Last Updated on May 31, 2022 by Jeremy
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Lucky Sign Spirits opened in the heart of Millvale in 2020 and quickly grew its portfolio to include an array of conventional and non-conventional spirits alike.
While the distillery’s space can only be described as small, and they presently are only open for quick tastings, bottle sales, and cocktails to go, this one packs a punch and has a bright future ahead of it!
An Impressive Spirit Lineup at Lucky Sign Spirits
Generally when distilleries are younger, we are used to the fact that they often do not have many aged products to share. As you are likely well aware, barrel aging takes time, and some of the best dark spirits can take four, six, ten, or even twenty years in barrel before they’re ready for release.
So when we walked into Lucky Sign Spirits to find aged whiskeys and bourbon in a lineup of white spirits like vodka, gin, aquavit, raki, and limoncello, we were pretty surprised. We also wanted to try just about all of them.
As it turns out, Lucky Sign Spirits has the best of all worlds by distilling the white spirits (and some younger barrel aged products, like their gin) in house and sourcing their whiskeys and bourbons via white labeling from other producers with the qualities and flavors they seek out. This is a fairly common practice for new distilleries, and really helps give them a well-balanced portfolio early on while their own products age.
So, what all did we try?
We have to admit, the owners of Lucky Sign Spirits were quite generous with their samples and allowed us to more or less work our way through the entire portfolio, all with tasting notes of what we can expect in every spirit we tried along the way.
On the clear liquor front, their aquavit was carraway and citrus-forward (and the winner of a Double Gold Medal for the category at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition) and the gins came packed full of botanicals. On the dark liquor end, the aged rye had a nice tropical and spice kick without being overwhelming.
They even offer full bottles of something known as Rock & Rye which is stylized to be a bit more like an Old Fashioned cocktail than a straight-up spirit and comes with a rich sweetness that you’d otherwise not expect for the beverage.
During our visit during the Millvale Music Festival, Lucky Sign Spirits was also selling three cocktails to go with two including infused spirits mixed to perfection with flavored syrups. We purchased “Fire Saga,” a play after the movie of the same name, which featured blood orange and jalapeno-infused Aquavit, basil, lemon, and simple syrup for that perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and spicy. But we have to admit, the cocktail serving was quite large and hit us hard shortly after drinking!
We do have one word of warning for the cocktails to go, and that is it seems like the menu here changes regularly, so you’ll do well to check out Lucky Sign’s Instagram account to check out the current offerings as this one seems to change a lot more frequently than other bars in the area. So go in with an open mind as things could be different from our own stop!
Lucky Sign’s Best Days Are Ahead
As of mid-2022, we have heard that Lucky Sign Spirits is undergoing a rapid expansion. Their micro-distillery space is going to get upgraded to a full production facility in Gibsonia, and the long-term plans also involve converting the Millvale space into a fully operational cocktail bar and tasting room.
So while we don’t have an estimated timeline on when all this will be accomplished, we have to admit, the best days for this one are ahead.
That being said, just be prepared for a quick visit when stopping at Lucky Sign for now. Head in for a few samples, grab some cocktails to go to enjoy later on, and perhaps take a bottle (or three) home with you for good measure too.
But when this one expands, we’ll be ready for it!
Lucky Sign Spirits is located at 215 North Avenue in Millvale.
Looking for more distilleries in Pittsburgh? Click the previous link to check out all the spots we’ve been to so far!
