{"id":94,"date":"2015-05-28T18:20:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T22:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/?p=94"},"modified":"2015-05-28T18:13:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T22:13:56","slug":"spoonwood-starts-small-in-a-big-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/allegheny\/spoonwood-starts-small-in-a-big-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Spoonwood starts small in a big space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/IMG_1398.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-95\" src=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/IMG_1398-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1398\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/IMG_1398-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/IMG_1398-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Steve Ilnicki doesn\u2019t have designs on becoming huge.<\/p>\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t mean the head brewer of Bethel Park\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/spoonwoodbrewing.com\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Spoonwood Brewing<\/a> didn\u2019t start big when the brewpub opened in late January. It\u2019s a big space: a 15-barrel brewhouse, a full food menu, easy seating for 250 thirsty customers \u2013 or more, now that the patio is open. And it\u2019s off to a big start.<\/p>\n<p>While working as an assistant brewer at Homestead\u2019s Rock Bottom, Mr. Ilnicki answered an ad on a jobs board at the American Brewing Guild\u2019s web site for a new Pittsburgh brew pub; that turned out to be a new building at the site of an old railroad-themed restaurant \u2013 and an older train station \u2013 on Baptist Road in Bethel Park. Construction on the spacious building began late last summer and was wrapped up in time for a mid-winter soft opening.<\/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=\"4263168685001\"\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>Mr. Ilnicki likes drinking India Pale Ales, so it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that there are two on the tap list now \u2013 Killer Diller and Good-Eye Sniper \u2013 and the promise of more to come this summer. But he\u2019s also a fan of Belgian styles, and he said more of those should join Elise, Spoonwood\u2019s saison, very soon. There are some delicious, quirky beers ready to taste as well, especially Taffy Gruffudd, a Welsh ale \u2013 I\u2019m not making that up, although Mr. Ilnicki might be \u2013 that boasts a malty sweetness and enough alcohol heat that it reminds me of a barleywine.<\/p>\n<p>And while you\u2019re sampling the beer, be sure to get something to eat; a pizza, just out of the wood-fired oven, is likely to be adorned with basil that was grown out back.<\/p>\n<p>The pub and the brewhouse are spacious, and that means Mr. Ilnicki and partner Grant Scorsone won\u2019t bump up against brewing capacity any time soon, even as they send a few kegs out to other pubs once in a while. Even with all that room, Mr. Ilnicki says he\u2019ll be content to stay small.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Gazette coverage of Spoonwood Brewing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/life\/munch\/2015\/04\/02\/Munch-goes-to-Spoonwood-Brewing-Company\/stories\/201504020054\" target=\"_blank\">Munch goes to Spoonwood Brewing Company in Bethel Park<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/life\/food\/2015\/01\/22\/Beer-Spoonwood-Brewing-set-to-bloom-in-Bethel-Park\/stories\/201501220003\" target=\"_blank\">Beer: Spoonwood Brewing set to bloom in Bethel Park<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Ilnicki doesn\u2019t have designs on becoming huge. But that doesn\u2019t mean the head brewer of Bethel Park\u2019s Spoonwood Brewing didn\u2019t start big when the brewpub opened in late January. It\u2019s a big space: a 15-barrel brewhouse, a full food menu, easy seating for 250 thirsty customers \u2013 or more, now that the patio is [&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":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94"}],"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=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}