Crabtree church will have its own bourbon to sell at summer festival

When it comes to whiskey, creeks often figure into their monikers. Knob Creek. Rowan’s Creek. Corner Creek.

But Vince Mangini of Crabtree didn’t grow up swimming in creeks; he grew up swimming in the “crik.”

The popular Western Pennsylvania term for a small stream makes a humorous appearance in “Crabtree Crik Bourbon,” which will be bottled in Jennerstown by the Rusty Musket Distillery and sold at the annual Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Festival at St. Bartholomew’s Church later this month.

Personalized alcohol is nothing new for the festival.

Beginning in 2022, organizers offered their own in-house beer, St. Bart’s Festiv-Ale, brewed using grains from local farmers including Mangini, who helped kick-start the “Farm to Tap” initiative through his work with Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Food21. About 2,000 bushels of barley went to All Saints Brewing in Hempfield, where owner Jeff Guidos used it to create Festiv-Ale.

“Jeff connected us with the folks at Rusty Musket,” Mangini said. “We’ll do 15 bottles of Crabtree Crik Bourbon, and then we’re also going to have 15 bottles of what we’re calling apple pie moonshine, although it’s not really moonshine.”

The first three bottles of each product will be sold via silent auction to the highest bidder.

“I guess people really go crazy over the first two or three bottles in a whiskey run,” said festival co-chair Julie Watkins. “So we’ll do a silent auction for those, and the rest will be sold in our beer tent.”

With such a quick turnaround, the distillery is supplying the grains for this year’s batch. But Mangini and Watkins said they’ve been talking with their farm partners about potentially getting into the whiskey-grain business.

“We’re kind of dabbling with the idea of growing rye,” Mangini said.

A dozen bottles of each will be available at the festival, set for July 18 to 21 at the festival grounds behind the church, 2538 Route 119 in Salem’s Crabtree neighborhood.