16 Nov Why We Find Ourselves Planning a Trip to Pittsburgh

Why We Find Ourselves Planning a Trip to Pittsburgh

We had the most delightful of Veteran’s Days. It was a glorious fall day; and the fact that in mid-November there is still a bit of color in the trees and a bit of warmth in the air makes us think we could get used to DC living. We started the day in our favorite way, with a bike ride; and we ended it with a leisurely dinner with our favorite neighbors. And in the middle we had the honor of meeting Wigle.

We found the Iron Gate restaurant tucked away down a narrow alley on a residential block. The friendly and almost chivalrously polite staff ushered us through the front room bar and out to a charming, secluded courtyard. While there was a bit of warmth in the air, there was also a bit of a nip; but the big fire pit and the plentiful heat lamps made things quite cosy. We were directed to a table under a grape arbor with a couple of other bloggers, a couple of journalists, and a few of the staff of Wigle.

Wigle is a small, craft distiller in Pittsburgh, named after one of the leaders of the Western Pennsylvanian, Revolutionary Era Whiskey Rebellion. They blend local ingredients, a statistics-based marketing approach, and fearless whimsy to create some of the most unexpected, creative, and enjoyable spirits we’ve had in a while. They’re expanding their market to DC, and they threw this lunch to introduce themselves and say hello. We’re so glad that they are, and that they did.

Over the next couple of hours, we heard the backstory to several of Wigle’s spirits, while we enjoyed course after course of delicious food, paired with tasting after tasting of Wigle’s wares. We’ve never had anything like their Hopped Wheat Whiskey, and it was made all the better by sipping it while listening to them talk about the day they harvested the hops by hand on a lot just a few miles away from the distillery.

We left our very satisfying lunch with quite a to do list:

• Return to Iron Gate for another meal and some of their own cocktails;
• Plan a trip to Pittsburgh to visit the Wigle distillery;
• Try more of Wigle’s seasonally released, thoughtfully but whimsically designed spirits.

I’m sure you’ll hear all about it as we check off each of these items.