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For beer, it’s the best week of the year

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Even with a slightly pared-down schedule, the prospect of mapping out Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week activities seems daunting.

But I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

The sixth edition of the region’s craft beer showcase gets started Friday with the Commonwealth Press Beer Barge, a floating festival that sold out in seconds again this year, and wraps up with the third edition of the Brewers’ Olympics, the contest held at Grist House. I’ll be at both of those (and as of this moment, you can still get tickets to the Grist House event).

The rest of the week isn’t so tidy, at least not for me. Organizers had a goal of looking for quality events rather than hitting a specific number; they did that successfully, but there are still plenty of instances when it could be tough to choose between two or three good ones going on at the same time. But at the most basic level, beer week is about two things: events and beers, so let’s break it down that way.

A highlight every year is the collaboration beers brewed by teams from multiple breweries. There are a bunch this year, but in a new wrinkle, they all have two things in common: each beer had to contain honey malt and 007 hops, an experimental variety from Idaho. That was a nudge away from the norm, and the teams reacted appropriately. The geekiest of beer geeks will know what a grisette is (and if you don’t, make sure to track down the Men at Works collab from Church Brew Works and Butler Brew Works). But do you know what a sahti is? I didn’t, Turns out it’s a delicious ancient style with roots in Finland; the Buzzerker, from Rivertowne and King View Mead, reminded me of a slightly herbal barleywine. But as you run down the list of collabs — I got to taste most of them at a preview event last week — you won’t find a bad one in the bunch, and that’s a testament to the brewing talent we have in town.

And those are just the official collabs. As you poke around during the week, you’ll find others. I’ll make a special trip to Caliente in hopes of getting a taste of Won’t You Be My Neighbor IPA, a collab with Helltown. And on Saturday, I plan on stopping by Spoonwood for a taste of barrel-aged Beard of Bees, a collab with Apis Mead and Winery.

If you’re more of the hands-on type, you should get out to South Park on Saturday morning; that’s where members of Three Rivers Underground Brewers will host a homebrewing class and demo for the second year in a row. The classroom portion of the event comes with a fee (it’s worth it, boys and girls — these are some of the best brewers in town); after noon, though, you’re welcome to stop by and watch as these folks brew and answer your questions. There is also plenty of homebrewed beer there to sample.

Leave it to Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery to up the creativity on their new offering for 2017. The same folks who brought you Brewtal, last fall’s beer and heavy metal fest, have dreamed up PCBW’s first video game tournament and craft beer combo festival, to benefit Variety Pittsburgh. Contestants will play Super Mario Cart or Mortal Kombat 2 on big screens, non-contestants can drop quarters on some old-school games that will be wheeled in for the event … and everyone can enjoy a lineup of local beers.

That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, but it’s a start. You can also find me having breakfast at Piper’s Pub on Wednesday and dinner with my friends from Grist House there on Thursday. And I think I’ll venture up to Cranberry on Tuesday to get my first look at Pig Iron Public House … and a taste of a comic book beer.

What will you be up to during beer week? Let me know with the tag #PGBeerMe and I’ll see you out there.

Post-Gazette coverage of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week 2017:

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

Southern Tier, brewed here

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Brewmaster David Harries works in his new brewhouse at Southern Tier’s brewhouse on the North Shore.

We know the products of Southern Tier Brewing Company pretty well. After all, with the exception of Buffalo, Pittsburgh is Southern Tier’s best market.

But if you think you know Southern Tier inside and out — and you haven’t been to the brewery’s satellite brewpub on the North Shore — you don’t know as much as you think. Among those 30 taps are three that are exclusive to our Southern Tier … and there are more on the way.

For me, the prospect of Pittsburgh-exclusive has been the draw since Southern Tier announced its plans for the North Shore spot a year ago. For a long time, I’ve been envious of the folks in Portland, Ore., and the access they have to Fat Head’s beer at the satellite pub there that we don’t see here, and I was hoping for the same kind of fun at our Southern Tier.

And with the first three locally produced beers flowing, I think the outlook for that is promising. Brewmaster David Harries — who spent time in the Lakewood brewery as well as working as a distiller at Wigle Whiskey — began with a few that could become staples: a clean golden ale, a silky oatmeal porter and an unfiltered IPA that A) definitely looks like it’s been filtered, a product of Southern Tier’s house yeast strain, and B) is a piney, resin-soaked West Coast old school IPA — a great counterpart to Southern Tier’s citrusy Nu Skool IPA.

Mr. Harries said that in addition to setting up a consistent lineup here — his goal is to have four locals on at all times — he’ll work with the brewers at the mothership in Western New York to experiment with styles or variations that might get big-brewery treatment later on. That kind of freedom is the byproduct of working on a smaller system — 8.5 barrels versus 110 — and we should be beneficiaries.

What else should you expect from the brewpub? A warm appearance, excellent pub food, a selection of STBC swag — including black and gold branded items — and plenty of cold beer to go, in growlers, bombers and six packs.

And as anyone who has visited the pub since it opened in late January, you should also expect a crowd — it’s popular, and for good reason.

 

Post-Gazette coverage of Southern Tier’s North Shore pub:

Category: Pittsburgh, Region | Tags: , ,

Hitching a ride to Sharpsburg

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One thing is for certain — Andy Kwiatkowski won’t be bumping his head on the ceiling at work any longer.

For almost three years, knots on his head have been a occupational hazard for Mr. Kwiatkowski, the head brewer at Mt. Lebanon’s Hitchhiker Brewing Co.; that’s understandable when your brewhouse is stuffed into a basement with a low clearance.

But when Mr. Kwiatkowski and Gary Olden, Hitchhiker’s owner, move into new digs in Sharpsburg later this spring, ceiling clearance won’t be an issue; the new brewhouse will be assembled in what had been the power plant of the old Fort Pitt Brewery complex between South Canal Street and Marys Avenue, and as you can see in the photo of Mr. Olden and Mr. Kwiatkowski, there is plenty of room.

That additional space will be helpful in another way: increased capacity. The Mt. Lebanon location is home to a three-barrel brewing system; in the Sharpsburg space, that gets bumped up to 15 barrels, which will allow Mr. Kwiatkowski to brew enough beer to serve two taprooms and still have plenty left over to sell to other accounts. And once the brewing actually begins, some of the new space will be filled with barrels … and they’ll be filled with sours or other barrel-aged projects that are Mr. Kwiatkowski’s real passion.

And that’s just the behind-the-scenes part of the expansive property. One the taproom is ready you’ll be welcomed by a 35-foot bar and an array of tables. It should be summertime when the space is ready, so Hitchhiker should be able to make good use of the large outdoor space behind the building. And as it does in Mt. Lebanon, there will be a limited food menu, supplemented by occasional food trucks.

The new brewery is a bonus for Sharpsburg, which welcomed Dancing Gnome just last year. Mr. Olden said the borough was welcoming and easy to work with — a nice contrast to previous expansion efforts that ended in frustration with Pittsburgh’s city government.

Sharpsburg knows brewing, of course. And while Hitchhiker won’t be as large as Fort Pitt was in its glory days — it was the largest brewery in the state at its peak in the 1940s — but both Mr. Olden and Mr. Kwiatkowski relish their connection to the borough’s brewing history. “When we set out to look for a space, I didn’t think there were a lot of spaces that still stood from back when brewing was here,” Mr. Kwiatkowski said. “It’s amazing.”

Post-Gazette coverage of Hitchhiker Brewing Company:

Category: Allegheny County | Tags: ,

Pittsburgh beer in Playa del Carmen

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I’ve noticed a serious lack of palm trees in the Pittsburgh beer scene.

That’s not the case in Playa del Carmen, a fast-growing city on the coast in Mexico’s Riviera Maya region; in fact, there are several palm trees just outside the front door of Carmen Beer Co., the city’s first craft brewery.

The other cool part? Carmen Beer Co. happens to be owned and operated by a Pittsburgh native. In his travels as a beer judge, Jeffrey Michael was surprised to find a couple years ago that the scene in Mexico was just getting started — somewhere south of 200 craft breweries — while the number back home was ballooning towards 5,000. Those numbers, he said, made sense to someone who was considering starting a brewery, and he found a spot in a strip mall big enough to host a brew house and a good-sized tap room in the front of the house.

It took some work to reach his opening day — importing a brewhouse, tracking down supplies and building out to the unique specifications of a brewery all take time, especially when you’re communicating in two different languages. But once Carmen opened its doors five months ago, it’s gone well, Mr. Michael said; he’s selling all the beer he makes, and he’s already found loyal customers among tourists and locals.

There have been some bumps along the way. Local bars often don’t have draft systems, presenting a challenge for a brewery that doesn’t package. And as is the case in the States, it can be hard for a small brewery to compete with ubiquitous brands like Cornona or Modelo when it comes to establishing a foothold in the region’s hotels and resorts.

But there have been nice surprises as well. In a city where the average high temperature in the dead of winter is 84 degrees, the brawnier styles — a barleywine and an imperial stout were both on when I visited last week — have not only been accepted but are among the most popular styles Carmen produces. And Michael said he’s starting to get inquiries about getting his products into the hands — and glasses — of the region’s tourists.

Here in Pittsburgh, we sometimes avoid crossing rivers, even if there’s good beer on the other side. And yes — getting to Playa del Carmen means crossing many rivers, not to mention a good bit of the Gulf of Mexico. But if you’re in the Riviera Maya, make sure you plan a stop at Carmen Beer Co. for a taste of home on the Caribbean Sea.

Category: International | Tags:

A hazy taste of the tropics, via Vermont

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Those aren’t glasses of orange juice. Although the comparison is a bit more apt that you might think.

Those are glasses of Hazedelic Juice Grenade, a newish IPA from Grist House in Millvale. Hazedelic is part of a juicy new wave of IPAs and pales that are turning expectations about the styles on their heads, both here and across the country.

The wave started in New England, apparently with a beer called Heady Topper, brewed by The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vermont. The goal was to make a ridiculously hoppy beer, but not in the way that a brewery like Stone — which can pump up the bitterness in its hoppy beers to brutal levels — does. Instead, Heady presented a mouthful of fruity, tropical hop flavors with nearly no bitterness . A rich, soft mouthfeel. And an opaque, bright, sunny appearance. The brewery’s fans went nuts for the style, which spread around New England — New England IPA is the name that most use to designate a Heady-style beer — and beyond.

It’s far from being the most remarkable thing about these beers, but the haze has become the hallmark of the style. In fact, that’s the subject of some controversy. Consumers have been taught in some cases that haze is a sign that a beer could be infected, brewers who have spent years trying to brew beer that pours crystal clear are now being asked to suddenly reverse course. But those who have been making the style say removing the stuff that’s suspended in the beer would cut down the flavors they’re trying to find.

I don’t have any fear of stuff floating around in my glass — being a fan of hefeweizen cured me of that long ago — and what the proponents say about flavor is exactly right, as far as I’m concerned; the bright, juicy flavors practically burst with each sip. And the hops are front and center, but in a way unlike the IPAs we’re used to.

If you crave these beers like I do, you’re in luck. In Pittsburgh, they’re not hard to find. For the show, I tasted beers from Grist House, Dancing Gnome and Sole Artisan Ales, a gypsy brewery that operates in Eastern Pennsylvania. But there are plenty of other solid-to-spectacular examples of the style all over the region, so they’re not hard to track down.

The other bit of good news: It seems as though they’re not going away anytime soon. Hart Johnson, the cellarman at Piper’s Pub on East Carson Street, says the juicy pales from Dancing Gnome sell on par with Guinness in his British pub … and that’s a sign that the new school is here to stay.

Category: Region | Tags: , , ,
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