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#PCBW: Carson Street Deli brings us cask-conditioned treats from Grist House

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It’s all about the beer.

Don’t get me wrong: I love everything about Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week. But in the end, the best part is always getting to try a beer you haven’t tasted before.

I got that Wednesday night at Carson Street Deli. Every #PCBW, the deli can be counted on to host an event highlighting a local brewery, usually by landing a special cask or two of beer that hasn’t before seen the light of day. This year was no different; the deli’s folks worked with Grist House to land two pins of cask-conditioned beer: Hazedelic Juice Grenade with added fresh pineapple and two-year-old Black in the USSR imperial stout aged with cocoa nibs, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee.

The results? Take a look at the clip to find out.

Category: Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week | Tags: , , , , , , ,

#PCBW breakfast and some big beers at Piper’s

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Want to find me on the Wednesday of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week? Don’t bother looking in the office.

It’s not difficult to track me down, though. If you’re looking first thing in the morning, you’ll definitely find me at Piper’s Pub, for the South Side bar’s annual Beer Week breakfast. It started as a Kentucky-themed event, with three-year flights of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout and an amazing Kentucky hot brown boxty. It then morphed into a breakfast cereal and beer pairing (Hint: Pour some chocolate stout over a bowl of peanut butter Cap’n Crunch. No, really.)

But since then, the day has featured a dual purpose: to highlight the beer acquisition skills of Hart Johnson, the cellarman at Piper’s, and the talents of Mindy Heisler, the executive chef there and at the Pub Chip Shop next door. Each year, Hart lines up some tough-to-find kegs and casks, generally of the beefy beer variety; for example, I had pours of three huge stouts with my breakfast this week, along with a glass of the ultimate breakfast beer, Roundabout’s Mimosa Gose.

And then there is the food, which is excessive in all of the best ways. My breakfast: Piper’s crispy chicken tenders served over a house-made Belgian waffle, with Mindy’s jalapeno maple bacon syrup drizzled over the plate. That’s one of the lightweight dishes, too; I chose it over the Drunken Irishman, a Belgian waffle covered with warm bourbon-roasted banana slices and Nutella.

And then there was the sandwich: a chicken-fried sausage patty and a dippy egg, served in a Just Good Donuts glazed doughnut bun. I am pleased to be able to tell my doctor that I didn’t even consider that one.

Category: Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, Region | Tags: , , , , ,

#PCBW brings bacon, burgers and comic book beer to Pig Iron

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Craft beers paired with bacon and burgers? A new stout from Helltown, brewed for the city’s biggest comics store chain?

That’s more than enough to get me to brave afternoon rush-hour traffic and make the trip to Cranberry to Pig Iron Public House.

Let’s start with Beeredeemable, a bourbon barrel aged Russian imperial stout brewed by Helltown for New Dimension Comics owner Todd McDevitt. Todd’s commissioned these beers before — last year’s version was another imperial stout called Darkest Dawn — but this is the first time he’s released the beer in conjunction with Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, instead of waiting for his annual Three Rivers Comicon in May.

The beer is a beast — boozy and woody, with hints of bitter chocolate and a rich mouthfeel — and you still have several more chances to try it before Beer Week is done on Sunday. Beware, though — Todd said each location is getting just a sixtel, so it won’t last long.

Event No. 2 at Pig Iron had to do with a sloppy cheeseburger and one of my favorite Pittsburgh-brewed beers. The premise was to pair specific beers with either a specially prepared flight of bacon slices or with one of the substantial burgers on the Pig Iron menu. My choice was a smoky-and-sweet Foreman burger, paired with a smooth, malty Fat Gary from East End.

Did it work? Run the clip to find out.

Category: Butler County, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week | Tags: , , , , , ,

#PCBW collab Beard of Bees creates a buzz

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Beard of Bees, a collaboration between Spoonwood and Apis, debuted on Saturday at Spoonwood … and the buzz was noticeable.

This imperial honey porter spent a few months stewing in Wild Turkey bourbon barrels. By the time we got our first tastes on Saturday, the beer had become a beast with sweet finish: boozy and woody, with huge roasted notes smoothed out by the honey.

Category: Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week | Tags: , , , ,

PCBW: No shortage of stuff to do

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Aboard the Commonwealth Press Beer Barge, 2014.

Need some help sifting through the massive list of events, official and otherwise, going on during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week?

Believe me — I understand.

But you might start by taking a look at this short clip where some of our favorite Beer Week folks discuss the events they absolutely don’t want to miss:

True, the Commonwealth Press Beer Barge is sold out — the tickets were gone in seconds again this year — but there are still tix available for the Brewers’ Olympics at Grist House. And ShuBrew’s Zach Shumaker is right when he says the annual Meet the Brewers event at Rivertowne North Shore is a low-key way to meet and talk with the folks who brew our beer; Zach is also correct when he says more people should take advantage of this opportunity.

I should also make sure you see this clip of Meg Evans, head brewer at Rock Bottom in Homestead, talking about her video game tournament and beer festival coming up later in the week:

The full preview show was running long, so I couldn’t include Meg’s comments there. But a craft beer-fueled video game bash sounds like a blast, so you guys get the above tip as a bonus.

Chances are good you’ll see me at both of these events … and at plenty of others until the week winds down at Grist House next Sunday afternoon. See yinz out there.

Category: Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, Region | Tags:
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