Online sales keep Western Pa. breweries, distilleries, wineries in business during coronavirus pandemic
In the age of coronavirus, we drink alone.
But sales figures from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, based on heavy traffic to its Fine Wine & Good Spirits website, and reports from distilleries and wineries in the region since the covid-19 pandemic shut down the Keystone State a month ago show people are still drinking.
State stores closed their physical locations March 17. The Fine Wine & Good Spirits website has been tricky for customers to use since it reopened April 1.
Beer distributors remain open.
Licensed grocery and convenience stores still have beer and a limited selection of wine.
For those wanting Pennsylvania-made liquors, wines and craft beers, there are options. Some brewers are offering curbside pickup. Wineries and distilleries are allowed to sell directly to consumers on their websites. The volume of online sales has increased even as the physical locations have been forced to close to the public.
“This is just unprecedented,” said Dave Harmon, a co-owner of Lawrenceville Distilling Co. “We increased production.”
The small, craft distillery is one of several in the region’s burgeoning spirits scene that has shifted its focus. It once mainly catered to connoisseurs who visit a tasting room. Now it offers curbside pickup or fills online orders, which used to make up a small portion of the distillery’s business.
“For us, this is a lifeblood,” Harmon said of the ability for small Pennsylvania distillers to be able to fill orders online.
Others agree.
“We’ve seen a huge uptick in our online orders. It’s been amazing,” said Jim Hough, co-owner of Washington, Pa.-based Liberty Pole Spirits.
Before the coronavirus pandemic caused a shutdown of bars, tasting rooms and the state’s Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, “online orders were sparse,” Hough said.
“Now that there’s really no other options for people, the online sales have become really hot,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can to fill the orders daily.”
The increase has helped to keep the distilleries in business despite losing the ability to make face-to-face sales, Hough said.
“We’ve always had an online store, but it’s really cranking now,” said Barry Young, master distiller, president and founder of Glenshaw-based Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, which makes Boyd & Blair-branded vodka and rum.
“It’s been a crazy new extension for our company,” Young said. “We went from doing a few dozen (online orders) a month to a couple hundred a day. We actually added staff.”
Tim Russell, owner and distiller at the Strip District-based Allegheny Distilling, which makes Maggie’s Farm Rum, tells a similar story.
“We’ve been on a huge run,” Russell said. “We’re having trouble keeping up.”
So much so that they may soon run out of liquor to sell. Russell has been exploring options of using a transfer permit to source some other rum to meet the demand, he said.
Wigle Whiskey is also based in the Strip District, with its offshoot business Threadbare Cider House and Meadery in the Spring Garden section of Pittsburgh’s North Side. It, too, is catering to online clientele, co-owner Meredith Meyer Grelli said.
The business had operated seven tasting rooms in the region. Its online business was a small potion of its sales.
“All of those shut down overnight on Sunday, March 15, and we became an e-commerce business literally overnight,” Grelli said.
The increase in online sales has allowed Wigle to remain open and reach new customers, she said.
“They’re ordering everything,” Grelli said.
Here’s a roundup of Pennsylvania producers of alcoholic beverages that are offering either online sales, curbside pickup or have otherwise made options available to customers during the covid-19 pandemic. Click on the hyperlink for ordering information:
- Allegheny Distilling, maker of Maggie’s Farm Rum
- Arsenal Cider House
- Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries (Boyd & Blair)
- Pennsylvania Libations
Did we miss one? Send an email tdavidson@triblive.com with the information and we’ll update the list.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
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