By Richard Thomas
(Credit: Iron City Distilling)
The arrival of craft distilling in Pennsylvania gave rise to one of the most interesting features of the entire category: the revival of Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey. Once the most popular style of whiskey in America, by the 1990s both the style and the distilleries that made it had gone extinct. The most iconic of Pennsylvania Rye brands, Old Overholt, survived only because corporate machinations took the brand over to Jim Beam.
For many years, the revival of Pennsylvania Rye has been limited to just one of the many particular features that identified that style: a very high rye mash bill. Now a latecomer has come up in Pittsburgh that brings two more classic features to the revival: Iron City Distilling. Moreover, they do this despite the end of the Bourbon Boom: their first straight rye was launched only at the end of 2025.
I was happy to delve into this milestone in the Pennsylvania Rye Revival with Iron City Distilling President Peter Katz and the Master Distiller, Matt Strickland.
RT: In my book (literally), one of the most exciting aspects of the 2010s craft distilling boom was the revival of Pennsylvania whiskey-making. Can you tell me how Cliff Forrest, who already had a legacy beer brand in Iron City, got inspired to get into distilling?
PK: As they began the renovations for the Brewery here in the historic PPG Glass plant, they found themselves with a vacant building in the rear – the original boilerhouse. After much deliberation he decided a distillery would be the best fit. Once this was decided, the big question was what should we make? That question became very clear once he brought Matt Strickland on board. Matt has great experience in the industry and is very talented. He researched every detail of the historical methods and also what current distillers were doing and landed on a period of time from the later 1860’s to prohibition to model our whiskey after. The Golden Era of Rye here in PA. Cliff loved the idea and is in complete support of doing this special style of whiskey and bringing back history.
RT: It really seems to me that Iron City has been designed to check the signature boxes for the Keystone State’s whiskey style: very high rye content and no corn; sweet mash; a three-chamber still; and a steam-heated rickhouse. The latter two in particular strike me as exotic, but necessary extras. Did going for this extra authenticity cost substantially more?
PK: In a nutshell, absolutely yes. And as Matt will say – the accountants are not happy. But as you say they are necessary extras to assure we replicate the whiskey of that era. We have a few other steps that also cost more – heirloom grains, 50% malted rye, custom made 40 gallon barrels, and a barrel entry proof of 101. When you add up all these details you get a rye whiskey that differentiates itself. It is a beautiful expression of that Pre-Pro timeframe. As is matures, we can see how the flavors and aromas are progressing and we are very excited to be able to share this piece of history in the future. It truly is history in a bottle.
RT: For whiskey fans who are most acquainted with how they do things in Kentucky and Tennessee, and you’re taking a comprehensive, authentically Pennsylvania approach. Most readers either do or should know about how sweet mashing works, so I’ll leave that be and start with the three chamber still. I don’t need all the fingers on one hand to count how many there are. How did you get that built?
MS: For the three chamber I went directly to Vendome as (at the time) they were the only company that had built one in the modern era (there is now a second company making them). They didn’t have a lot to go on as Leopold Brothers didn’t give them much feedback from the original design. We largely stuck with the Leopold design while adding some additional safety features that we felt were missing. Once we got it in place, we quickly realized that a few other changes needed to be made, but we’ve been happy to share those with Vendome and others such as Neeley Family Distillery.
(Credit: Iron City Distilling)
RT: How does a three chamber still differ from the pot stills, beer stills and crafty hybrids that most enthusiasts have seen?
MS: The reason the chamber still is so important to us is that historically speaking, Western PA was really where it made its mark in American whiskey production. But with regards to whiskey character, these stills operate under pressures that are higher than atmospheric, which means that boiling points are raised inside the still well beyond what you would typically see in a standard pot or column (we also use a 1500-gallon pot). The higher boiling points allow us to rip more heavy oils and acids out of the grain, which dramatically increases the amounts of esters in the whiskey downstream post-maturation. We also get higher furfural levels according to our GC analysis.
RT: Iron City Distilling was announced in 2021 and your first in-house rye was only released this past December. It could be said you’ve arrived just as the Bourbon Boom is clearly at an end. What is your outlook for building up Iron City in a market that is either flattening or shrinking?
PK: Of course there are concerns with the market. It is a tough time for many. But, when we dig deep into the numbers and see who is successful and growing right now, it starts with what is in the bottle. These are producers that are focusing on processes, local grains, heritage in their region, and have a great brand story with transparency and authenticity. Bessemer and all that and is a very special whiskey that is differentiated. We have also seen many bourbon drinkers try our rye for the first time and they light up. We have already seen some of those consumers prefer rye and come back for more. There are many other Pennsylvania Rye producers making great whiskey as well and we are bullish that all of us together will create a Rye Revival and bring Pennsylvania Rye back to the prominence it had in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. The history, the quality, and the flavor all add up to a growing demand for what we are doing. We are a proud community of distillers and we are very excited to see where things are headed for PA Rye Whiskey.
RT: You also went for the steam-heated rickhouse. I think most fans are familiar with that concept from Buffalo Trace, but the thing is that winters in Pittsburgh are several degrees colder than in the Bluegrass. First, how warm do you keep the rickhouse? And second, how do you think your maturation would differ if you weren’t using steam heat to keep out that icy Pittsburgh winter?
(Credit: Iron City Distiling)
MS: Steam heated warehouses were common in PA and Maryland prior to Prohibition. Buffalo Trace and Brown-Forman both have steam-heated warehouses. The difference is that both of those companies will tend to cycle the steam on and off at different points in the year. We leave ours on year-round. This keeps the wood pores expanded and allows for more ester formation. We try to maintain a minimum temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit even during the colder months. During the hotter months, the temperatures can get to be well over 100 degrees in the upper racks.
There is a slight “myth” about seasonal cycling in warehouses that kind of drives me nuts. The story, as we all “know,” is that during the warmer months, the whiskey expands and pushes deeper into the wood and then contracts and moves out of the wood during the colder months. It sounds nice but that’s not really what’s happening and it’s sadly a gross oversimplification. When the barrel is completely FULL, it will push deeper into the wood but after a year’s worth of absorption and evaporation, there’s headspace left in the barrel. When the warmer months come back around for year two, the whiskey doesn’t really “expand” into the wood so much as it just fills the headspace a little bit. The warmer months are probably opening the pores of the wood a bit more, which simply offers greater surface area for oak interaction. For us, we want those pores to stay as open and interactive as possible to create the classic fattened whiskey profile of old Monongahela rye. (I have some interesting email exchanges between a historian friend and the late Dave Pickerell where he also reasons some similar theories.) In the end, I don’t think we’re doing anything “better” than the guys in Kentucky. We’re just doing it differently. Obviously, BT and BF and everyone else make great whiskey. We just want to make ours differently so that the profile is more in line with what was being done 150-some-odd years ago.
RT: Iron City Distilling is adjacent to your stablemate, Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Since brewstilleries are very much a thing, can we expect some barrel exchanges between the distillery and brewery and maybe back to the distillery in the future?
