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Meeting an old friend in Beaver County

Posted November 25, 2015 • 0 comment

I met Charles years ago.

But until my recent visit to Hollywood Gardens and Brixton Brewing in Rochester, Beaver County, I hadn’t had an opportunity to get caught up again.

Charles is the name of Brixton’s Belgian-style quadrupel, a complex, delicious monster of a beer. Back in 2011, it was the first beer introduced by Brixton, the house brewery for Hollywood Gardens, and I was so pleased to see him again when I visited.

Sightings of Charles and other Brixton beers had been occasional until October, when owner Frank Elia and brewer Zachery Ruskin really got going on their new 2-barrel brewing system to the degree that Brixton beers began to regularly appear on the tap list at Hollywood Gardens.

What was behind the wait? A little license juggling took up some time, but when Mr. Elia secured a brewpub license he and Mr. Ruskin set up a small system in the basement of the bar and began serving Brixton beers on weekends.

That Hollywood Gardens would be home a 12-tap system and a beer cave featuring bottles in the hundreds — much less to a brewery turning out quality IPAs and Belgian styles — is remarkable in and of itself. The bar was opened on Pinney Street in Rochester by Rocky Elia, Frank’s father, in 1958. Frank Elia took it over in 2009 after his father passed away and remade the place from a shot-and-a-beer bar to one that featured the craft beers he had come to love.

A chance meeting with Mr. Ruskin at the bar — and a few tastes of Mr. Ruskin’s home-brewed beer — got Mr. Elia thinking about making beer to serve in his place and in the spring of 2011, the pair hosted a welcoming party for Charles … and I was immediately smitten. So I was thrilled to see his name on the list when I visited last week. And just as thrilling? The other two Brixton beers on tap last week — a bitter named Matthew and a West Coast IPA named Robbie — were every bit as good.

It’s a small brewing system so for now, trying Brixton beers will require a drive to Beaver County. But for a chance to meet Charles, Matthew or Robbie, it’s worth the trip.

Post-Gazette coverage of Hollywood Gardens and Brixton Brewing:

Thankful for local beer on the table

Posted November 12, 2015 • 0 comment

Thanksgiving is just two weeks away and if you’re planning a full Thanksgiving dinner, you’ve got some decisions to make: How to cook the turkey? Sweet potatoes to go with the mashed? How many pies will be needed for dessert?

Oh, right — and what are we drinking?

Here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you skip the overly chilled bottle of chardonnay and track down a locally made beer to go with your bird?

Making the choice to serve beer isn’t hard; picking a specific beer or two, though, could feel a bit overwhelming. In the immediate area alone, there are dozens of breweries, each making multiple styles that would complement your feast. What’s the right choice to make?

Relax. This isn’t as complicated as it sounds. First off, it would be tough to come up with a wrong choice; personal preference counts for a lot in this case. But if you’re still struggling, let Meg Evans, Jake Voelker, Scott Smith, Steve Ilnicki, Michael Murphy and Andy Kwiatkowski — all pros at local craft beer businesses — give you a hand.

I asked each one for recommendations for a beer they brew or pour that would work well with a traditional Thanksgiving meal; I got responses ranging from a saison to a combination of spiced pumpkin beer and a sturdy stout. Why the picks? It might be a broad pairing with most of the dishes that will show up on your table; it might also be a notion that a hefty oatmeal stout would stand up to a smoked turkey breast.

(We asked our pros for another pick, one that they’re not responsible for making or selling; I’ll post those in a bonus video on the Beer Me Facebook page early next week.)

A bunch of choices. All available locally. I hope you can find a couple that would work on your Thanksgiving table.

Category: Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Region | Tags: breweries, brewpubs, pumpkin beers, seasonal beer, Thanksgiving

Searching for session beers

Posted September 3, 2015 • 0 comment

Let’s be clear about one thing right off the top — I’m definitely a big fan of big beer.

But I love little beer too, especially since more breweries are putting an emphasis on making their lower-alcohol offerings as flavorful as possible. It’s a big enough deal that the trend has its own name — session beer, or beers that have low alcohol by volume without sacrificing flavor.

Why do session beers work? There are plenty of instances when cutting back on the amount of alcohol you’re consuming is a good idea, and if beer drinkers can accomplish that without losing the character and flavor that makes craft beer enjoyable, everyone comes out on top.

Just a few years ago, it would have been a little tough to track down a solid, locally produced session beer. That’s not the case today, though; I found two great options at Rock Bottom in Homestead, where brewmaster Brandon McCarthy — that’s him in the photo above — was happy to discuss how session beers gives his customers a chance to sample new flavors and styles without worrying about getting too sloppy during an afternoon shopping trip at the Waterfront.

Session beers have been at the forefront of Scott Smith’s mind pretty much since he opened East End Brewing; after some experimenting, he came up with a nut brown ale recipe that suited its namesake: Fat Gary. Mr. Smith has even established a session beer series of seasonals and one-offs, all with ABVs below 5 percent.

And as patrons of Piper’s Pub can attest, there are always several sessionable options available, a boon to those who are watching a Premier League football match or two.

That’s not even close to all of the options that are available, whether they’re locally produced or showing up at local distributors. So the next time you’re out for dinner, ask about what session beers are available. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you’re missing. And what you’re not.

Post-Gazette coverage of session beer:

Beer: Celebrating beers that pack flavor, not a punch

Category: Allegheny County | Tags: beer bar, brewpubs, session beer, tap room

Down on the Hop Farm

Posted August 6, 2015 • 1 comment

At almost two years old, Hop Farm Brewing has a growing problem.

Owner Matt Gouwens isn’t having any problems growing ingredients for the beer he brews at 56th and Butler streets in Lawrenceville; the day we visited, he was dumping home-grown lime basil into a tank of saison that will be ready to drink in a few short weeks.

Instead, the issue was the tanks themselves — as in, Mr. Gouwens didn’t have enough of them. That was partially corrected earlier this year, when gleaming new tanks came on line, more than doubling the brewery’s storage capacity. There could be more on the way soon, if the plan — more capacity and an expansion of the brewery’s in-house tap system to include as many as 15 lines, including one that will be dedicated to barrel-aged beers — comes to fruition.

In the meantime, Mr. Gouwens will continue to churn out a full line of staples and inventive seasonals and one-offs. In the tanks this week is the aforementioned — and as yet unnamed — lime basil saison; while we talked this week, he mentioned that his first-ever hefeweizen would be replaced this fall by a dunkelweizen … or maybe even a pumpkin dunkelweizen. Those go well with the raspberry-tinged Copperhop IPA the brewery made earlier this year and a growing sours program (Remember 2014’s sour blonde Margot? A barrel-aged version will be available soon).

And if the beer isn’t enough to get you to the brewery there are a handful of events coming up in the next month or two that should. The Lawrenceville Rock All Night Tour on Aug. 15 will bring bands, beers and several food trucks to 56th Street outside the brewery. The Aug. 30 King of the Wing event is sold out, although Mr. Gouwens said a few tickets could be released later this month. And tickets for the big one — the brewery’s 2nd anniversary party Sept. 25, which will feature more than two dozen food-and-beer pairings — will go on sale towards the end of this month. And that sounds like an excellent anniversary to me.

Category: Pittsburgh | Tags: breweries, brewpubs

Keeping cool at Penn

Posted July 9, 2015 • 1 comment

Even walking just the few blocks from the bus stop to 800 Vinial St. on a sticky afternoon was enough a little sweaty … and more than a little thirsty.

And that’s OK. Inside that address — that’s the home of Penn Brewery — are more than a dozen ways to keep cool on a humid summer afternoon.

Since it was founded 29 years ago by the late Tom Pastorius, Penn has stood for one thing — German beers. The brewery has made its living brewing German styles, mostly the bright, clean — and don’t forget cold — lagers that country’s brewers are famous for.

Let’s make sure something is clear — our ubiquitous pale American lagers technically are related to what goes on at Penn, in that the giants brew alcoholic beverages that are of the same broad style, but that’s about where the similarities end. Those beers strive to be inoffensive. These beers? They strive to be crisp and a bit spicy (Penn’s Kaiser Pils), balanced with hints of dark bread (Penn Dark dunkel) or rich and roasted dancing with caramel sweetness and a little extra booze (Penn’s St. Nikolas Bock). Even the non-lager in the brewery’s year-round lineup — the sunshine-colored (and flavored) Penn Weizen — is a perfect representation of the southern German style.

Lagers are fermented at colder temperatures, because that’s the best way to keep lager yeast strains happy. And they have to sit in that cold for at least a month — as opposed to ales that can be ready to drink in a few days — while they settle. Maybe it’s that extra time in the cold, but summer has always seemed like the right time for me to track down Penn’s German beers. Go find a bottle of Penn’s Kaiser Pils and you’ll see what I mean.

Post-Gazette coverage of Penn Brewery:

Category: Allegheny County | Tags: breweries, brewpubs, tap room