{"id":115,"date":"2015-07-09T18:14:36","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T22:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/?p=115"},"modified":"2015-07-09T18:20:05","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T22:20:05","slug":"keeping-cool-at-penn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/allegheny\/keeping-cool-at-penn\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping cool at Penn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/IMG_1960.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-116\" src=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/IMG_1960-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1960\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/IMG_1960-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/IMG_1960-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Even walking just the few blocks from the bus stop to 800 Vinial St. on a sticky afternoon was enough a little sweaty &#8230; and more than a little thirsty.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s OK. Inside that address &#8212; that&#8217;s the home of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pennbrew.com\/Home.aspx\">Penn Brewery<\/a> &#8212; are more than a dozen ways to keep cool on a humid summer afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Since it was founded 29 years ago by the late Tom Pastorius, Penn has stood for one thing &#8212; German beers. The brewery has made its living brewing German styles, mostly the bright, clean &#8212; and\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0forget\u00a0cold\u00a0&#8212; lagers that country&#8217;s brewers are famous for.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; position: relative; max-width: 100%;margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div style=\"padding-top: 56.25%;\">\r\n<video data-video-id=\"4346768118001\"\r\ndata-account=\"1105443290001\" \r\ndata-player=\"N1VVkFril\" \r\ndata-embed=\"default\" \r\ndata-application-id \r\nclass=\"video-js\" \r\ncontrols \r\nstyle=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;\"><\/video>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1105443290001\/N1VVkFril_default\/index.min.js\"><\/script><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Let\u2019s make sure something is clear &#8212; our ubiquitous pale American lagers technically are related to what goes on at Penn, in that the giants brew alcoholic beverages that are\u00a0of the same broad style, but that&#8217;s about where the similarities end. Those beers strive to be inoffensive. These beers? They strive to be crisp and a bit spicy (Penn&#8217;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&#8217;s St. Nikolas Bock). Even the non-lager in the brewery&#8217;s year-round lineup &#8212; the sunshine-colored (and flavored)\u00a0Penn Weizen &#8212; is a perfect representation of the southern German style.<\/p>\n<p>Lagers are fermented at colder temperatures, because that&#8217;s the best way to keep lager yeast strains happy. And they have to sit in that cold for at least a month &#8212; as opposed to ales that can be ready to drink in a few days &#8212; while they settle. Maybe it&#8217;s that extra time in the cold, but summer has always seemed like the right time for me to track down Penn&#8217;s German beers. Go find a bottle of Penn&#8217;s Kaiser Pils and you&#8217;ll see what I mean.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Gazette coverage of Penn Brewery:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/opinion\/brian-oneill\/2010\/05\/06\/last-call-at-penn-brewery-drew-him-back\/201005060334\" target=\"_blank\">Last call at Penn Brewery drew him back<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/life\/food\/2010\/04\/29\/penn-brewery-on-the-north-side-reopens\/201004290229\" target=\"_blank\">Penn Brewery on the North Side reopens<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/life\/libations\/2009\/12\/31\/penn-brewery-begins-new-era\/200912310237\" target=\"_blank\">Penn Brewery begins &#8216;new era&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even walking just the few blocks from the bus stop to 800 Vinial St. on a sticky afternoon was enough a little sweaty &#8230; and more than a little thirsty. And that&#8217;s OK. Inside that address &#8212; that&#8217;s the home of Penn Brewery &#8212; are more than a dozen ways to keep cool on a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5,6,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}