‘I Will Never Buy Another Drop’: Fans Outraged as Pittsburgh Distillery Wigle Whiskey Sells to Pirates Owner Bob Nutting

Principal owner and Chairman of the Board Bob Nutting of the Pittsburgh Pirates watches batting practice prior to the National League Wild Card game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park Oct. 1, 2013, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nutting’s Pittsburgh Spirits company is acquiring Wigle Whiskey and Threadbare. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based craft distillery Wigle Whiskey announced Thursday that it is selling its operation to Pittsburgh Spirits, which is owned by Pittsburgh Pirates owner and multi-millionaire Bob Nutting, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Wigle produces whiskey, flavored whiskey, ready-to-drink cocktails, gin and more. The company also operates a facility that produces hard cider and mead for its Threadbare brand, which will also be part of the sale.

“Our greatest hope was that Wigle and Threadbare would remain family and Western Pennsylvania owned,” Wigle co-founder Meredith Meyer Grelli said. “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.”

Wigle was founded in 2011 and opened to the public in 2012. Today, it distributes to 10 states.

“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,” Nutting said. “Their passion is infectious.”

Public Reaction to Wigle Whiskey Selling to Bob Nutting

Wigle “selling out” is sure to come as a disappointment to many, as craft distilleries and breweries that sell to larger companies often are criticized. The criticism may be exacerbated in this case because of who is buying the brand. Nutting has been criticized by fans for not investing heavily enough the Pirates.

A craft distillery near Wigle, Maggie’s Farm Rum, wrote on Twitter, “We will never sell to Bob Nutting.”

Fans of Wigle and the Pirates cracked jokes and expressed myriad negative emotions, ranging from disappointed to outraged.

Just saw that the @Pirates owner is acquiring @WigleWhiskey … wonder if he’ll put any money into making it a sustainable business that thrives ?

Oh wait, it’s not a baseball team so it’ll still be top notch.

— Shaun Daugherty (@pitts_shaund) August 11, 2022

I will never buy another drop of @WigleWhiskey https://t.co/j63UspRZ5L

— Chris Hilf (@hilf13) August 11, 2022

Hate Nutting so much. Just sits there and fields the worst baseball team he can every year, and uses the revenue sharing money to buy the city. https://t.co/el2xofI9vo

— Mike Myzak 🏴🚩 (@NudeTayneCelery) August 12, 2022

Talk about a way to kill an otherwise good brand. https://t.co/oyRuf3MpRs

— PittFan (@_PittFan_) August 11, 2022

bob nutting and his family just bought wigle whiskey… stay tuned for a thread of actual locally-made spirit brands in pittsburgh you should support instead! 🥃🍸🍾

— Kaidia Pickels (@kaidiapickels) August 11, 2022

In June, the owners of Wigle Whiskey were ordered by the U.S. Department of Labor to repay nearly $38,951 to 41 of its servers after an investigation revealed that the servers had been required to share tips with managers and supervisors and were not properly paid for the overtime hours they worked, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Maggie’s Farm Rum poked fun at this incident following the sale:

"Committing wage theft? Hold my whiskey." pic.twitter.com/nzzxcNfvbc

— Maggie's Farm Rum (@MaggiesFarmRum) August 11, 2022

Here at Whiskey Raiders, we do more than write about current events in whiskey. We are the only media property reviewing whiskeys and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the whiskey world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of whiskey in your morning email, sign up for our Daily Dram Gram!