Distillery to join HiJinx, The Colony at Bridgeworks

 

The Bridgeworks Enterprise Center in Allentown is becoming a hub for the alcoholic beverage industry.

The Allentown Economic Development Corp., which runs the manufacturing incubator, has announced that a micro-distillery, County Seat Spirits, will be joining the facility in the fall with hopes of beginning production by year’s end.

“We are very excited to have the Lehigh Valley’s first distillery choose Allentown and the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center as the location to launch its venture,” said Scott Unger, executive director of AEDC.

The distillery will join to existing beverage producers HiJinx Brewing Co. and The Colony Meadery.

Anthony Durante, economic development specialist at the Bridgeworks, said having similar businesses working together so closely benefits all of them.

“We have a great mix that we’re starting to gain some expertise on,” Durante said. “We really think we can help them grow their business here.”

The partners who have formed County Seat Spirits said they think they found the right location to begin operations.

“John [Rowe] and I are very passionate about bringing high-quality spirits to Allentown,” said County Seat Spirits cofounder Anthony Brichta. “The Lehigh Valley is already home to some of the region’s finest bars, restaurants, sports venues, attractions and microbreweries. Yet, the Lehigh Valley doesn’t yet have a distillery to call its own. County Seat Spirits will fill that void.”

Durante said he expects County Seat Spirits won’t be the last distillery to open in the Lehigh Valley.

He expects recent changes to Pennsylvania law allowing for micro-distilleries will create a whole new industry in the state.

“I suspect that there is going to be an explosion in the industry,” he said. “I think soon the micro-distillery industry is going to be where the microbrewery industry was in the late ’80s and ’90s.”

He noted there already has been a handful of micro-distilleries opening elsewhere in the region, including the Manatawny Still Works in Pottstown.

Source: LVB.com