What's That: Dillinger & Sons distillery in Ruffs Dale marks heyday of area's whiskey production

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The 160-foot smokestack that towers above a cluster of aging buildings in the small hamlet of Ruffs Dale once served as a centerpiece in the region’s role as a major rye whiskey producer.

Today, nearly 80 years after the last bottles were filled, aged and shipped off to thirsty customers, the remains of S. Dillinger & Sons distillery still holds a prominent position at the heart of the small East Huntingdon community.

The nine-acre site was opened by Sam Dillinger in 1834. Remnants of the factory that was rebuilt in 1884 after a fire destroyed the original distillery remain in the center of the village split by busy Route 31.

“This is a substantial piece of Americana people aren’t aware of,” said historian and whiskey expert Sam Komlenic. He grew up about two miles from the distillery and after spending a career raising funds for Penn State University, returned home and now lives nearby in the former coal mining village of Yukon. “This distillery was part of the town.”

Southwestern Pennsylvania’s whiskey industry overflowed with more than 100 distilleries making rye whiskey between the 1880s and early 1900s.

What remains in Ruffs Dale is several large buildings, including one that used to serve as the large Dillinger distillery and accompanying warehouses where more than 60 brands of beverages were produced between 1884 until Prohibition in 1920.

Once Prohibition was lifted in 1933, a new owner took over operations and modernized the distillery until it was commandeered in the early 1940s to produce industrial grade alcohol in support the military during World War II, Komlenic said.

In its later years, it served as a warehouse location for Seagrams to store and distribute its alcoholic products. Seagram pulled out of the Ruffs Dale area in the 1960s and for the last half-century, the once flourishing distillery has been left to deteriorate and remains mostly vacant.

The property was purchased in 2005 by MS Sales Inc. co-owner Keith Maginsky, a physics teacher at Southmoreland High School. He said the buildings are being used to store mechanical components he purchases and hopes to sell.

“There are about two to three buildings left. When we purchased it, the roof was pretty much gone and it’s not really in a condition to be saved, although the back building is pretty much intact. We use it for storage,” Maginsky said.

He makes enough repairs to keep the buildings safe and able serve as a warehouse, but conditions are not likely to allow it be used for other purposes. About a decade ago, Maginsky announced plans to sell off building materials such as slate used on the roof, more than 3 million handmade bricks, oak beams and other wood that was crafted and remains in the interior of the distillery’s shell.

What happens next is open question.

“It’s not feasible to restore. We’ll either sell it as-is because of its age, or sell off its materials. A pie in the sky idea I’d like to do is raze the building and put in something more modern,” Maginsky said.

Maginsky grew up in rural New York State, attended college in Boston and worked for the U.S. Navy. He moved to the area to work at the now shuttered Sony plant near New Stanton and remained in the area and now works as a teacher, while buying and selling heavy equipment as a side business.

Still, he said he’s aware of the distillery’s history and its importance to the region’s whiskey heritage.

“The area around here was really hopping with coal production and whiskey. I don’t want the materials in that building to go to waste,” Maginsky said.

Komlenic sees the distillery’s remains as one that can be used to tell the region’s history.

“I believe it should be preserved to show the importance of whiskey production in western Pennsylvania. It’s the only full set of distillery buildings still standing in Pennsylvania,” Komlenic said.

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated.)