The first post-Prohibition distillery in Washington, Pa., softly opened April 1 in a storefront at 32 N. Main St. It’s called Red Pump Spirits.

And a second whiskey distillery and tasting room is set to join it a few blocks away in time for the town’s Whiskey Rebellion Festival in July, which celebrates the region’s starring role in the early 1790s protests by frontier farmers on a federal excise task on their whiskey.  

The name “Red Pump” is a nod to the 1786 farmhouse in which owner and distiller Ed Belfoure grew up in the Washington County coal patch of Cokeburg. Other locals, who lived in newer company houses, called it The Farmhouse. His grandparents left it to his mom, who left it to him, and she told him if he ever sold it, to keep the outdoor red water pump.

He did, and the pump is to grace the tasting room, joining a drawing of the historic house, says Mr. Belfoure, who now lives in South Strabane. He started Red Pump after retiring as a chemistry instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. “I’ve been distilling for 30 years, but not for human consumption,” he says with a grin. “I finally got to distill something I can drink.”

Those spirits include Farmhouse Whiskey, a wheat whiskey, with a rendering of that historic house on the label; Rebellion Rye Whiskey; Blue Parrot Vodka; and three fruit liqueurs with local names and vintage-looking labels: Washington Cherry, Jefferson Peach and Bradford Blackberry (named for Whiskey Rebellion leader David Bradford, whose nearby home is now a museum).

Good Spirits Guide: Pittsburgh region's craft distilleries booming

The whiskeys, because they must age in barrels, are limited in availability now (the next batch of wheat is to be available in late summer). They cost $32.95 (wheat) and $37.95 (rye); the vodka is $24.95; and the liqueurs are $28. He (or his wife, Judy, who’s helping him) will also sell you a single 2-ounce glass of any of them to drink there for $5; smaller tastings are $3 for two spirits or $5 for four.

He distills them on site on a micro-sized operation in the back. He has an open room that can be rented for events, and the tasting room is in front, which right now is furnished only with a small bar. Hanging on the wall is a reproduction of the Whiskey Rebellion flag.

Mr. Belfoure says the distillery and its website are works in progress. His plans include offering Saturday tours and donating the proceeds to local charities. He also is working to distribute his spirits to local restaurants and bars. His own retail hours are starting out as 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

A few blocks away, another distillery is coming together. Mingo Creek Craft Distillers, maker of Liberty Pole Spirits, is being outfitted with a 300-gallon still and a 15-gallon research and development still in a former monuments works at 68 W. Maiden St. (Route 40).

The name is a reference to local rebels during the Whiskey Rebellion, who called themselves the Mingo Creek Society. Jim and Ellen Hough of nearby Cecil hope to be making their first whiskey there by mid-May and to be fully open by the time Washington holds its annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival on July 7-10. Learn more at mingocreekcraftdistillers.com. 

The David Bradford House, at 175 S. Main St., plans to work with both distilleries to better tell its story. Pittsburgh’s PA Brew Tours visited both and other sites this week and plans to start a “History on Tap” tour to Washington County this summer, tentatively titled the “Whiskey Rebellion: Taxation & Libation Tour.” The tour company’s Sherris Moreira says that this new series, including one of Deutschtown, “will enable us to include historic sites, quirky bars and nontraditional watering holes on these tours.”

Red Pump Spirits: 32 N. Main St., Washington, PA 15301; email rpspirits@gmail.com or call 724-249-2721; redpumpspirits.com.

Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.

First Published: April 23, 2016, 4:00 a.m.