Pittsburgh-based Wigle Whiskey and sister company Threadbare Cider & Mead have entered an agreement to sell to Pittsburgh Spirits, a business under Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
In an email to customers today, Wigle owners noted that future growth would require partners with additional resources—financial, human and organizational. And in a press release, Wigle and Threadbare co-founder Meredith Meyer Grelli said that creating and growing the companies were the most enriching, challenging and rewarding projects her family could have taken on in the past decade.
“After conducting an exhaustive search for partners who would continue to grow Wigle and Threadbare, we are proud to transition our beloved companies to Pittsburgh Spirits,” said Grelli. “We interviewed prospective partners from across the country and even the world, but it was only when we talked with Pittsburgh Spirits, that we knew we had found the right successors. Our greatest hope was that Wigle and Threadbare would remain family and Western Pennsylvania owned. We know that Bob (Nutting), his family and the team at Pittsburgh Spirits will be owners devoted to quality, innovation, regional story-telling, and cultivating our team and Wigle and Threadbare’s regional and national footprint.”
Added Nutting: “With every conversation I had with the Meyer-Grelli family I had a deeper appreciation for how much they care about this company and the team of great people behind the growing success of these brands. Their passion is infectious. We are honored to be selected as the steward of these brands and proud to remain true to what they stand for, an authentic Pittsburgh-based, family-owned company that cares deeply about the product and community.”
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Meyer Grelli said that she and her husband, Alex Grelli, plan to stay with the company at least while Pittsburgh Spirits gets its licensing, which could take several months. “We will stay to be advisers as long as they desire that,” she said.