Sip your way through the 2025 Laurel Highlands Pour Tour
Support local breweries, distilleries, wineries, and other craft beverage purveyors in this annual event in southwestern PA’s picturesque Laurel Highlands.
Brewers in Pennsylvania have been creating quality drinks since before the Declaration of Independence was signed. And just over the past decade, the commonwealth has become a veritable playground for craft beverage enthusiasts and anyone who appreciates unique, local flavors. Within just the past 10 years, the number of craft breweries in Pennsylvania has grown by more than 500%, and that’s not even counting the numerous wineries, cideries, meaderies, and distilleries that call the state home.
Many “pour tours”—beverage trails designed to help visitors explore an area by way of craft drinks like local beer, wine, and spirits—have cropped up in Pennsylvania to showcase the thriving industry. But the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour in southwestern Pennsylvania is one of the most special Pa. pour tours. Here’s how you can journey along the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour this year—and even earn prizes along the way!
Get to know the Laurel Highlands and the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour
Stretching across three scenic counties—Somerset, Westmoreland, and Fayette—the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour is not only an introduction to 64 breweries, wineries, distilleries, meaderies, and cideries in the Laurel Highlands, but also an opportunity to travel the beautiful mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. Part of the Allegheny Mountains, the Laurel Highlands make up the tallest mountains in Pa. and attract countless adventure seekers looking to hike the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail or kayak the mighty Youghiogheny River. The Laurel Highlands Pour Tour passes through the area’s gorgeous woodland scenery, rural farmland, and charming small towns.
And rather than a one-off Pour Tour published once and forgotten, GO Laurel Highlands—the group behind the beverage trail—has renewed its Pour Tour annually, adding more businesses and new prizes for participants with every passing year. It’s made a big difference to the area: last year, the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour boosted the regional economy by an estimated $2 million.
The fifth incarnation of the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour launched in late January, and the winter season is the perfect time to begin your journey along the Pour Tour, as you can beat the winter blues by warming up with local drinks. But you can enjoy the area’s craft beverages in all seasons, as the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour 5.0 will run through December 20, 2025.
Pick up your passport: How the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour works
If you want to travel far and wide, you need a passport. And if you want to make the most of the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour, you also need a passport—the official booklet that lists all the tour locations, provides spaces to document your travels via sticker, and is your ticket to prizes.
When you make a purchase roughly equivalent to a drink at one of the Pour Tour locations, you’ll earn a cute sticker for your booklet. These stickers are not only nice memories of your Pour Tour experience but are also how you earn prizes!
Here’s what you can win this year:
- 15 stickers will earn you an ice bucket/snack basket/sturdy container that you may use how you wish.
- 30 stickers will get you a long sleeve Pour Tour branded t-shirt.
- 45 stickers will win you an extremely cool backpack cooler, allowing you to continue your Pour Tour travels on your own (as in, you can fill it with cans of craft drinks and keep them cool as you head out on your own adventure).
You can grab a passport at any of the participating Pour Tour locations or you can fill out an online request for one to be sent to you in the mail for free! You can also download the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour app if you’d prefer a digital passport experience. Passports can be redeemed for prizes until the end of the Pour Tour (December 20, 2025).
Planning your Pour Tour route
With 64 possible locations, you’ll want to take some time to plan out your ideal Pour Tour itinerary and include all the stops you can’t wait to try. You might choose spots based on your favorite beverages, additional activities you might want to do, or simply a business location.
For example, if you prefer wine over cocktails or beer, you could make it your mission to visit all of the wineries represented in the Pour Tour. Deer Creek Winery, which has locations in Uniontown and Shippenville, specializes in sweeter wines rather than traditional dry wines. You can visit for a tasting before choosing your favorite bottle, or you can even book a room at Deer Creek Winery’s bed and breakfast for an extended winery experience.
Or, if you’re a history buff as well as a libation lover, you might choose to get your whiskey fix at West Overton Village in Scottdale, which houses not only a distillery but also a museum dedicated to southwestern Pennsylvania’s whiskey heritage. After all, southwestern Pa. is the birthplace of Monongahela rye whiskey, a style of whiskey quite different from the popular bourbons of Kentucky. The West Overton Village proprietors insist that they operate a museum that happens to have a distillery, rather than the other way around, so you can be sure that you’ll learn something even as you enjoy quality rye whiskey.
You could also route your Pour Tour itinerary based on brewery locations, whether spots are located near where you live or near a certain site you’d like to visit. For instance, Yough River Brewing, Connellsville’s first craft brewery, is located about a mile from the popular Greater Allegheny Passage trail. What if you combined a Pour Tour brew with a bicycle ride on the GAP?
Protect yourself while you travel the Pour Tour
As with any alcohol-centered activity, be sure to take steps to keep yourself and the people around you safe! Nominate a designated driver—you may consider paying for their non-alcoholic drinks as a gesture of thanks and goodwill. Remember to drink water alongside the local brews you’re imbibing. And finally, don’t drink on an empty stomach: you need to eat! Luckily, many of the Laurel Highlands’ fine establishments serve homemade food alongside their craft drinks, so be sure to pair your pour with a delicious local meal—for safety’s sake, of course.
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