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By Mike Crowley
MEADVILLE TRIBUNE
The history of rye whiskey production in Pennsylvania flows right through Meadville, and a film production crew was here days ago to capture the flavor of that history.
Seated in the basement vault of the Crawford County Trust Co. building, a wall of shelves lined with empty century-old Meadville Rye bottles providing the backdrop, Meadville Distilling owner Ron Mattocks told the history of the original brand as the cameras ran.
“It’s a heritage brand that was made here in Pennsylvania and has gone through a lot, all the ups and downs, and it’s a contextual story for the whole Pennsylvania ride in history, the ups and the downs of the whole thing,” Mattocks said as he was being interviewed. “And now, it’s back — and even if it’s symbolic, that’s pretty cool to be a part of that story.”
Speaking to Nate Kresge, executive producer of “Pennsylvania’s Pioneering Spirit,” Mattocks started with the ups — when Meadville Distilling, organized in 1885, was producing more 18,000 barrels of rye a year. The spirit earned a grand prix medal, the highest honor, at the 1900 Paris Exposition and was served at fine restaurants in New York City and Chicago.
The downs came largely as a result of the temperance movement: Crawford County went dry in 1916, the country followed in 1919, and a shift from rye whiskey to ginger ale couldn’t save the company, which went out of business in 1924. An attempt to restart it in 1937 lasted 10 years but failed to recapture the earlier success.
Kresge, squeezed into a corner in the former bank vault, pursued the story further, hearing next of the rebirth of the brand, beginning with the acquisition of the original Meadville Rye mash bill, or recipe, in a 2018 auction, followed by a partnership with Conneaut Cellars Winery & Distillery. Made in the western Pennsylvania tradition, with single-use oak barrels kept in a temperature-controlled facility See RYE, Page A6
Ron Mattocks, owner of Meadville Distilling, is interviewed last week in the Crawford County Trust building’s Vault event space by a film crew creating ‘Pennsylvania’s Pioneering Spirit,’ a documentary that traces the history of whiskey in the state.
MIKE CROWLEY/Meadville Tribune photos
Nate Kresge, executive producer of the documentary, shoots B-roll footage of the original mash bill, or recipe, for Meadville Rye whiskey.
Continued from Page A1 for four years before being bottled, the first new bottles of Meadville Rye in more than 75 years were released for sale in 2021.
The documentary has similarly been years in the making, according to Kresge, and it comes as a sort of cinematic chaser to “Poured in Pennsylvania,” a documentary on the state’s beer brewing history that premiered in 2018.
“We’ve been shooting for a little over a year. The first year was really just me just trying to do the research and meet with facilities, and learn what I didn’t know,” Kresge said. “When I first started this, I thought the Whiskey Rebellion was the whole story and I realized, well, that’s a chapter of the whole story.”
The Whiskey Rebellion was a series of mildly violent protests in western Pennsylvania against a 1791 excise tax imposed by the newly independent federal government. With resistance to the tax growing, President George Washington eventually sent state militia troops to put down the insurrection.
Filming will continue in the coming months as the crew talks to a few more distributors and will then shift to additional B-roll footage — “the distilling shots and the beauty shots and barrels rolling, and that sort of thing.” Once editing is completed, the film, expected to be about 90 minutes in length, will likely be screened at distilleries and small theaters around the state before being featured in film festivals, according to Kresge.
The production, which is being supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, also comes at a time when the role of rye whiskey in particular has been highlighted in the state’s history. A bill to make rye the official state spirit passed the state Senate in July. A similar bill was referred to a House committee in early September.
The rye-flavored journey through state history has been worthwhile, according to Kresge.
“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ll tell you, along with the history, just meeting the people involved in it — they’re just special people,” he said.
While the consumption of spirits and alcoholic beverages more generally has declined in recent years after spiking during the pandemic, Kresge said the impact seems to have fallen more on mass producers than craft distillers. He was optimistic that the future of Pennsylvania rye could be bright as well.
“Just like the farm-to-table movement was huge a number of years ago, I think we’re seeing a similar thing with distilled spirits,” he said.
“People want to know where it’s coming from,” Mattocks added.
“And they love the story and the history,” Kresge continued. “I think the more we can tell the story of Pennsylvania’s distilling history, the more there’s going to be a connection to it.”
Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
Ron Mattocks holds a bottle of Meadville Rye whiskey for Nick Chohany, an editor with GK Visual, the Harrisburg film production company creating ‘Pennsylvania’s Pioneering Spirit,’ a documentary that traces the history of whiskey in the state.
MIKE CROWLEY/Meadville Tribune
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