We started in Connecticut. We’re taking root in Pennsylvania. So did John Fitch. Born in CT, he kept the muskets in repair and carried the rum to Washington’s army at Valley Forge.
John Fitch was a Connecticut man who spent the lean years of the Revolution making himself useful. He served as a gunsmith to the New Jersey militia, and went on repairing and refitting muskets at Trenton after he walked away from the ranks. Then he turned supplier: beer and tobacco to the Continental Army at Philadelphia in the autumn of 1777, then beer, rum, and provisions to the men at Valley Forge through the winter that followed.
History remembered him for the steamboat. We remember him for the spirits. Two and a half centuries later, his name is still on the bottle, distilled across Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the Liberty Ridge Region. Same instinct, slower pour.
The Fitch ledger: from a Revolutionary supply line to a modern still.
1743
A Windsor farm
John Fitch is born on the twenty-first of January on a farm in Windsor, Connecticut, on ground that is now South Windsor, the town our stills work in today. Clockmaker's apprentice first, brass and silver man after that, and never once a quiet one.
1777
Powder, spirits, and the cause
Fitch keeps arms in the fight, working as a gunsmith to the New Jersey militia and repairing and refitting muskets at Trenton after he walks away from the ranks. That autumn he turns supplier, carrying beer and tobacco to the Continental Army at Philadelphia, then beer, rum, and provisions to Washington's men through the winter at Valley Forge.
1787
The Steamboat
On the Delaware in Philadelphia, Fitch demonstrates the first working American steamboat. History remembers him for the boat. We remember him for the spirits.
1920
Prohibition
The stills go quiet. No recipe is written down, and none is handed across.
2015
The Return
The Fitch name comes back to Connecticut. A small distillery in South Windsor begins laying down barrels.
2023
Morgan Horse
Morgan Horse Bourbon (the flagship) is released. The first bottle is stolen within the week.
2026
Back to Pennsylvania
John Fitch returns to PA, helping American armies again. A partnership with the 28th Infantry Division Association and the road to America 250.