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Category Archives: Allegheny County

A six pack of Big Hop? Yes we can

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Cans and craft beer have already proven to be good partners, across the country and here in Pittsburgh. But it took a more recent brewing industry innovation — a mobile canning production line — to finally bring cans to East End Brewing.

Even with an exponential increase in square footage when Scott Smith moved his brewery to its current spot on Julius Street, figuring out where to squeeze in a canning line — not to mention the mountain of empty cans he’d need to store — in the space. Paying for the operation? That’s a whole other question.

And that’s where We Can Mobile Canning of Danville, Pa., comes in. One day last week, We Can owner Pete Rickert and colleague Jason Cichoskie spent about 12 hours canning 275 cases of Big Hop India pale ale, the first time East End’s flagship beer has been available in something other than a keg, a growler or glass.

Why the change? Mr. Smith has always preferred the idea of canning over a bottling operation (with the exception of the special-release bottles that appear at the brewery a few times each year); they’re lighter and they do a better job of protecting the product from light and oxygen.

Add to that the availability of a company that can store East End’s empty cans and bring the canning line to the brewery? The decision to start canning became much easier.

The guys at We Can are finding that’s the case across their territory, which ranges from Cincinnati to the East Coast. Mr. Rickert said We Can got started two years ago with Lavery Brewing in Erie and now cans up to 10,000 cases of beer each week.

“We’re the canning line, we’re the warehouse and we’re the labor,” he said. “All our customers have to do is get the cans to the distributor or to their customers. We’re here to make this process easy.”

Post-Gazette coverage of East End and We Can:

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Spoonwood starts small in a big space

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Steve Ilnicki doesn’t have designs on becoming huge.

But that doesn’t mean the head brewer of Bethel Park’s Spoonwood Brewing didn’t start big when the brewpub opened in late January. It’s a big space: a 15-barrel brewhouse, a full food menu, easy seating for 250 thirsty customers – or more, now that the patio is open. And it’s off to a big start.

While working as an assistant brewer at Homestead’s Rock Bottom, Mr. Ilnicki answered an ad on a jobs board at the American Brewing Guild’s web site for a new Pittsburgh brew pub; that turned out to be a new building at the site of an old railroad-themed restaurant – and an older train station – on Baptist Road in Bethel Park. Construction on the spacious building began late last summer and was wrapped up in time for a mid-winter soft opening.

Mr. Ilnicki likes drinking India Pale Ales, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are two on the tap list now – Killer Diller and Good-Eye Sniper – and the promise of more to come this summer. But he’s also a fan of Belgian styles, and he said more of those should join Elise, Spoonwood’s saison, very soon. There are some delicious, quirky beers ready to taste as well, especially Taffy Gruffudd, a Welsh ale – I’m not making that up, although Mr. Ilnicki might be – that boasts a malty sweetness and enough alcohol heat that it reminds me of a barleywine.

And while you’re sampling the beer, be sure to get something to eat; a pizza, just out of the wood-fired oven, is likely to be adorned with basil that was grown out back.

The pub and the brewhouse are spacious, and that means Mr. Ilnicki and partner Grant Scorsone won’t bump up against brewing capacity any time soon, even as they send a few kegs out to other pubs once in a while. Even with all that room, Mr. Ilnicki says he’ll be content to stay small.

Post-Gazette coverage of Spoonwood Brewing:

 

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Thumbs up for Hitchhiker

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Pittsburgh continues to reap the benefits of our Craft Brewing Class of 2014, and one of the best of that group is Mt. Lebanon’s Hitchhiker Brewing.

Just a little over a year ago, I had my first taste of Hitchhiker’s beer, when Gary Olden, the brewery’s owner, and Andy Kwiatkowski, its head brewer, brought a sixtel of their Tumbleweed Oatmeal Brown Ale to a Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week event. That was the first time most of us had sampled what was to come from Hitchhiker … and we drained the keg in under an hour.

Hitchhiker memory No. 2: About two weeks after the conclusion of Beer Week 2014, Hitchhiker opened its doors at noon on a Saturday for what was to have been a soft opening … except that there was nothing soft about it. Excited customers crowded the bar through the day, buying enough beer that Mr. Olden and Mr. Kwiatkowski stopped filling growlers because they didn’t have enough beer to keep up.

What’s changed since that enthusiastic start? Mr. Kwiatkowski is quick to say that while the brewery’s first batches were good, they have steadily improved since. Getting dialed in on the equipment in the basement brew house has made a difference, as has tinkering with the chemistry of the water at the brewery.

If you’ve been impressed with Hitchhiker in its first year, Mr. Kwiatkowski says you should be sure come back again — it’ll only get better from here.

Post-Gazette coverage of Hitchhiker Brewing:

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Local brewing tradition on display at the Independent

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In the decades before prohibition, a Pittsburgh-sized city could have had dozens of breweries, most of which served the immediate neighborhood with fresh beer. That way of doing business is making a comeback, and there may not be a better way of the breadth of the region’s beer than by pulling up a bar stool at Squirrel Hill’s Independent Brewing Co.

The original Independent Brewing Co. included smaller breweries, mostly from outside the Pittsburgh city limits; it pooled resources so its members could better compete with Pittsburgh Brewing, which had already turned Iron City into a regional behemoth.

Big Beer still takes up plenty of tap handles, but you won’t find them at the Independent, 1704 Shady Ave. Since re-branding an old sports bar about a year ago, Brothers Matthew and Pete Kurzweg have had a mission similar to that of their namesake: get fresh, local beer into the hands of consumers. When they’re able, they work directly with local brewers, so the Brothers Kurzweg can keep a dozen taps pouring.

The connection to Pittsburgh brewing history is obvious, right down to the old IBC logo that graced beers from Beaver Falls to Monessen a century ago. The brewing industry is returning to those roots, and the Independent Brewing Co. — in its new form — has returned as well.

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Family setting is Grist for good beer

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For Brian Eaton and Kyle Mientkiewicz, it’s not enough that they learned how to brew beer side by side years ago.

The founders of Millvale’s Grist House Brewing are also brothers in law; Mr. Eaton is married to the sister of Mr. Mientkiewicz. And those family ties have to contribute to the welcoming feel of Grist House’s cozy tap room on East Sherman Street.

The past of the space — it was a slaughterhouse into the 1970s — is still present, especially in the imposing steel beam and hook that curves overhead. There are newer touches to add to an industrial feel, like the wrought-iron tap handles built for the tap room. But the warm wood of the bar, the colorful walls — especially — the chalk board listing patrons who are owed a pint that was purchased by a friend are a comfortable contrast.

Of course, the beer helps as well. A larger capacity helps keep those iron tap handles moving, and customers are liable to find beers covering a wide range of styles — from an American Wheat and a Belgian tripel to a coffee porter and a Russian imperial stout when we visited — ready to try. And Mr. Eaton and Mr. Mientkiewicz are both professed hop heads, so there was an APA — Horizon Shine — a black rye IPA — Black rIPA — and a double IPA — Master of the Galaxy — all on at once. And that’s not all: the brewers promised the release of a new IPA by the time you read this.

Post-Gazette coverage of Grist House Brewing:

 

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