilian Merrill plans to open Ponfeigh Distillery Inc. in Somerset Township.

“This is a $3.4 million project,” he says.

The distillery will be located along Stoystown Road, following renovation of a long-closed 84 Lumber site.

“There will be a main distillery, indoor/outdoor seating, a small amphitheater for bands and on weekends, food trucks,” says Merrill, distillery president.

A small museum will highlight Somerset County’s history of whiskey production — legal and illegal — he says.

Merrill plans to make up to 1,000 barrels per year. “We will have two types of rye, one type of gin, one type of rum,” he says.

The distillery and museum will be located near the Flight 93 National Memorial and Somerset County’s ski resorts. Merrill hopes tourists also will visit the distillery and museum and take home a bottle or two.

He, and some of his neighbors, will grow the distillery’s rye.

Merrill and a grain specialist will use Pennsylvania rye to produce an initial 200 barrels at a sister distillery in North Carolina.

What’s with the distillery’s unusual name? It comes from his 75-year-old family farm, Ponfeigh Farms, Merrill says.

Following his great-great-grandfather’s founding of the farm, an old Welsh immigrant spied the land and screamed “Ponfeigh,” Merrill says. The name stuck, with family members believing it to mean “wonderful” or “awesome”.

Later, online searches found a Welsh mining town of that name, likely the immigrant’s home, translating to “stags watering place.” That definition also fits, Merrill says. The region is popular with deer hunters and an old hunting cabin remains on the property.

“It’s kind of a fun twist of the story,” he says.

Details: facebook.com/Ponfeigh-Distillery