“Virginia laws are holding us back,” Christine Riggleman, owner, said. “Even though Pennsylvania is a commonwealth, the laws are a lot friendlier in terms of expanding, and you can keep more of your money, where Virginia takes more money from our bottle sales.”
She said she and her husband hope to open a tasting room and hire 14 to 17 new employees in Pennsylvania.
In Virginia, distilleries are taxed 54 percent on tasting room bottle sales, Riggleman said, whereas cideries, breweries and wineries receive 100 percent of their own sales from bottles sold in house.
From bottle sales of $32,000 in June, the distillery received $2,500 in commission, according to Riggleman. Pennsylvania allows distilleries to keep 100 percent of those sales. That’s not enough to pay the salaries of two distillery employees.
For now, the distillery will remain in Pennsylvania. “I can’t promise I’ll stay. We were born and bred here, but other than that, I don’t know how long that will hold us. They’re making it so there are not enough reasons.”