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.
The family all-in commitment deepened further when the next generation got involved. Rob and Kevin, both mechanical engineering graduates who were on their own promising career paths, decided they didn't want their parents to have all the fun and joined the family business. That mechanical engineering background, it turns out, is a significant asset for a family running its own still program. From day one, the Houghs were building something meant to last.
Western Pennsylvania whiskey maker Liberty Pole Spirits is located in its hometown of Washington, Pennsylvania, about 28 miles south of Pittsburgh. Washington and the surrounding area of Washington County are located in the historic farm country of the Whiskey Rebellion, which took place from 1791 to 1794. That is not incidental geography. The distillery is essentially operating in the same soil where American farmers once took up arms — or at least sharpened their rhetoric — against Alexander Hamilton's federal excise tax on distilled spirits. The distillery is a gateway back to the meeting places of the Mingo Creek Society, a group of Scotch-Irish veterans of the Revolutionary War who were distilling whiskey when the newly formed government imposed an Excise Tax, prompting the Mingo Creek Society to erect liberty poles all over the county to openly display their opposition.
The distillery's commitment to place isn't performative. In keeping with the Hough family's longstanding commitment to local whiskey history, the new distillery is fronted by a strikingly accurate reconstruction of an 18th-century stone meetinghouse — like those where the rebels met to oppose Alexander Hamilton's whiskey tax. Inside are two bars serving cocktails, neat pours, local beer, and small bites in a colonial atmosphere that includes four stone fireplaces.
Growth has been steady and deliberate. The distillery started as a 300-gallon operation and expanded to a 600-gallon operation in 2019, then moved to a distillery campus in July of 2023 where they were able to triple their production. The new production setup consists of a 1,000-gallon mash cooker, four 1,000-gallon fermenters, a 1,000-gallon stripping still from Vendome, and a 600-gallon spirit still from Specific Mechanical out of Victoria, BC. That's a serious piece of kit — Vendome Copper and Brass out of Louisville is the same fabricator that supplies some of the largest and most respected operations in Kentucky. Liberty Pole is playing the long game.
The core lineup reflects the distillery's deep commitment to regional grain identity. Their core lineup consists of Monongahela Rye, Bloody Butcher-based Corn, Bourbon and Peated Bourbons, as well as their always popular Bourbon Cream Liqueur, alongside a number of single barrels and one-off experimental whiskeys such as Peated Rye, High Rye Bourbon, Mesquite Rye, Spiced Whiskey, and American Single Malt. The Bloody Butcher corn, a red-kerneled heirloom variety, gives their grain-forward expressions a distinctive rusticity that modern industrial bourbon simply cannot replicate.
MB Roland Distillery: Kentucky's Grain-to-Glass Pioneer
MB Roland Distillery is a Pembroke, Kentucky-based craft distillery, opened in 2009, and is known as Kentucky's first modern completely grain-to-glass craft distillery. It was founded by Paul and Merry Beth ("MB") Tomaszewski. The name combines the founders' initials with Merry Beth's maiden name, Roland — a small but meaningful detail about what kind of enterprise this is. The site of the distillery sits on a former Amish family farm, which serves as the home for the visitor center, rickhouse, and distillery. There is something quietly fitting about that — a place dedicated to handcraft and self-sufficiency providing the grounds for one of Kentucky's most independent whiskey makers.
From local white corn to bottling non-chill filtered, every drop MB Roland distills is a testament to their commitment to a uniquely pre-Prohibition style. Founded by Paul and Merry Beth Tomaszewski, MB Roland Distillery has never sourced outside whiskey, making every drop on site in Pembroke, Christian County, Kentucky since 2009. That last point is worth underlining. In a Kentucky landscape where sourcing MGP distillate and slapping a label on it has long been common practice — and where some of the most hyped releases of the last decade have essentially been other people's whiskey — MB Roland has never once gone that route. Everything in the bottle came from their stills.
The distillery offers 23 different spirits, including moonshine, malt whiskey, corn whiskey, wheat whiskey, rye whiskey, bourbon whiskey, and other flavored moonshines. The final strength of their whiskeys is typically 105 to 120 proof. That high-proof commitment aligns with the pre-Prohibition sensibility both MB Roland and Liberty Pole share — before the American whiskey industry standardized and softened, these spirits were made to hit hard and carry flavor.
The "Penntucky" Collaboration: What It Is and Why It Matters
As America inches closer to its 250th anniversary, these two independently-owned distilleries are joining forces to create a limited-release whiskey to celebrate. The timing is not accidental. America 250 — the sesquicentennial of the nation's founding — gives this collaboration a built-in narrative anchor: two regional craft whiskey traditions, each with roots stretching back to the country's earliest years, coming together in a single bottle to mark the milestone.
The founders on both sides have been pointed about what this project means to them. Jim Hough, co-founder of Liberty Pole Spirits, called it about "more than blending whiskey," framing it as honoring American history, celebrating the craftsmanship that defines the industry, and recognizing the regional whiskey traditions that helped build this country. Meanwhile, Paul Tomaszewski, co-founder of MB Roland Distillery, described it as "an opportunity to showcase how different whiskey traditions can work together in a way that highlights the strengths of both."
Those aren't empty platitudes. Kentucky Bourbon and Pennsylvania Monongahela Rye are not just stylistically different — they represent genuinely divergent chapters of American whiskey history. Bourbon, shaped by the Bluegrass State's limestone water, warm climate, and corn-growing traditions, became the dominant commercial style after Prohibition wiped out much of what came before it. Monongahela Rye, the older tradition, was what Scotch-Irish settlers in western Pennsylvania made from the rye they could actually grow in the rocky hill country. It was high-rye, sweet-mashed, pot-distilled, and barrel-entered at lower proof than modern bourbons. George Washington made it at Mount Vernon. It predates bourbon as a category. And yet it nearly vanished entirely.
Founded in July 2016 by the Hough family with a keen eye towards history, their main mission was to revitalize the Monongahela rye style that was completely decimated during the onset of Prohibition. In 2024, they hit stride and succeeded in their mission with their first release of Old Monongahela Full Proof Rye Whiskey. The fact that the distillery spent nearly a decade working toward that milestone before releasing it speaks to how seriously the Houghs take the authenticity of the style. In true Monongahela Rye style, their Old Monongahela expression is made with a high rye mash bill, sweet mashed, batch distilled, and aged at a low barrel entry proof of 108, then bottled at that full barrel entry proof to preserve maximum flavor.
Blending that style with Kentucky Bourbon from MB Roland — itself made to pre-Prohibition specifications, non-chill filtered, high-proof, and entirely grain-to-glass — creates something that neither distillery could produce on its own. The result is a liquid that, in theory, carries the DNA of two founding-era American whiskey traditions in a single pour.
A Broader Season of Special Releases at Liberty Pole
The MB Roland collaboration is the headline, but it lands in the middle of an active stretch of limited releases from Liberty Pole that shows the full range of what this distillery can do.
American Single Malt with Rusty Gold Brewery
Another collaboration unites two Washington County craft producers who share a deep respect for grain, fermentation, and flavor. Distilled from Rusty Gold's flagship Pike Street Amber Ale, brewed specifically for Liberty Pole without hops, this American Single Malt was aged and finished in a combination of new and used American oak barrels — developing a beautifully layered profile of strawberry preserves, Earl Grey tea, and biscuits. Each single barrel is bottled at full proof and available exclusively at the distillery while supplies last.
The decision to remove hops from the base beer is a smart technical choice. Hops carry alpha acids and aromatic oils that can persist through distillation and create harsh, astringent notes in the finished spirit. By stripping hops from the recipe entirely, Rusty Gold essentially brewed a wort optimized for distillation rather than drinking — a practice more common in Scotch malt whisky production, where unhopped wash has always been the standard. The amber ale base, meanwhile, contributes a malt complexity that a standard barley wash might not deliver on its own.
Double-Oaked Wheated Bourbon
Liberty Pole Spirits is also releasing its first-ever Double Oaked Wheated Bourbon. This inaugural double-oaked expression begins with Liberty Pole's core Straight Wheated Bourbon, crafted from Pennsylvania-grown grains including the distillery's signature Bloody Butcher heirloom corn, sweet-mashed and double pot distilled. The whiskey was aged 3.5 years in its original barrels before being transferred into a second set of brand-new finishing barrels featuring a combination of heavy toast with light and medium char levels, with secondary maturation lasting 11 additional months.
Expect notes of toasted vanilla, caramelized sugar, baking spice, and a long, silky finish shaped by nearly five years in wood. Jim Hough described the Double Oaked Wheated Bourbon as reflecting "the craftsmanship and patience our family brings to every whiskey we make," noting that "the heirloom corn, the time in those original barrels, and the extended secondary aging all came together to create something truly special." The limited release is available exclusively at the Liberty Pole Spirits distillery, bottled at barrel strength and priced at $74 per bottle.
The wheated mash bill is a crucial detail here. Where Liberty Pole's traditional high-rye bourbons lean into spice and grain bite, the wheated variant softens the center of the palate and lets the Bloody Butcher corn and the extra oak time do the heavier lifting. Double-oaking a wheated bourbon is a different exercise than double-oaking a rye-forward one — the wheat already rounds off the rough edges, so the second barrel adds structure without introducing harshness. It's a thoughtful pairing of process and grain selection.
What the "Penntucky" Project Says About Where Craft Whiskey Is Heading
Cross-regional collaborations between craft distilleries are not new. Plenty of small producers have traded barrels, shared mash bills, or lent their names to co-branded releases. But blending Kentucky Bourbon and Pennsylvania Monongahela Rye in what is believed to be the first intentional collaboration of its kind is a different category of ambition. It asks a genuinely interesting technical question: what happens when two of America's oldest regional styles meet in a blending vessel?
The answer depends entirely on the ratio, the barrel profiles going into the blend, and the age of each component. Liberty Pole's Monongahela Rye, sweet-mashed and pot-distilled at low entry proof, will carry grain-forward character, herbal rye spice, and a relatively open, round texture. MB Roland's Kentucky Bourbon, non-chill filtered and bottled at 105 to 120 proof, brings the roasted corn richness, vanilla-oak structure, and the warm Bluegrass-climate aging character that bourbon is built on. Getting the two to coexist without one simply swallowing the other requires precision and restraint — exactly the kind of craft the founders of both distilleries have spent their careers developing.
There is also the broader symbolism of what two fiercely independent, never-sourced craft operations can accomplish when they choose to work together rather than compete. Both MB Roland and Liberty Pole built their reputations on doing everything themselves, from grain to glass, without relying on bulk spirit producers or contract distillers. When two operations with that level of integrity pool their resources for a single project, the result is a collaboration grounded in actual product — not just clever branding.
The Historical Weight of the Collaboration
It would be easy to wave away the America 250 framing as patriotic window dressing. But the historical connections here run genuinely deep for both distilleries. Washington County and its surrounding area are located in the historic farm country of the Whiskey Rebellion, which took place from 1791 to 1794. The Mingo Creek Society, whose name Liberty Pole still carries in its legal entity, was the organizational core of that rebellion. The Mingo Creek Society was the one-time name of the Whiskey Rebellion's driving engine, headed up by Washingtonian David Bradford.
Those farmers weren't just making a political statement — they were defending a way of life and an economic model that depended on converting surplus rye grain into a portable, tradeable commodity. The whiskey was the economy. And the style they made — high-rye, sweet mash, pot-distilled — is exactly what Liberty Pole has spent the last decade reviving. Now, heritage grain once again grows in the same soil they so dearly loved, travels down the paved paths upon which they drove the whiskey-laden mule trains, and arrives at the new Mingo Creek Meetinghouse where it is distilled and enjoyed by the next generation of the Mingo Creek Society.
Kentucky's role in that story follows a different but parallel arc. As western Pennsylvania distillers faced tax pressure and commercial disruption in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many of them — and the grain and distilling knowledge they carried — migrated south and west into Kentucky. The bourbon tradition the state is famous for today has direct roots in those Scotch-Irish immigrant communities. The "Penntucky" name essentially acknowledges that these two traditions were never as separate as their modern identities suggest.
For Collectors and Enthusiasts: What to Know Before Release
Limited-release collaborations from grain-to-glass operations with track records like these tend to move fast, and for good reason. Neither Liberty Pole nor MB Roland operates at scale — their entire production models are built around quality over volume. Liberty Pole Spirits is celebrating the holiday season with a series of limited-edition whiskey releases that highlight the creativity, craftsmanship, and community spirit behind one of Pennsylvania's premier grain-to-glass distilleries, with releases described as perfect for both holiday gifting and gathering.
The Penntucky blend, as a first-of-its-kind release tied to America 250, will almost certainly not be a recurring annual expression. Collaborations at this level of specificity — blending two named single distilleries' flagship styles for a specific commemorative purpose — have a natural ceiling on how much liquid exists. Anyone serious about the American craft whiskey space who wants to experience what a deliberate Kentucky Bourbon and Pennsylvania Monongahela Rye blend actually tastes like will want to act quickly.
For context on the distilleries' approach to release scale: Jim Hough has described this kind of release as representing "everything we love about whiskey making — experimentation, collaboration, and a deep connection to our community," and noted they're "meant to be shared." That community-first language reflects a production philosophy that prioritizes the experience over the secondary market. These are bottles made to be opened.
Two Small Distilleries, One Large Statement
Craft whiskey in America has matured considerably since the post-2010 boom when seemingly every garage distillery was claiming historical authenticity while cutting corners on grain sourcing and production method. What Liberty Pole and MB Roland represent is the next chapter — distilleries old enough to have actual aged stock, deep enough in their regional grain traditions to make genuine stylistic claims, and confident enough in their product to bring something new to the category without abandoning what made them worth paying attention to in the first place.
At MB Roland Distillery, they describe themselves as "not just making bourbon" but "resurrecting history one barrel at a time." Liberty Pole operates from the same conviction. The Hough family's main mission was to revitalize the Monongahela rye style that was completely decimated during the onset of Prohibition. When two distilleries that frame their work in those terms decide to build something together, the product that results carries the weight of both histories simultaneously.
The Penntucky collaboration may ultimately be remembered as a small but significant footnote in the ongoing story of American whiskey's craft revival — the moment a Pennsylvania rye and a Kentucky bourbon shook hands across two centuries of history and ended up in the same glass.
