Two American Craft Distilleries Are Blending History Into a Bottle — and It Might Be a First
A Pennsylvania distillery rooted in the embers of the Whiskey Rebellion and a Kentucky operation that has never sourced a drop of outside spirit are doing something the American whiskey industry has apparently never pulled off before: intentionally blending Kentucky Bourbon with Pennsylvania Monongahela Rye into a single, collaborative release. The project carries a name — “Penntucky” — and a significance that stretches well beyond its label.
Liberty Pole Spirits in Washington, Pa., and MB Roland Distillery of Pembroke, Kentucky, announced they are blending what is believed to be the first intentional collaboration that will blend Kentucky Bourbon and Pennsylvania Monongahela Rye. That’s a claim worth sitting with for a moment. These are two of the oldest and most storied American whiskey traditions in existence — the rye-forward, high-proof, pot-distilled style that defined the frontier era and the corn-heavy, barrel-matured Kentucky bourbon style that came to define the country’s spirit identity. And yet, until now, nobody had ever deliberately married them in a bottle meant to be shared.
The Distilleries Behind the Blend
Liberty Pole Spirits: Pennsylvania’s Rebellious Standard-Bearer
Liberty Pole Spirits is a family owned and operated craft whiskey distillery started by Jim, Ellen, Rob and Kevin Hough in July 2016. The name itself is a history lesson. Their name comes from how some of the first whiskey producers in Washington County in the late 18th century opposed a new tax on whiskey and planted Liberty Poles throughout the county to show their unity and defiance. That heritage isn’t just marketing copy — it shapes every production decision the distillery makes.
Liberty Pole Spirits is a family owned and operated artisan distillery that focuses exclusively on producing pot distilled whiskeys from locally sourced heritage grains. Never sourced, their whiskeys are mashed, fermented, and double pot distilled on site. The Hough family origin story is one of those rare ones that actually holds up under scrutiny. The Houghs, longtime residents of Washington County, Pennsylvania, got the distilling bug in the early 2000s when Jim bought a 10-gallon still off the internet to learn the art of distilling. As Jim was contemplating retirement he began to think about what he could do for a second act, and after visiting numerous craft distilleries and developing some solid whiskey mash bills, Jim convinced Ellen that opening a craft whiskey distillery just might be a fun retirement activity…