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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

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

After 5 years, Arsenal finds a second cider house

Posted June 25, 2015 • 0 comment

In their first year in business, Bill and Michelle Larkin occasionally found themselves with a problem — they were out of cider.

Arsenal Cider House, the cider and fruit wine tap room the couple started in their Lawrenceville home in 2010, proved to be popular enough that the Larkins occasionally had to shut down to allow the ciders in basement tanks to finish fermentation.

Demand for Fighting Elleck and Archibald’s Ado hasn’t flagged a bit, but the basement of the Larkins’ home — which sits across 39th Street from Arsenal Park — is filled with enough tanks to keep cider flowing at not one but two taprooms.

And that brings us to Soergel’s Orchards, the farm and country store in Wexford that has supplied Arsenal with base fruit juices since they got started. A discussion a few months ago turned into Arsenal’s second tap room, back in McIntosh Hall. The space is appropriately rustic for a Civil War-themed cider house, and there is plenty of room for outdoor tasting in a large, shaded patio in front of the hall.

The new location isn’t the only way Arsenal is marking the fifth anniversary. If you like outdoor drinking in the North Hills, chances are pretty good that you’ll like it even more at the newly completed cider garden, behind the original location. And if you show up on a weekend, chances are pretty good that you’ll also find one of Pittsburgh’s food trucks and maybe even a band back there.

Finally, I was happy to hear that the Larkins have plans to handle the demand that will likely come with the new spot. Mr. Larkin said they just bought a building in Penn Hills that will serve as a production facility when it gets running sometime in the next year. Arsenal’s staples will move to that spot, leaving Lawrenceville and Wexford available for small-batch experiments.

To summarize five years of Arsenal Cider: a garden, a second tap room and a way to ensure there’s plenty of cider to go around. And that sounds like a great anniversary to me.

Post-Gazette coverage of Arsenal Cider House:

Category: Allegheny County | Tags: cider, tap room, wine

PCBW: An overwhelming week

Posted April 16, 2015 • 0 comment

Even if you put Christmas, Halloween and the Fourth of July together in one week, it’s not going to be as much fun as Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week.

The annual showcase of the region’s craft beer industry, now in its fourth year, gets started this weekend with collaboration beers, beer dinners, beer brunches and what has become the biggest bash of the week — the instantly sold-out Commonwealth Press Beer Barge.

And that’s only the first weekend.

The rest of the week keeps up a similar pace, with a dizzying list of events all the way through Sunday, April 26. This is the week when it becomes a little easier to track down some of those holy grail beers — you know, stuff like Founders’ Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout, Deschutes Abyss — when they show up at this week’s special events.

Even better? We get the full sense of exactly how good we have it here in western Pennsylvania. We have beers brewed specifically for this week. We have eight different collaboration beers, all made by the talented brewmasters we have in the region, available all over town.

Want some highlights? On Tuesday, you’ll probably find me at Carson Street Deli, which will host a mini firkin festival featuring Grist House and Hop Farm. Breakfast at Piper’s Pub on Wednesday is an excellent idea, especially if you don’t need to be productive later in the day. Thursday? Yikes — get to the South Side and plan on staying there.

Finally, don’t miss the Brewers’ Olympics at Grist House in Millvale on the week’s final day. You’ll pay $15 for the privilege of laughing at with our favorite brewers, and money raised during the event will go to help out the folks at Blue Canoe Brewery in Titusville get back on their feet after last month’s fire.

Are you ready? The fun’s about to begin.

Post-Gazette coverage of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week:

Category: Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, Region | Tags: breweries, brewpubs, PCBW, Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, tap room

Local brewing tradition on display at the Independent

Posted April 2, 2015 • 0 comment

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.

Category: Allegheny County | Tags: tap room