Quakertown-made spirits hit liquor-store shelves today

Listen to this article

Midnight Madness Distilling, which grew out of an entrepreneurship class at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, has been selling to bars and restaurants in the region for a little over a year after establishing the distillery in company president Casey Parzych’s hometown.

To start, the distillery’s spirits, which Midnight Madness sells under the brand name Faber, will be in 26 Pennsylvania Fine Wine and Good Spirts stores. Twenty-two of the stores are in eastern Pennsylvania, including stores in Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties. The other four will be near Carnegie Mellon in Allegheny County.

The company is getting the opportunity to sell its line of spirits, which includes regular vodka, six flavored vodkas, rum and gin, through the Pennsylvania Spirits Program of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

The program gives limited distillery license holders in Pennsylvania, such as Midnight Madness, the opportunity to place up to 10 products in a select number of Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores, with an emphasis on targeting stores near distillery operations.

“It’s really a great program,” said Anthony Lorubbio, CEO of the company. “Being on retail shelves will really help us expand.”

Lorubbio said it took the firm about a year to prepare to participate in the spirits program because he and Parzych wanted to get the timing and product just right.

“It’s about when we felt the product was at where it needs to be in terms of quality, while also being at the price point we wanted,” Lorubbio said.

He explained that while most of the state’s new distilleries are going after the high-end market, Midnight Madness was looking for something more accessible.

“The Pennsylvania craft distillery is more in the premium to super premium product market. We thought we could come in with a more affordable price point,” Lorubbio said.

Faber’s standard vodka is priced at $13.99 per liter. The distillery’s gin, rum and flavored vodka sell for $15.99 per liter.

After an initial introductory period, Lorubbio said, there will be an opportunity to expand into more stores if sales are strong.