For burgeoning beverage-makers, Pour Tour 'a blessing'

Jan. 19—SOMERSET — SanaView Farms and Winery in Champion uses all-organic ingredients and old world traditions to create wine the Italian way, owner Janet McKee said.

At Ponfeigh Distillery in Somerset, Max Merrill turned to the time-tested rye whiskey blends his Somerset County ancestors used before Prohibition, while Mike Fahy, of Forbes Trail Brewing in Stoystown, hasn't been afraid to add something new into his craft beers — even the fluffy flavor of marshmallow.

But first-class products, cherished recipes and experimental ales alone aren't enough to make their businesses thrive, they said.

"If people aren't aware of it," McKee said, "none of it matters.

"You have to have publicity."

That's a reason why the founders of SanaView, Ponfeigh and Forbes Trail were lifting their glasses Thursday to the release of GO Laurel Highlands' latest Pour Tour guide.

All three locations served as stops on a GO Laurel Highlands tour "launch" to kick off the guide's release.

What started five years ago as an idea for a Passport-style guide has grown into one of the organization's most popular undertakings, GO Laurel Highlands Executive Director Ann Nemanic said.

The number of breweries, distilleries, mead-makers and wineries, meanwhile, has grown to 62 locations across Somerset, Westmoreland and Fayette counties.

"The great thing is that across the Laurel Highlands region, every place is different," GO Laurel Highlands Senior Director of Marketing Jennifer Benford said. "Whitehorse and Forbes Trail are both breweries, but once you're there ... it's a different experience."

The visitors bureau operates to draw tourists into the region, and Thursday's event itinerary highlighted the fact that the Somerset County area is becoming a key part of the Highlands' craft libation market, she said.

Glades Pike Winery, Tall Pines Distillery and Whitehorse Brewing have been operating for years in the area, alongside more recent additions such as Boswell's Rusty Musket Distilling Co. and Vin De Matrix Winery and Trailhead Brewing, which are both in Rockwood.

The locations on Thursday's van tour, however, were all newcomers. Stoystown-based Forbes Trail is the oldest of the bunch, debuting less than two years ago.

Merrill's Ponfeigh project began offering tastings and bottle sales in December.

Merrill estimated 25% of his visitors last month were drawn in by the pocketbook-sized Pour Tour guide.

"The (guide) is literally a road map to my distillery," Merrill said. "When people come in, they're either coming from someplace else or planning to go somewhere once they leave."

Whether it's craft beers or cocktails, there's strength in numbers, he and Forbes Trail's Fahy agreed.

"The more of us that are out there making a quality product, the more we all benefit," Fahy said.

"A rising tide lifts all ships."

It's lifting the Laurel Highlands, too, GO Laurel Highlands Director of Public Relations Eric Knopsnyder said.

Through the Pour Tour's computer app and a passport sticker contest that allows Pour Tour fans to earn prizes for spending at 15 or more locations yearly, Knopsnyder said, GO Laurel Highlands determined the Pour Tour contributed $1 million to the local economy in 2023.

More than 1,200 people visiting from 10 states claimed prizes through the incentive — a fraction of the number who visited the region's locations through the guide, he added.

"Let's keep the momentum going," Knopsnyder said, noting the rolling total was expected to reach $6 million by the end of 2024.

Merrill praised the promotion.

He's planning to debut Ponfeigh's indoor and outdoor bar late this spring and said the continued flow of Pour Tour traffic helps make it possible.

SanaView, which added wood-fired pizza to its menu for weekend tastings, is adding an expanded cafe on the property, which sits just west of the Westmoreland-Somerset line.

So far, McKee and her son, Nathan, have benefited primarily through word-of-mouth since reviving a 19th-century farm into a wedding venue a few years ago, she said.

"The attention we're getting from the Pour Tour is a blessing," she said.

David Hurst is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TDDavidHurst.