{"id":225069,"date":"2026-06-22T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/225069\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:49:08","slug":"pennsylvanias-only-gay-and-woman-owned-distillery-is-right-here-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/225069\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania\u2019s Only Gay- and Woman-Owned Distillery Is Right Here in Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Katie<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER | KATIE SIRIANNI BEHIND THE BAR AT LOVE, KATIE<\/p>\n

Katie Sirianni got her start in the cocktail business at a mobile bar company, flipping vintage horse trailers into compact bars. Now, she has her own brick-and-mortar bar, vending vodka, gin and coffee liqueur that she and her small team of four distill in-house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her distillery and cocktail lounge, Love, Katie, is located on the main drag in Sharpsburg; she got the keys to the property on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, 2023, and opened to the public later that year on June 28 \u2014 International Pride Day, which was a fitting date for the brand\u2019s official launch.<\/p>\n

As a gay woman, Sirianni stands among a minority that is estimated to make up less than 1%<\/a> of distillery owners worldwide,Love, Katie also is the first and only gay- and woman-owned distillery in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor, of course. To represent that minority in a very straight male field, it means a lot,\u201d Sirianni says. \u201cBut I just can\u2019t wrap my head around it sometimes. I\u2019m just like, \u2018How is there not more?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in this case, it\u2019s quality over quantity.<\/p>\n

Each year, Love, Katie has released a Pride-inspired bottle with a rainbow label. While that may seem a little at odds with the interior of her space, which embraces a monochromatic palette, it complements art hanging in the bar\u2019s outdoor patio, which features an installation by The Positive Painting Project that uses bright pops of color to make up a rainbow theme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER | PRIDE-THEMED BOTTLES FEATURE AN \u201cL\u201d AND A \u201cK,\u201d FOR LOVE, KATIE<\/p>\n

The space is also hosting a range of events throughout June to celebrate Pride Month, including a Pride-themed cookie decorating class and a burlesque show, both on June 27, and its Love, Katie Pride Fest on June 28, celebrating its three-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

The goal, Sirianni says, is to celebrate love in all its forms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brand itself is actually built on a love letter. It\u2019s my love letter to Jen,\u201d she says of her fiancee, whom she has been with for almost four years. \u201cBut it\u2019s also meant to be a love letter to whomever you\u2019re sharing it with.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the back of each bottle, there\u2019s a romantic missive that reads in part: \u201cTo the one I love \u2026 I cherish what we have and don\u2019t want to waste a drop of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a brand statement from Sirianni: \u201cAs someone who faces discrimination, it was important to me to have this brand represent the saying, \u2018Love is love.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a message that she hopes will resonate with everyone who comes out to the lounge, regardless of their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove really has gotten so complicated over the years,\u201d she says. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be complicated to care about somebody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Love is also evident in the attention to detail Sirianni and her team put into the space\u2019s design. The atmosphere is cozy and elevated, and the cocktail menu is extensive. On its regular menu, there are 31 cocktails, as well as mocktails, soda, a rotating variety of local beers and three different samplers or flights.<\/p>\n

The popular Love, Jen drink is a tribute to Sirianni\u2019s fiance, featuring housemade gin, elderflower tonic, rosemary bitters, simple syrup and rosemary garnish. The gin, made from scratch in the 12-foot-by-12-foot space behind the bar, was ranked among the top three gins in February 2024 by The Daily Pour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe joke and call it a gateway gin, because it\u2019s a lot smoother,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople will come in and be like, \u2018We don\u2019t like gin,\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018challenge accepted.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coconut Espresso Martini offers a fresh and beachy take on its classic counterpart, and Love Potion #9 \u2014 which contains housemade vodka, limoncello, lemon juice, lavender simple syrup, tonic and a thyme garnish \u2014 highlights the bar\u2019s retro theme: The space\u2019s monochrome palette, crystal chandeliers and screens showing classic black-and-white TV favorites aim to bring love back to the basics, Sirianni says. She calls it \u201cold soul energy with a modern heartbeat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER | THE COCONUT ESPRESSO MARTINI AT LOVE, KATIE IS A BEACHY TAKE ON ITS CLASSIC COUNTERPART<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal in life with love was to find a love like my grandparents\u2019, because there was nothing like it,\u201d she says of the space\u2019s vintage inspiration. \u201cYou don\u2019t see love like that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

For June, Love, Katie also boasts nine Pride-themed specials inspired by the colors of the rainbow: the Red Petals cocktail is made up of gin, strawberry rose simple serum and elderflower tonic, and the Blue Collar Lemonade features whiskey, limoncello, simple syrup, blue curacao, lemon juice, lemonade and tonic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Pride, I go hard,\u201d Sirianni says, referencing the themed drinks and the upcoming events taking place in the space to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. \u201cI embrace the fact that I\u2019m gay. It\u2019s not a secret. You\u2019ve got to celebrate it \u2026 not only during Pride, but year round.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For tickets to Love, Katie\u2019s upcoming events, visit its website<\/a>.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER | KATIE SIRIANNI BEHIND THE BAR AT LOVE, KATIE Katie Sirianni got her start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8987,97760,28,30,29,73,97761,74606,289],"class_list":["post-225069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-lgbtq","tag-love-katie","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-bars","tag-pride-month","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}