Customers are making spirited dashes to Pennsylvania distilleries during the coronavirus pandemic.
At Dead Lighting Distillery in New Cumberland, lines form down Bridge Street and around the corner to Third Street as soon as the doors open. It’s not unusual for waits to last an hour.
Owners Eric and Andrea Montgomery said one day they sold 700 bottles of their booze in two hours.
“When people ran out to get toilet paper, you don’t go to the bathroom more. When people run out to get booze, they do drink more,” Eric Montgomery said.
Across Pennsylvania, distillers have been slammed since the state-run Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores closed and shut down hard booze sales in the state. Shoppers can still buy wine and beer at supermarkets and convenience stores, and, of course, beer from distributors.
Earlier this month, the LCB returned to partial life with a limited variety of wine and spirits for sale, but frustrations mounted over sporadic service on its online portal. On April 20, the agency opened a select number of its 600 stores with phone ordering and curbside pickup.
Each of the state’s counties has at least one store that will take a limited number of phone orders per day and bring purchases to cars.
In the meantime, the limited access has been a boon to the state’s nearly 130 distilleries. Business spiked overnight, taking the distillers by surprise.
Now many of them are working around the clock to meet demand, hiring additional employees and accelerating expansion plans. They’ve ramped up online ordering, shipping and curbside pickup.
“It has been insane. I know other business are struggling, but my business is booming. It’s a weird dichotomy,” said Victoria Close, owner of Crostwater Distilled Spirits in Fairview Township.
Sales are up 900 percent over a few weeks ago, Close said. They have sold out of bourbon and are distilling new batches of vodka and rye whiskey. Crostwater is also making hand sanitizer and accepting takeout food orders.
Close admits she was blindsided by the surge.
On the day Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the closure of restaurant and bar dining rooms, she remembers sobbing and expecting to file for bankruptcy. She laid off her staff.
Then, something unexpected happened. Orders started filtering in for Crostwater’s vodka, rum and bourbon. A few days later, Close said she brought back her staff. Now, she’s hiring two additional employees to cover a night shift.
“Hopefully it encourages economic growth, locally. We need to keep it in our community as much as possible,” she said.
Crostwater has also introduced shipping in Pennsylvania and has partnered with FedEx on a pilot program that allows the distiller to ship directly to customers.
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At Old Republic Distillery in York County, co-owner Bill Mathias said it has been absolutely crazy. Shipping orders grew from an average of two per week to between 12 and 24 a week, he said.
“We have been selling just unreal amounts of booze unlike we have ever done before,” Mathias said, estimating sales are up 500 percent or more.
Customers purchase at the Old Republic’s store or order ahead for curbside pickup. They also can request orders be shipped. Old Republic is making hand sanitizer for health care workers and others.
“When the PCLB stores closed, my gosh, it was such an onslaught of booze. We are running out every two and three days. It’s a big struggle. I’ve only got three stills,” Mathias said.
If the pace continues, he said he will buy more equipment and move ahead with a planned expansion his sister and partner Denise Mathias were aiming to complete for summer 2021.
Dead Lightning’s Montgomery said the limit customers’ purchases to ensure enough product for everyone. They ran out of some flavored vodkas such as blueberry, vanilla and strawberry and update inventory on Facebook.
They’ve also run out of some of the supplies used to make the spirits including bottles, caps and water. They bought a different type of bottle but the shape doesn’t match the bottling line so for now Montgomery said they are hand-bottling the spirits.
Dead Lighting is also open for food and cocktail takeout and is giving away sanitizer to those who bring 6-ounce containers.
“If someone would have told me a month a year or whatever that all the state stores were closed and you would be the only ones open, I would bet my house on that,” Montgomery said.
Here’s a list of central Pennsylvania distillers open with online sales, curbside pickup or have otherwise made options available to customers:
Appalachian Spirits: Sold at Appalachian Brewing Co.'s location at 6462 Carlisle Pike, Silver Spring Township.
Bald Hills Distillery: 5061 Carlisle Road, Dover
Crostwater Distilled Spirits: 506 Industrial Drive, Fairview Township.
Dead Lightning Distillery: 311 Bridge St., New Cumberland
Hidden Still Spirits: 435 Willow St., Lebanon
Hook & Flask Still Works: 137 N. Hanover St., Carlisle
Midstate Distillery: 1817 N Cameron St, Harrisburg,
Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works: 1 S. Union St., Middletown