Article by Margaret Ayala
Exclusive Interview with Mr. Tim Russell, Founder and Head Distiller at Allegheny Distilling
Q: What is your full name, title, company name and company location?
Tim Russell, Founder and Head Distiller, Allegheny Distilling, 3212A Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Allegheny Distilling and what inspired you to start your own distillery?
We’re the first commercially-available rum to be made in Pennsylvania since Prohibition. All of our rums are a little different in that, rather than molasses, we’re using 100% turbinado, a raw sugar that we source from a farm in Louisiana. All of our rums are pot distilled on 100% copper pot stills imported from Spain.
I had always had a passion for brewing beer and considered opening a brewery. Conveniently, the state of Pennsylvania opened up legislation to allow craft distilling to become a viable enterprise at right about the same time I had lost my job as a project manager for a defense contractor that had just gone through a large buy-out. So I decided it was a good time to go for it, and at the time, the only spirits being produced in Pennsylvania were whiskey and vodka. I knew I had to do something different.