CraftPittsburgh Issue #25 by CraftPittsburgh

cooking with beer • home brewing • upcoming beer events • Beer Geer • have you tried...

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

table of contents upcoming events editor’s letter pcbw photos style profile - lagers keep the train running - sam calagione interview hitchhiker’s brewology collaboration

the hoppy couple - oysterfest 2016 it’s all in the label

craft cocktails - monroeville zombie walk under construction - mindful brewing with great beer comes great drinkability drinkin’ down under art & beer pgh pizza - caliente where dives survive - hilltoppers have you tried... cooking with beer - helltown braised short ribs home brewing - red spruce ale illustrated breweries of pa - helltown

page

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6. 7. 8. 10. 12. 14. 16. 18. 20. 24. 26. 28. 30. 36. 38. 40. 42. 44. 46.

staff

PUBLISHER

P•Scout Media, LLC

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Rob Soltis rob@craftpittsburgh.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Mike Weiss mike@craftpittsburgh.com

COPY EDITORS

Frank Cunniff, Michael Dostal

CONTRIBUTORS

Brian Meyer, Beth Kurtz Taylor, Joe Tammariello, Amanda Stein, Mindy Heisler-Johnson, Hart Johnson, Ian Mikrut, Jack Lake, Kenny Gould, Frank Cunniff, Nils Balls, Jack Smith, Will Groves, Dan DeLucia

PHOTOGRAPHERS Tim Burns, Jeff Zoet

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Jeff Zoet Visuals

AD SALES

sales@craftpittsburgh.com

CREATIVE

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

Soltis Design soltisdesign.com

FOR INFORMATION ON CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL CONTENT OR PLACING DISPLAY ADVERTISING PLEASE CONTACT US AT INFO@CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM Craft Pittsburgh is issued bi-monthly by P•Scout Media, LLC. All information and materials in this magazine, individually and collectively, are provided for informational purposes. The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of P•Scout Media, LLC., nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without expressed written permission from the publisher. Advertisements are subject to the approval of P•Scout Media, LLC. P•Scout Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertisers assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads.

upcoming events IN STORES & ON TAP:

Check out CraftPittsburgh.com for even more events and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. May • 14 Beers of the Burgh @ The Arsenal Terminal Building • 14 Pints for Pets @ Peoples Natural Gas Field, Altoona • 14 Pittsburgh Brewery Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 15 2nd Anniversary Celebration @ Hitchhiker Brewing • 20 Let’s Do Brisket! @ The Brew Gentlemen • 21 2nd Anniversary Party @ The Brew Gentlemen • 16-22 American Craft Beer Week • 20-22 Dirt Fest @ Raystown Lake • 28 Pig Roast! @ 99 Bottles

June

WINNERS! HOP JUJU - GOLD MEDAL IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE

2015 GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL ®

BONE HEAD - GOLD MEDAL

• 4 PA Microbrewers’ Fest 2016 @ Penn Brewery • 4 The Virtues & Vices Brew Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 11 1st annual Seven Fields Beer & Wine Fest @ Seven Fields • 18 Brew ‘n Chew @ Monroeville Convention Center • 18 Beer & Gear Fest @ Ohiopyle

DOUBLE RED ALE

• 25 Frosty Mugs of Thunder Brewfest @ Somerset Historical Cntr

MIDNIGHT MOONLIGHT GOLD MEDAL

• 25-26 Great European Beerfest @ Beer Emporium

AMERICAN-STYLE BLACK ALE

BLITZKRIEG BOCK - GOLD MEDAL RYE BEER

BLACK KNIGHT - SILVER MEDAL GERMAN-STYLE SCHWARZBIER

July • 8-9 Deutschtown Music Fest @ Deutschtown (Northside) • 9 Art Brew Fundraiser @ Sweetwater Center for the Arts • 9 Rust Belt Brews & Bites Tour @ PA Brew Tours

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

• 15-16 Pittsburgh Summer Beerfest @ Stage AE

head in to the brewery ! e s u o h p a t SAMPLES, FLIGHTS & FRESH-BREWED PINTS! MUNCHIES. SWAG.

call for tours: 216.898.0242 18741 Sheldon Road middleburg hts., oh 44130

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• 18 Bike ‘N Brew Fest @ Oil City • 23 Beer on the Bay

August • 5 Science of Beer Night @ Carnegie Science Center • 6 BREWFEST! @ Slippery Rock • 6 State College Brew Expo @ Tussey Mountain • 13 Drake’s Folly Brewfest @ Titusville • 20-21 C orks & Kegs Craft Beer Festival @ The Meadows Casino • 26-28 BrewersFest @ Cooper’s Lake Campground

editor’s letter to theh burg

Art, beer, and Sam Calagione

nother Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week is in the books, a lot of people made it out to support the local beer scene and I’m still married. All and all I would consider that a pretty successful week. Once again I’d just like to thank everyone that makes PCBW happen. From the board members, to the brewers, to the wholesalers, to the beer reps, and everyone that put on events. The week couldn’t happen without everyone working together for the greater good, which is promoting craft beer in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t all perfect, but each year it gets better and better and that’s really all we can hope for. Cheers to everyone who came out and we hope you’re already looking forward to next year as much as we are. In other news, this is our biggest issue yet with 48 pages of beer and art. We have always featured local artists and artisans but this is the first time we’ve devoted an entire issue to them. I’ve had the idea for over a year and a half and I’m really proud of how it all came together. From the collaborations breweries are doing with illustrators to artists who actually work in the beer industry, we didn’t have to look far to find great stories. Thank you to all my talented writers and all the artists that worked with us. Along with all the art we have an interview with Dogfish Head founder and President Sam Calagione, a true living legend in the craft beer world. He had some great stories about his early days delivering beer to Pittsburgh and it was a honor to get to sit down with him. This issue we also explore the wild and colorful world of Tiki, which is a perfect fit for the art issue. Our cocktail writer Will Groves says “going out for tiki drinks is like going out for cocktails, only fun” and I couldn’t agree more. Will puts a Pittsburgh twist on a classic Tiki drink and Hidden Harbor in Squirrel Hill provides the backdrop for the feature. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you need to soon.

PIT TSBURGH SMOK

ED W

INGS

new menu!

award-winning beer 6 &12 Packs • growlers original smoked wings burgers • munchies headwiches salads

Thank you all for reading and if you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at craftpittsburgh.com or find me at the bar.

Rob Soltis

CraftPittsburgh.com

Cheers,

1805 e. carson st • south side • pgh., pa 15203 CALL FOR TAKE OUT: 412.431.7433

FATHEADS.COM

2016

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

All photos by Jeff Zoet, courtesy of The Pittsburgh Craft Beer Alliance

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style profile

The Lager Abides By Brian Meyer

hat happened to the lager? In a world of double IPAs, Imperial coffee stouts, and grapefruit beer, the simple, refreshing lager has been left in the dust, dismissed as “fizzy yellow beer,” but in actuality the traditional lager is complex, difficult to brew, and thankfully making a resurgence amongst craft brewers. The dismissal and overall dislike of the lager over the years is mostly due to its heavy use by the big macro brewers as their beer of choice. In other words, lagers have been given the appearance of being mass-produced, cheap beer. But for those of us that love the lager, this aggression will not stand, man. It’s time to see what a lager truly is, and to separate the rumors from the truth. When it comes to lagers, there’s a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous, but at the end of the day, lagers are an amazing beer style that really tied the room together, man, and are coming back to do it again.

The History of the Lager

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

There are really only two major categories of beer in the world: ales and lagers. The biggest difference between the two categories is the yeast they use to ferment. In ales the yeast floats on the top, which is why it’s called a “top-fermenting beer.” In a lager however, the yeast sinks to the bottom to do its magic, making these “bottom-fermenting beers.”

Along with the different yeast, lagers need the cold to ferment correctly, which is actually where they got their name. The word “lager” comes from the Bavarian word meaning “to store.” This came from the need for these beers to be stored someplace nice and cold for long periods of time. When the style was in its infancy and for many years after, this storage happened deep in caves where the temperature would stay consistently cold and the yeast could get to work. As only select yeast strains like Saccharomyces Pastorianus could thrive in the subterranean environment , it was an early way for brewers to gain more control over the fermentation process.

Fast forward to today and lagers are still sent to cold storage for fermentation, but instead of caves modern lagers head to coolers to ferment. Most contemporary breweries will let you watch for far less than $100, many even offer free tours.

Lagers: Taste & Aroma

With the differences in yeast and fermentation, there are some very different flavors you’ll get out of a lager versus an ale, which we’ll look at next. The majority of lagers take on some overall characteristics, mostly due to their fermentation process and the choices typically made in regard to malt and hops during the brewing process. Lagers, for the most part, have a crisper, “cleaner” taste than their ale cousins. This is mostly due to the lack of the fruity ester characteristics that are present in most ales. Lagers are often bitter with a crisp, dry finish, but not always. Usually very bright and clear from any cloudiness or particulate, some lagers are bold and darker in color, with some being nearly completely black.

The Preferred Nomenclature

The beers you probably think of when you hear the word lager are American lagers and American light lagers. While these are indeed the beers that are brewed by the macro brewers, these styles themselves are difficult to brew and require extreme attention to detail. Craft breweries are reviving the American-style lager to give it some street cred in the craft beer world, and some are coming up with very interesting takes on this style. Along with American lagers, other popular versions include Czech lagers, European lagers like Munich Helles, Festbier, and Helles Bock, and dark European lagers like Munich Dunkel and Schwarzbier. Amber versions of the lager include the Vienna Lager, Altbier, and Kellerbier. Pilsners are possibly the most popular style of lager, and some notable varieties include Kölsch, Czech Pilsner, and German Pils. As craft brewers

On the trail or in the woo ds, we’re here fo r your post ri de ... refreshments .

start to come back to this historical style of beer, you can be sure to expect to see more lagers on the menu at your local brewpub and on the shelf at your distributor or bottle shop.

Penn Brewery

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the first craft beers I ever had in an article about lagers. Penn Brewery, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, brews a variety of lagers as well as ales, with their flagship beer being none other than Penn Pilsner. This Vienna-style lager is smooth, mellow, and full-bodied with a distinct yet delicate hop aroma. A perfect example of how a lager doesn’t have to be either yellow nor overly fizzy. Along with this is the amazing Kaiser Pils, which is a German pilsner that’s crisp, clean, and bitter, featuring a pronounced floral and aromatic character thanks for the Noble hops used in brewing. Penn Brewery is one of the originators of the craft beer movement, and their support of the often-overlooked lager should stand as a signal that you should probably try one this summer and see for yourself what all the fuss really is about. And, as The Dude would say: “Careful man, there’s a beverage here.”

Made fresh everyday, be sure to try the one with peanut butter. Really!

a great sele ction of seasonal craf t beer on tap. Espe cially the local br ews.

Brian founded and writes for pghcraftbeers.com and craftbeeracademy.com.

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north park boathouse • historic southside

keep the train

RUNNING

Dogfish Head founder and President Sam Calagione visited Pittsburgh in March to thank local accounts for their support and urge the continual prioritizing of indie craft breweries in the market. story and photos by Ian Mikrut

or many beer drinkers, Dogfish Head may be one of the first craft breweries to open the doorway to a new world of beers, with the 60 Minute IPA as the proverbial domino dropped that created thousands of hop-heads around the country.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

The company’s founder and President, Sam Calagione, started brewing in the early 90s—creating a company that has innovated craft beer making while helping to promote and advocate indie beer makers for the last 20 years. In many ways Dogfish, along with other early craft breweries, really perpetuated and created the insane market demand and growth seen within the industry in the last decade.

On March 1 Calagione visited Pittsburgh’s Priory Hotel for an evening of celebration, thanks, and an “off-centered leadership” talk with local distributors. The enigmatic Calagione expressed his gratitude to the distributors that have long supported Dogfish Head and for all those present who attended. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen in most cities and you guys are all former entrepreneurs,” Calagione said. In particular, he expressed gratitude to Vecenie Distributing Company, who hosted the event and is one of Dogfish Head’s oldest distributors. “For you to take a day out of your week and do this is really humbling for me and for my coworkers. Thank you for doing this on a night off,” he said. Calagione remembered late 90s trips to Pittsburgh in the early days of Dogfish Head when he’d deliver product himself in beat-up, old truck. Along with the beer, Calagione kept a mattress in the back to sleep on after happy hours at the original Mad Mex in Oakland. “And then I had asked Vecenie Distributing for 20 dollars for gas because I was broke and I did not know if Dogfish Head would make it or not,”

Calagione said. “I’m mostly here to say thanks to the accounts in Pittsburgh. How amazing is it that people take a night off of work that can do this for a craft brewery? So my heart is warmed I’m humbled and it’s mostly a chance for me to say thank you to Vecenie, our distributor who has believed in us for 18 years.” he said. Tony Knipling, brand manager at Vecenie, also remembers those days. “I remember at Penn Brewery he was pouring the beers one time and he was counting how many shirts he sold,” Kippling said. “And he hit a certain number and said ‘well, gas money I can go home!’ Those were lean times. We went through that with him. But now it’s a completely different picture.” Knipling said It’s a very different picture indeed. In Pittsburgh alone it feels like new local breweries are opening every day, many of whom cite Calagione and his approach to business and leadership as inspiration to their own start. Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week celebrated its fifth year. More and more people are introduced to craft beer every day. But as great as all of the growth has been, the question always remains—what’s next? It’s easy to get caught up in overnight trends in certain styles or seasonals, but nothing has made a bigger impact on craft beer than the IPA, and it isn’t going anywhere any time soon. “What’s after IPA,” asked Calagione. “There’s never been a beer style that has been as galvanizing as the IPA style in terms of the history of brewing. So of course the media is going to say what’s next? The short answer is IPAs are after IPAs.” he said. For Dogfish Head, the IPA is here to stay, and that includes further innovating new IPAs and re-releasing old favorites, adventuring and playing with the style in making dark, fruit-infused, or session IPAs. Take

Romantic Chemistry, a hop-forward IPA infused with mango, apricots and ginger. Or the Squall IPA, a bottle conditioned, unfiltered, continual hopping double IPA. The 120 Minute IPA finally makes its return as well, after first being introduced in 2003 and distributed occasionally since then. “The way I tell people, the engine on the train is the IPA,” Knipling said. “It’s driving the train. And some of the cars on that train are IPA loaded, and without it the train wouldn’t be as powerful for craft beers.” he said. Stating that the definition of craft has never been more under siege than it is now, Calagione urged the continual support and prioritizing of true indie craft breweries in order to keep the American beer landscape “as diverse as we’ve been lucky to see it become in the last ten years.” More so than an offering of new products, Calagione’s “what’s next?” also served as a call to arms for the continual support of independent brewers as the future seems more and more uncertain in the face of Big Beer. “That’s one of his major themes: Indie. You hear the word indie from him a lot,” Knipling said. “And he would certainly like to let everybody know who isn’t indie, who’s pretending to be. That’s important to him. He was the chairman of the brewer’s association for two years. He’s dedicated to that.” he said. It’s important to note that there are independent wholesalers as well who are feeling the effects of big beer. Vecenie is one and has been promoting craft beer for close to 30 years. “We are an independent wholesaler, too. In other words we have no national brands. We don’t carry anybody big that is going to dictate to us how we’re going to spend our time and money,” says Knipling. “Which a lot of the big, multi-national breweries put forward. If you’re a wholesaler that has the big companies, they want to be number one in the portfolio. And that’s something Sam is also worried about, too.” he said.

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Calagione and Dogfish Head serve as a great example of national popularity and success without the sacrifice of independence and continuing to stay “off-centered.” If that’s any indication of what Pittsburgh’s craft beer scene could become as it continues to carve its niche in the national landscape, then the future still looks bright. Keep the train running. Keep drinking independent.

HITCHHIKER’S BREWOLOGY crowler collaboration By Jack Lake, photo by Jeff Zoet

M CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

ark Brewer has been illustrating since he was 14 years old and has been enjoying craft brews as far back as when Sam Adams was the fancy beer. It was only a matter of time until his two loves came together in the form of the book Brewology: An Illustrated Dictionary for Beer Lovers. Brewer’s illustrations are a mix between classic editorial cartoons stirred in with a style a bit reminiscent of Shel Silverstein.

As a resident of Bridgeville, it was only natural to make his rounds at local breweries as part of his six-state book signing tour that included mostly breweries, not bookstores. One brewery, Hitchhiker Brewing Company, was especially receptive. After selling a handful of books and having Brewer sign at their location in Mt. Lebanon, owner Gary Olden decided to take their support a bit further by collaborating with Brewer on special crowler designs. On the first Sunday of the first four months of 2016, Hitchhiker Brewing revealed a new crowler label to be used throughout

the month featuring artwork from Brewology. The first label release featured the cover art from Brewology and the following months included three other illustrations from the book, such as the a man playing the “beerpipes” used for the scotch ale definition. “Overall the feedback was really good. It’s like anything else in this industry; a lot of education and information sharing,” Olden said. Brewer was able to witness this first hand as he gained a lot of knowledge about beer and the industry while talking with brewers and patrons during his book tour. His experience with the breweries has inspired him to explore other ways to collaborate with brewers and he would ultimately like to be a resident artist for a brewery, much like Ralph Steadman’s relationship with Flying Dog. “The camaraderie is what has fascinated me this whole time; getting to know the people who own the breweries and the brewers themselves, as well as some of the people who frequent [breweries]. It’s a really nice community,” Brewer said.

OUR BEER SELECTION Knocks It Out of the Park

Giant Eagle, Market District and GetGo cafĂŠs in western PA

For store locations or more information, please visit www.GiantEagle.com/Beer. Not all items available in all locations. Restrictions apply. See store for details.

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hoppy couple

Oysterfest

2016 Under the Homestead Grays Bridge

Joe

Location

Food

Beer

Amanda

It might sound strange but the south end of the Homestead Grays Bridge has become the home of some pretty unique events. Well, under the bridge that is. For the last few years Blue Dust, a unique craft pub in Homestead, has been putting on events under the bridge near the train tracks. Oyster Fest and Pumpkin Fest have become fast favorites of ours. These events host various breweries, local artists and craft makers’ goods, food trucks, and live music. Don’t worry though, you don’t have to answer any riddles to get in, it’s free admission! Both years we have gone to Oyster Fest, Rogue Ales from Newport, Oregon has helped to sponsor the event and they bring a nice variety of their handcrafted beers for purchase. One of Rogue’s more adventurous beers is the Beard Beer which uses a strain of yeast cultured from the head brewer’s beard. Weird, right? Another beer that stood out to me was from a small Delaware, PA-based brewery called Shawnee Craft Brewing. I have been into sours lately and they had brought a half-sour, as they put it. It was very good.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

Atmosphere

Being under a bridge might sound a bit weird at first, but it ends up being a really enjoyable experience. It’s a nice way to spend a hopefully warmer-than-winter spring afternoon. I would say this event is open to people of all ages even though it is a beer related event. We saw people with strollers and kids but we didn’t see many pets, so keep that in mind. Parking is mostly on-street so you might get to walk to the event with some other eager beer drinkers. We didn’t see much of the live music but they seemed to have a nice variety: covers, rock, and jazz to name a few styles.

Okay, the star of the show...oysters, of course! This was the first year I decided to try some raw oysters. Usually, I will go with one of their Po’ Boy sandwiches wherein the oysters are breaded and fried. Both options are great. I can’t say I loved the raw oysters but I don’t regret trying them. I’m told the oysters are flown in from Oregon the night before the event to ensure absolute freshness and you can tell, too. If oysters aren’t for you, there were some great food truck options, as well.

Location:

Pittsburgh is home to over 440 bridges (yep, you read that right) so partying under a bridge is pretty much inevitable in the ‘burgh. Blue Dust has hosted Oyster Fest (and a few other under-the-bridge shindigs) for a few years now and like Joe said, it’s a fast favorite of ours. After you’ve had your fill of oysters and trolls, you can take a short walk to a few other great pubs just around the corner in Homestead. Blue Dust, Dorothy 6, and Voodoo Brewery’s satellite taproom are all within a block or two of the bridge so it’s easy to make a day of it.

Beer

Oyster Fest is sponsored in part by Rogue so there were plenty of their beers to go around. Also joining the fest with a few of their own brews were Green Flash, Long Trail, Tröegs, Voodoo, and a few others. There were also Blue Dust staff and Maggie’s Farm Rum pouring some of their house-infused cocktails. I sipped on a Cold Brew IPA (7.5% ABV) from Rogue which was a nice hoppy IPA blended with a cold brew coffee local to Rogue’s homebase.

Where Beer Meets Grill Atmosphere

Oyster Fest has something for everyone. They have different types of live music, a few local art vendors, beer and cocktails for all, raw and fried oysters, and several food trucks. We got to watch a few trains fly by which blew back my hair and just made me smile. There’s something about this location that just makes me proud to be a ‘burger. It’s like a little bridgedwelling community of beer drinkers, what more could you ask for?

did'ja knoW, 'jatas yinzdid knte Can oW, yin CanG so n taste Mezthi so Me thinG speCial at spe BoCk l at toCia Wn BoCk toWn every tuesday at Beaver valle y Ma ll in MonaCa froM 6 – 8 pM

Food

Like Joe, I had my first raw oyster and while I’m very proud of myself for trying it I will certainly be in no hurry to try them again! They were obviously fresh and the flavor was great but I am not a fan of the texture. I did, however, have a delicious lunch at the Las Chicas food truck (the Tostada Bowl) and was much happier with that! There was a nice variety of food trucks including Franktuary, Pittsburgh Crepes, Leona’s Ice Cream Sandwiches, Blowfish BBQ, and more. It was hard to choose what truck to visit so go hungry and sample a few! Pro-tip: If you are into oysters, go early because their stock goes fast!

Summary

every Wednesday in roBinson froM 6 – 8 pM CheCk 'aht the list at BoCktoWn.CoM

Blue Dust throws a great bridge party. They make sure there’s tons of food and beer for all so go hungry and thirsty! Whether you’re a native yinzer or new to the ‘burgh, partying under a bridge is something everyone should try at least once. The Hoppy Couple is one part Joe Tammariello and one part Amanda Stein. Amanda is the charitable creative type, while Joe is the nerdy eccentric type. Together we make a perfect brew, har har. We don’t consider ourselves beer experts but we spend a good bit of our free time exploring the city of Pittsburgh and sampling all of the food and drink it has to offer. We also try our hand at brewing beer from time to time at our home in Swissvale. We hope that our points of view will pour a wellrounded pint of our experiences with Pittsburgh’s local craft beer scene. Say “Cheers!” if you see us out!

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ALL IN THE LABEL East End Brewery Prepares to Celebrate its Fourth Batch of Illustration Ale by Kenny Gould

Similarly, Pittsburgh artist Wayno just happened to live in the same neighborhood as East End Brewery founders Scott and Julie Smith. “We may have connected sooner or later because of the circles we travel in,” Wayno says. “But it was luck that we lived in the same neighborhood.” The artist began designing labels for Scott and Julie as early as 2006, but the trio hit gold in 2010, when they came up with an idea for a series called Illustration Ale. Basically: East End would make a limited-edition Belgian ale, which they’d put into six packs; Wayno would pick different Pittsburgh artists to design the bottle labels, one per bottle; and together they’d throw a big party in celebration of Pittsburgh art and raise money to benefit the ToonSeum, a Pittsburgh-based museum of cartoon art in the Strip District. Over the past few years, East End has brewed three different batches of Illustration Ale, utilizing the art from eighteen different artists, and each has been a success. There is no contest or application—Scott and Wayno handpick their artists from the community. “We kind of turn them loose and tell them to do whatever they want as long as they fit the government warning and the required text,” says Wayno. From the very beginning, he and Scott gave their artists free reign—Wayno dubs the day the art arrives as “Christmas,” because he never knows what they’re going to get. Past favorites have included the beautiful painterly image done by Sarah Miller, of Wyld Chyld tattoo and Inkmaster fame, which features a voluptuous woman with alien ridges on her forehead, as if the skin on her face were made from clay. Wayno also likes the 2010 design done by Mark Zingarelli, which looks like it came straight out of a vintage comic book, and the 2013 design done by Ilene Winn-Lederer, which features illuminated letters that look as if they were hand carved by a monk. Perhaps one out of every six bottles gets rejected by the government, which maintains strict laws about what can and can’t appear on beer labels: for instance, no American flags, and you can’t say that the beer is “strong”. During the second iteration of the project, Pittsburghbased cartoonist Jasen Lex drew a picture of a caveman inside a dinosaur and the dinosaur

had x’s for eyes; the feds rejected that design, although no one is quite sure why. Illustration Ale is a Belgian dark strong with an ABV of around 8.1 percent. It follows in the rich Belgian tradition of ending a beer name with an “ation”: think of Russian River Brewing Company’s “Consecration,” “Supplication,” and “Damnation,” among others. Currently, it holds a score of 89 out of 100 on the notoriously difficult beer rating website Beer Advocate, which qualifies it as “very good.” Perhaps more telling of the beer’s success is the fact that Scott recently served it at a New York City James Beard dinner alongside Justin Severino, chef and co-owner at the Lawrenceville-based Cure.

You’re Invited! To See a Great Space for Your Craft Brewery.

The trick to creating the beer, says Scott, is the farmhouse ale yeast—it’s strange and finicky, but brings the finished product a wonderful depth of character. In 2013, however, the yeast refused to eat, so Scott—following in a rich tradition of home brew hackers everywhere—put the beer into wine barrels with Brettanomyces and created something else entirely. The resulting product, known by Pittsburgh craft beer and pun enthusiasts as “Sketchy,” was so successful that Scott even considered abandoning the old recipe in favor of the new; he decided to compromise on the next iteration, using half of the base for Sketchy and half for Illustration Ale.

In the near future, big things are happening at East End: at the end of March, they started setting up a beer garden at their Larimer location. Additionally, they plan to open a full tap room with lunch and dinner service on 19th street in the Strip District to replace the growler shop that closed with the Public Market. But perhaps the biggest news—especially if you’re a Pittsburgh artist, or a fan of Belgian beer—is that Scott and Wayno are putting their heads together over the next Illustration iteration. Expect to see some new art (and new beer) before the end of the year.

CMY

5410 Harrison Street, Lawrenceville, PA First floor: 8,000 square feet Second floor: 625 square-foot office space ■ Overhead doors ■ High ceilings ■ Open floor plans Perfect for brewing equipment, a tasting room, event space, kitchen, etc.

For a personal tour, contact: Constance Buczkowski buczkowskiconnie@aol.com ■ 412.638.6693 Kathleen Smith Kathleen@scott-mccune.com Scott & McCune Company ■ 412.281.6444

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he best inventions are often complete luck: German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays while experimenting with cathode-ray tubes, English metallurgist Harry Brearly developed stainless steel while trying to make an erosionless gun barrel.

craft cocktails

going out for

tiki drinks is like going out for cocktails,

only fun. Written by Will Groves, photos by Jeff Zoet

Does all that mean that tiki drinks don’t have the same attention to detail and quality ingredients? Not anymore. Modern tiki culture has blended together many of the elements of the craft cocktail scene with a distinct sense of humor and fun. So what you’re left with is superior ingredients turned into great cocktails by talented bar professionals who know how to have a good time. Hell yes. Sign me up. Tiki began in the 1930s when Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt opened a bar under the name he would eventually assume as his own. Don the Beachcomber’s was a “Polynesian” bar and restaurant before there was such a thing. Soon, Victor Bergeron would imitate what the Beachcomber had done at his own Trader Vic’s restaurants. These businesses, which offered Americans a tiny vacation right in their own hometown were a hit, especially after World War II. American GIs came back from the Pacific theater with a taste for escapism. Polynesian restaurants which offered a taste of (admittedly inauthentic) island foods as well as “exotics” like the Mai Tai and the Chief Lapu Lapu, as well as Hawaiian-style floor shows and décor, flourished nationwide.

I totally know what you’re thinking right now. Tiki drinks? That sweet shit I drank out of some huge flaming bowl in a Chinese restaurant when I was 22? Would I steer you wrong? I would not. So just hang with me. Tiki drinks at the beginning, and tiki drinks now have one big thing in common; a steadfast commitment to quality. I’m talking fresh-squeezed EVERYTHING. Handcrafted syrups and mixers made out of real stuff. Drinks that have up to a dozen ingredients that are completely made to order. The thing you have to keep in mind when you’re comparing classic 1930s-1950s tiki to today, is that it’s not just drinks and shirts. It’s a lifestyle. Polynesian restaurants represented a transportative style of escape that was just the thing to cure Americans of their otherwise buttoned-up, staid lives. We may not be so staid anymore, but tiki is still a beautiful slice of mid-century, analog leisure. In addition to drinks, it’s about food that’s exotic and grilled and sweet and spicy; it’s about design and a style of dress that is unlike anything else that existed in the Mad Men period in American history. Another thing that original and modern tiki have in common is that it still feels exotic. It still feels foreign. One of the things that made these original Polynesian bars feel so exotic was rum. When the rest of America was drinking whiskey and gin, Donn Beach and Trader Vic were serving rum. Why? Obviously because it’s from the Caribbean, right? Nah. Remember, these were called Polynesian restaurants. Tiki came to the Caribbean only after it became trendy in America. These

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iki is not precious. Tiki is not fussy. It’s not all of those things that people think going out for cocktails is now. No one has ever made a tiki drink and been too self-important about it. Tiki is fire and crushed ice and rum and kitsch and weird shirts. Tiki is NOT teeny tiny coupe glasses rinsed with absinthe and obscure Peruvian bitters served with a disapproving look by someone who looks like they time travelled here from 1840.

guys were using rum because it was cheap as hell. These were BIG drinks we’re talking about, so one of the only ways to make quality drinks with that much booze and fresh ingredients was to use spirits that were less expensive. Does that mean that they were lower quality compared to bourbons and gins? It absolutely doesn’t. The original Mai Tai was made with a Jamaican rum that was aged for seventeen long years. Seventeen years! Even today, you can find great values in rum compared to whiskeys or brandies of similar age. Let’s check out a punch recipe that is classic tiki with a PA twist.

Monroeville Zombie Walk • 1 oz Stonewall rum (made in Glenshaw by the fine folks who make Boyd and Blair Potato Vodka) • 1 oz Big Spring Spirits white rum (made in Bellefonte, PA and sold locally by the imitable Christian Simmons) • 1 oz Maggie’s Farm Double-Barrel Queen’s Share rum (aged in two separate barrels for a woody, earthy sweetness that is the bass note of this big drink) • 1 oz pineapple juice • 1 oz passionfruit syrup (recipe follows) • 1 oz lemon juice • 1 oz lime juice • 1 tsp brown sugar syrup (equal parts brown sugar and hot water, stirred until the sugar is dissolved) Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake like the dickens with plenty of crushed ice. Pour unstrained into the most fun tiki mug you have. Garnish. A lot. Seriously garnish with a ton of stuff. Mint is pretty much required. My favorite is the spent half of one of the limes you squeezed, filled with overproof rum and set alight. Be careful not to set cocktail parasols on fire or melt straws.

Passionfruit Syrup • One 14oz can Goya brand passionfruit concentrate • 21 oz white simple syrup (equal parts white sugar and water) I know it’s a lot of ingredients. But those are all there to make this punch really taste like tiki. It’s not too sweet, it’s not too tart. It might be a little too boozy…

To get tiki drinks like the one pictured right here in Pittsburgh, check out Hidden Harbor, next to the Independent Brewing Co. in Squirrel Hill. If you’re going to watch the Pirates beat the Indians or the Steelers beat the Browns, also be sure to check out Porco Lounge and Tiki Room in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, OH. To learn more about tiki culture online, head to the sites of the Fraternal Order of the Moai, the Atomic Grog Blog, OogaMooga, Cocktail Wonk, Tiki Central and others.

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When tiki drinks are good they’re particularly great, because you not only have the holy trinity of rum, lime and sugar; you also have clove, passion fruit, cinnamon, pineapple and any number of other exotic fruits, spices, and herbs that transport you to somewhere more tropical. Especially if you’re wearing a silly shirt and/or straw tiki hat. As I said earlier, you can’t take yourself too seriously when you’re drinking a tiki drink. You have to kick back and let it take you somewhere that’s a little warmer, a little sunnier, and a little more carefree. Just remember to bring back souvenirs.

Under construction

MINDFUL BREWING Photos and story by Kenny Gould

outh Hills beer lovers know about 99 Bottles, the combination bottle shop and restaurant located at 1001 Washington Avenue in Carnegie. The establishment vends over 250 bottled beers, pours from 33 taps, and serves pub-style fare that many believe to be one of the best kept secrets in Pittsburgh. Now, 99 Bottles owner Dustin Jones and manager Nick Jones (no relation) are looking to open their own brewing company.

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Mindful Brewing got its start four years ago, when Nick began working at 99 Bottles. Because of Dustin’s familiarity with Pittsburgh’s craft scene—and Nick’s degree in microbiology—they decided to open a place of their own.

Originally, Nick and Dustin wanted a small facility that could also house a food truck, but they couldn’t find a space that fit their needs. They spent two years looking at what Nick estimates must’ve been over 1,000 buildings. For a while, they thought they’d found a location in South Fayette, but the prospect of costly surveys sent them in a different direction. “We eventually said, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it big,” Nick said. With that attitude, they finally found the perfect spot. The facility at 3759 Library Road in Castle Shannon started as a mechanic’s shop and convenience store, and a later addition connected the two. After serving as a grocery store, it was bought by Mindful Management, which also purchased several buildings in the surrounding area. When complete, the main facility will house a ten-barrel brewing system, six 20-barrel fermenters, and three 20-barrel bright tanks. Head cook Eddie Lilliock, who currently runs the kitchen at 99 Bottles, will offer a seasonal,

farm-to-table menu with ingredients sourced from the brewery’s small urban farm in Ingram, as well as other local farms. There will be a secondfloor patio with glass windows looking into the brewing facility, which should produce enough beer for Mindful to keep at least ten products on tap, with other taps featuring local wine, mead, and cider. Although Mindful has already been granted the license for a full bar, Nick plans to focus on local spirits, serving Pittsburgh favorites like Wigle Whiskey, Maggie’s Farm Rum, and Boyd & Blair. Down the street, Mindful will house a barrel aging facility, as well as a yeast lab and grain storage. For a while, Dustin and Nick kicked around the idea of a grain silo, but regulations would’ve necessitated the loss of eight parking spaces, so they decided to hold off. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Mindful is its location: just a short walk from the T station, with Hitchhiker Brewing a short trip to the northeast and Spoonwood Brewing to the southwest. Also in the area are Colonial Beer Distribution, McNeilly Beer, The Korner Pub, and Apis Mead, helping make Castle Shannon more of an afternoon beer destination than out-of-the-way day trip. Currently in talks with Hitchhiker and Spoonwood about the possibility of doing a shuttle on some type of loop, Nick speaks highly of his neighbors and frequently mentions the ways they’ve supported Mindful. Mindful Brewing’s development is good news for the Pittsburgh craft beer scene, which has recently seen a tremendous influx of both new breweries and support. For the near future, Mindful plans to finish construction for their tentative opening late August.

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y t i l i b a k Drin t a e r g s e m o c with great beer

h Linsner p e s o J t is t r a ic m ewing and co icon. r B n w By Ian Mikrut o lt l e H h it w m p o u C s s r m mics tea al 3 Rive New Dimension Ceod release beer to the first annu to bring a limit

Let gods have their nectar—Helltown Brewing and New Dimension Comics are proud to introduce Darkest Dawn Stout, the only beer black enough for a witch, but brewed for a goddess. In honor of the first annual 3 Rivers Comicon May 21-22, New Dimension Comics teamed up with Mt Pleasant’s Helltown Brewing to create a bourbon-barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. The stout was brewed and blended with a portion of it aging on oak bourbon barrels from Wigle Whiskey and was introduced at a preview tasting in April at House of 1000 Beers in New Kensington with a bottle release party planned for the May 21 day of 3 Rivers Comicon in West Mifflin. The idea for the beer started with the idea for a comicon event itself. “I’ve been in the comic business 30 years this year,” Todd McDevitt said, starting to explain the shifts in Pittsburgh’s convention scene. McDevitt is the owner of New Dimension Comics and organizer of 3 Rivers Comicon. “There’s really not one focused only on comic books anymore. There’s been some elements that have taken over and it’s left my customers pretty hungry for a comic book convention,” he continued. McDevitt describes himself as being a long time craft beer enthusiast as well and has enjoyed the occasional collision between comic book art and the artwork on beer labels—a major component for the Darkest Dawn Stout. The name of the beer honors Dawn, the signature character for artist Joseph Linsner, who also provided the artwork for the label.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

“Dawn is my take on classic goddess mythology. She’s the goddess of birth and rebirth, and she leads different lost souls on the way to their spiritual rebirth,” Linsner said. “It’s always darkest before the dawn, so that is where the beer name, ‘Darkest Dawn Stout’ comes from. Maybe if you drink enough of it you’ll have a cosmic rebirth. We’ll see.” he said.

McDevitt and Linsner have known each other for over 20 years, so when Linsner was approached about doing the art for this beer, it was a no brainer. “I knew [Todd] wanted something dark, so I chose my colors based on what would contrast well with that,” Linsner said. “Dawn wears many different outfits, and I figured that ultramarine blue would look good against the deep ambers of the beer.” he said. And for a character that transcends spiritual worlds, teaming up with a brewery called Helltown seems like a natural fit. As aesthetically

pleasing as the wordplay, names and artwork are, there was more at play in collaborating with Helltown than the Underworld. McDevitt and Helltown’s owner and head brewer Shawn Gentry have gotten to know each other well over the years simply through being a part of the Pittsburgh craft beer community, so the seeds for collaboration had long been sown. All it took was the initiation of the 3 Rivers Comicon to jump start the process. Not to mention the coincidental celebrations taking place this year as well. Along with the 3 Rivers Comicon, Helltown celebrates its fifth anniversary while New Dimension Comics celebrates 30 years in the business. Roughly 2,000 bottles of Darkest Dawn have been produced, 1,986 to be exact, all hand numbered to commemorate the year in which New Dimension was founded. Timestamping the limited beer and the inclusion of exclusive label art directly from its creator gives it that rare, collector’s item feel, which was not by mistake. McDevitt’s concept right now would be to produce the same beer every year, using a different brewery and artist to be able to break out cases and bottles from specific years as the event continues to grow. In doing so, having a style that ages well becomes even more important.

It’s funny that these three very different people should come together and collaborate on this project. Linsner is immersed in comic art every single day, and similarly described his beer tastes in comics parlance as being a “Yuengling-man.”. And though Gentry admits he’s probably seen every recent Marvel and DC Universe movie, it’s more to the credit of his nine-year old son than his own personal preference. And yet, as McDevitt noted, the comic and beer worlds aren’t really so different to a point where it’s almost surprising there’s not as much crossover between the two. “And I think more importantly there’s a lot of similarities. Comic fans are very ravenous about what they love, they’ll seek it out, they’ll travel for it and they’ll spend a lot of money for it if it’s something they really enjoy. There’s a community behind it,” McDevitt said. Wait a second, does that sound familiar?

“Todd wanted something that would age well so an imperial stout is certainly a good one to age. Anything that has bolder flavors, a little more on the alcoholic side—kind of tends to help aging. I think stouts tend to blend well with bourbon barrels,” Gentry said.”

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Though it’s had months to age in preparation for 3 Rivers Comicon, Gentry sees Darkest Dawn as something that will continue to get better with time. “I’m a little bit of a perfectionist so I’m never really happy, I actually think aging in a bottle in a cellar would be good for it.”

Drinkin’ Down Under

By Amanda Stein

love a good fun fact, so I have some trivia for you: did you know that our aviary in the North Side is the National Aviary? In 1993, the U.S. Congress wrote a declaration that the Pittsburgh Aviary be given honorary national status and renamed it the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. Not only that, but our National Aviary is the only independent nonprofit zoo in the US solely focused on birds. It makes Pittsburgh and our aviary a pretty big deal for casual birders and dedicated “twitchers” alike.

Speaking of Victory and fun facts, did you know that Victory Brewing Company of the Philadelphia area has recently merged with none other than Southern Tier Brewing of Lakewood, NY? They are now both under the parent company Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV for short, how fitting!) in an effort to increase their reach and sales. Victory has been in production nearly 20 years and Southern Tier has grown tremendously since its inception in the early 2000s—so by their hops combined I can’t wait to see how much they continue to grow. More beer for all!

That being said, I’ve neglected this local hidden gem for far too long. I had the privilege of attending the National Aviary’s Outback Bash on February 19th and it was a great way to get reintroduced to all the aviary (and Pittsburgh) has to offer and then some.

Not only is Southern Tier Brewing merging with Victory but there’s also possibly even more exciting news if you’re an STB fan. They’re opening up shop in Pittsburgh with their very first satellite brewpub in the near future. Where in Pittsburgh you may ask? Well, conveniently also in the North Side within walking distance from the National Aviary. The PGH STB brewpub will have a full food menu, classic STB brews, and exclusive one-off batches just for us yinzers. So once the new STB brewpub joins us you can head there for a beer before visiting the aviary.

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The Outback Bash was an Aussie-themed evening of fun for adults. They had so much to enjoy on top of their current exhibits: the exclusive caterer of the National Aviary, Atria’s, offered “shrimp on the barbie”; a professional didgeridoo artist gave live performances and free lessons; DJ Scottro from 96.1 KISS kept everyone dancing; a few special feathered friends were out among the guests for a visit; and a cash bar offered a selection of Victory Brewing Company beer, Yellow Tail wine, and down under-themed cocktails.

The star of the evening was the new baby sloth, Valentino, but what really stood out to me were the Victory Brewing Company beers. Not only were they great beers, but they were serving a greater purpose. Victory donated their brews to the event so all of the proceeds from the cash bar could go back to the National Aviary. I love hearing a good charitable story and this makes me fall in love with Victory all over again. Victory brought a great selection to the bash: Helles Lager (4.8% ABV), a German-style helles with a classic taste, brewed with German hops and malt; Vital IPA (6.5% ABV), brewed with simcoe, citra, and chinook hops for a crisp, citrusy beer (my favorite); and the Anniversary 20 Experimental IPA (5.5% ABV) brewed only with Idaho 7 hops which gave it a more earthy citrus flavor.

The Outback Bash was a bash indeed. There were hundreds of guests in attendance and over $10,000 was raised for the aviary. Kudos to all of the wonderful staff and volunteers that make the National Aviary a great place to visit with thriving events. It’s family friendly during the day, and on special evenings transforms into a party just for adults. It offers a plethora of learning experiences through exhibits, encounters, and more. The best thing about the aviary’s special events is that all proceeds support the National Aviary’s education, avian medicine, and conservation programs both locally and internationally. The Bash isn’t their one and only party for the year. The National Aviary offers many other wonderful events, with the next being the Night in the Tropics on July 9th. Tickets are on sale now, but won’t last long. Your ticket will buy your way into a Hawaiian-themed luau complete with beer, wine, and food from over 30 local restaurants, bakeries, and breweries as well as live music, fire performances, and special visits from rare and exotic birds. It’s already on my calendar and I hope to see you there!

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Art Beer AND

Art abounds within the craft beer scene. The interiors of many breweries and distilleries are filled with creative design and original art on the walls. The art/beer connection is evident on craft beer labels and even six pack holdersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;most of which are adorned with original art. We found four artists in our local beverage world who are using their talents to enhance their work spaces. Some even have their art available for purchase online, as well as at local shows and within their businesses. By Beth Kurtz Taylor

JakeKristophel Visit either of Full Pint Brewing’s locations to experience the artistic woodworking skills of father and son duo Gregg and Jake Kristophel. Gregg, a former general contractor, has crafted wood for over 30 years and has partnered with Jake in the trade for the past five years. Jake, in addition to taking on his father’s craft, is also a brewer and part owner of Full Pint. Together, they are Riverwood Trading Company. Their freeform rustic tables and benches grace the taproom in the North Versailles brewhouse, and a gigantic barn-style door, crafted by the pair, divides the taproom from the brewery. In their newer location, Full Pint Wild Side Pub in Lawrenceville, reclaimed wood covers the walls and their signature tables and organic looking wood bar provide a stunning focal point to the space. Jake’s girlfriend, Desiree Sirois, is also a skilled wood artisan and lent her expertise to the Pub’s renovation as well. Full Pint isn’t the only brewing concern to take

notice of the Kristophels’ talents, North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock also features Gregg’s work within its rustic wood interior. The Kristophel men are not limited to large scale woodworking. Gregg and Jake carve one-of-a-kind, small pieces from local hardwoods, predominantly cherry. Serving spoons and ladles, mugs with rustic handles, bowls, plates, pepper mills and wine stoppers are all sold in their Etsy shop and at art and craft shows. A unique part of their collection are noggins or canoe cups, reproductions of primitive bowls used by 18th century Native Americans, frontiersmen, and soldiers. Gregg participates in French and Indian War reenactments and found a market for these historic pieces. Find up to date information about Riverwood Trading Company’s show appearances on their Facebook page and look for them at Three Rivers Arts Festival this June.

JoeDeck High quality mead is still a fairly recent, welcomed addition to Western Pennsylvania’s craft brewing scene, and Joe Deck played a part its establishment. He and Apis Mead and Winery owner David Cerminara met while attending The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Joe was studying graphic design, Dave, industrial. The friends traveled the world in search of good beer while David was a brewer at Penn Brewing. Apis opened in 2014 and Joe had an integral role in the renovation of the former record store on Carnegie’s main street. The storefront was empty for six years after damage from a flood. They gutted the space and did all of the interior reconstruction. Today, he helps out with most non-brewing aspects of mead production such as bottling and waxing. Joe’s signature artwork graces the walls of the business, logo designs and bottle labels. As mead is made from honey, illustrations and paintings of bees are prominent in the bar area and on the packaging. Joe credits his mother for sparking his interest in art and his stepmother for pushing him even further to pursue his passion. As a child he enjoyed the poetry and illustrations of Shel Silverstein. He served as the art and poetry director of his school paper, spending most of his school day in art classes. His illustrations have a bold, colorful style and he cites Ralph Steadman (famous for his work for with Flying Dog Brewery and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson) as an influence on his art. In addition to his work for Apis, Joe does a lot of commission pieces, predominantly pet portraits. You can find his work on Instagram and Facebook.

NicoleKircher As Piper’s Pub added more craft beer selections and cask conditioned ales, longtime bartender Nicole Kircher felt there needed to be a way to draw attention to the expanded beverage menu. She took it upon herself to create elaborately lettered chalkboards which have evolved over the years. She incorporates seasonal themes and even cartoons of the other Piper’s employees. But her drawing and painting skills are not just limited to the walls of her workplace. Nicole has an Etsy shop where she sells items that cover a wide range of pop culture themes presented in distinctive mediums. Nicole remembers always having an interest in art, which her family fostered throughout her youth. During middle school, she attended CAPA, the Creative and Performing Arts School within the Pittsburgh Public School District. Weekends were spent throughout her younger years participating in art classes through the Carnegie Museum. She channels her drawing and painting talents into creating pieces with unique form. Recently, she painted a set of Matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls) that represented the beer ingredients; water, grain, hops and yeast. Other sets include characters from Star Wars, the Harry Potter series, or The X-Files. Featured in a local music shop, she painted the members of KISS on old violins. On Tumblr, under niksixsix, Nicole’s portfolio also includes some tiny vinyl dolls that she paints in intricate detail to sometimes represent actual people, like her boyfriend. Her creative work can also be found in her Etsy Shop, etsy.com/shop/niksixsix.

ColleenVecellio While completing her second art degree at Kent State, Colleen Vecellio met Kyle Mientkiewicz, an avid home brewer. Well versed in art and art education, Colleen has lent her visual talents to Grist House Craft Brewery since her boyfriend (now fiancé’s) Kyle and his brother-in-law opened it in 2014. Currently, she teaches art to pre-K through eighth grade students at Fox Chapel Day School, but continues to tend bar at Grist House at night. Visiting the Millvale brewery, you will see her art livening up the space from the whimsical chalkboards to the exterior of an outdoor keg refrigeration system. Her latest brainchild was a “Paints and Pints” class for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week. Similar to sessions held locally involving wine, Colleen created an original painting on canvas depicting a pint glass as a large focal point with the skyline of Pittsburgh in the background. The event sold out in three days and more classes are being planned for the future. Colleen is currently working with 232 Creative to update labels and the logo for Grist House and is also designing merchandise and branding for the Pink Boots Society of Western Pennsylvania.

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e s i t r e v ad

PGH PIZZA

Caliente Pizza & Draft House • 4624 Liberty Ave, Bloomfield • 4706 William Flynn Hwy, Allison Park • 329 Castle Shannon Blvd, Mt. Lebonan By Dan DeLucia

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

et’s get down to brass tacks. It’s safe to assume that you probably really like pizza. If you’re reading this magazine it’s also a safe assumption that you have a similar love for beer. Nick and Angie Bogacz love both. It only make sense that they’d set out to establish their own restaurant as a craft beer hub that features award-winning pizza. Nick hustled in his younger days, working in a pizza shop at night while spending his days as a rural mail carrier in the North Hills.He decided he was ready to start his own business. In 2012, they did just that in Bloomfield, known as Pittsburgh’s Little Italy, before opening another location in their own backyard north of the city in Hampton (4706 William Flynn Highway). They didn’t stop there, though. We’re fresh on the heels of the grand opening of their newest location in Mt. Lebanon (329 Castle Shannon Blvd.) Nick and Angie are poised to take over the pizza and draft house market in Pittsburgh, with three unique and easily accessible locations.

Caliente is at the heart of craft beer week in Pittsburgh. They have a fantastic selection of craft drafts and casks that are always rotating. In addition, they often feature full brewery take-overs. I frequent the Bloomfield location, as it’s right up the street from my house. They have some very unique gourmet pizzas and a vast selection of bottled beer to go with the array of taps. The salads and appetizers are huge, and the subs and wings are also great. I like the traditional pepperoni pizza…which I paired with a Port Brewing Shark Attack imperial red upon my most recent. Eat in or carry out, it’s a great place to start the evening with beers and a bite, or stay and take a tour of the great variety of tasty crafts. My first impression of the pizza at Caliente was how fresh it tastes. Nick boasts that he sources all his ingredients locally, all being chopped and prepared by hand each day. With Pittsburgh’s Strip District close by, he’s got access to some of the best fresh produce available. They make the

dough from scratch in the morning. It is a light, airy dough that is nice and soft inside, but has a perfect crispy brown and slightly sweet crust. The crust compliments their sauce blend. Not too sweet, but zesty with a full, classic tomato flavor. Topped with a tasty classic cheese blend and any number of your favorite toppings, Caliente makes a pie that pizza connoisseurs, elitists, nerds, and weekend warriors will all enjoy. The kids will love it too. It’s pizza, dudes. Cowabunga. Meeting Nick and Angie the first time, you can tell right away that they are pizza people. They eat sleep and drink pizza. Well…they don’t drink pizza. They drink good beer. We sat and talked about all our favorite local shops for quite awhile. It’s refreshing to know that they run their own restaurant, and are still into a lot of the other great pizzas available in our ‘Burgh. They want to be the best at what they do, and they stand behind their product 100%. Pizza Pride. They’ve won some hardware to back it up. At the 2016 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, Caliente’s Chef Eric Von Hansen won world’s best pan pizza with his “Quack Attack.” The square pizza features pan seared duck breast, roasted garlic butter, and wild mushroom ragu. Capped with a blend of fontinella and Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, it’s finished with baby arugula, tear-drop tomatoes, and a truffle garlic oil. I’m a plain cheese pizza type of guy for the most part, but I do like to try different pies. I tried this thing. It’s pretty incredible. In a city with plenty of great pizza shops and a number of great craft beerladen bars, it’s tough to find a spot that offers both. Caliente is a good spot for both. It’s always crazy packed each night of the week. I was once told that if you want good food, stay away from the empty place and head for long lines. Caliente is the spot for the newest hopped-up IPA and an insanely good Chicken Rachero pizza; or just pop in real quick and grab some to-go. Nick and Angie have established their brand as the premier craft beer pizza parlor. If you don’t know, now you know.

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hilltoppers

PUB If bars had to hang Surgeon General’s Warnings on their front doors, the poster taped to Hilltoppers Pub would read, “Warning: Contains Alcohol And Tough Love. Not For Anyone Suffering From Sense Of Humor Loss Or Terminally Thin Skin.”

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

My dad retired to Troy Hill a few years ago, so I end up drinking there sometimes. For a craft pub Scratch Food & Beverage is worth checking out, but felled by a lowly loose lightbulb, their Game of Thrones pinball machine was temporarily turned off on a Sunday night. It only reinforced my point, I said, that if it were Conan, who’d already solved The Riddle of Steel, his more inherent inherent über-superiority as a character would’ve eliminated the design flaw. My brother, a dedicated George R. R. Martin fan, looked at me like I’m illiterate and led my wife and I down Lowrie Street to Hilltoppers Pub.

The occupied stools at the bar were lightly scattered with comfortable, some close to sleepy, regulars. Most were occasionally smoking, the resting grill and kitchen hood decommissioned in favor of chips, jerky, and two varieties of party mix. Glowing alluringly in the back room, an unoccupied Williams Top Dawg Shuffle Alley (think shuffleboard bowling) and a Jurassic Park pinball machine ran through their attract modes as Debbie, the nighttime bartender, carded us. Fortunately, for once we all remembered our IDs-- and it didn’t look like anyone was leaping out of their chairs to lay down some next-game quarters. The ballpark idea that my brother or I could be 20 or younger is always a little funny, but it’s a solid bartending move, especially when you’ve never seen the crowd lumbering into your quiet Sunday night complaining, probably loudly, about barbarians. A pitcher of Yuengling and a few hard fought wins for Sarah later, we faced a wall of pretzel rods and warm popcorn on the sidebar next to

the Jurassic Park machine. Debbie, as I heard on a later visit, keeps a personal, “out of the kindness of her heart” stash of microwave popcorn for fun customers. The compliment went over my head, and I chalked it up to my love of junk food being so strong, snack lust emanates from my body like an aura. Then, she played Fine Young Cannibals for us, and I was completely won over on Hilltoppers. A few weeks later, with our daughter spending some quality time with Grandpa Frank, Sarah and I walked in a little earlier on another Sunday. Having only a finite amount of adult time, we sat at the bar in lieu of of hunting down a game. The bottle of Straub was crisp enough to get excited about, and besides, getting to listen to the cluster of ladies and bartender Karen Lane debate the cameltoes in that month’s Shape Magazine was reason enough to take a seat. Before we could ask about her and bring up doing a story, Debbie stopped in, grabbing something she forgot before leaving on a short trip. One of her customers asked where she was going on vacation as she ducked beneath the bar, but her clear reply of, “Ha! I’m not telling you,” hit me harder than most offcamera punch-up jokes. While Hilltoppers Pub has been owned by Timothy S. Allman’s family for decades, Debbie and Karen are actually fairly new hires despite being veteran bartenders. Karen started working there “four or five St. Patrick’s Days ago, because they needed help behind the bar and I’m the only one skinny enough to fit back there too,” after tenures at Angie’s, Dolly B’s, Shooters, The Recovery Room, and Billy’s. I still laugh thinking about how she’d answer, “Oh, about a million years old,” to more than a few of my questions about the bar, although she was more than happy to pull down their framed dollar bills for examination, one of which is dated 1935 and payable in silver to the bearer on demand. Sarah and I interviewed Karen again after one of her shifts. Actually, while she was finishing up a brief rush of customers, we also had the chance to have a beer with Karen’s fiance, Ray. A longtime on-again off-again regular, Ray was the first to vouch for Karen’s fair, dirty joke loving, noactual-nonsense bartending approach. “Man, she kicked me out of the bar for a month,” he told us, chuckling and keeping an eye on whether or not Karen was hearing him tell the story. Of course, she played her hunch and called out from across the room that she let him back in after 27 days. Even above defusing confrontations or managing a demanding crowd, Karen rates her “Big Boy Voice” as her top bartending skill. When we finally sat down, Karen explained she got into the bar industry because the father of her child left them without any support, and it was the best way to keep daytime employment and afford the needs of her

family and her daughter’s budding athleticism. Having passed down the voice, Karen pulled out her wallet, and showed us a picture of her daughter, now 32, who just attained the rank of Drill Sergeant in the U.S. Army. I could tell she was restraining a lot of very present pride and emotion in telling the story, but after talking to a fair amount of the people in Hilltoppers (many, many of which told us about their separations or divorces), sometimes the last thing you want to do in a bar is gush about how proud you are of your great family if some of the people around you are going through a tough time. Near the end of our interview, a regular of Karen’s walked in the door with a bottle of peroxide in a bag from a local drugstore. Knowing her general work schedule, he stopped to see if he could catch a ride home with Karen because his wife had cut her hand and he’d taken off on foot for first aid. “You need to know anything else?” she asked, standing up and putting on her leather coat. I couldn’t think of anything more pressing than a flesh wound, so off they went, leaving me to play pinball with Sarah and Ray. It’s the only time I’ve ever been impressed being snubbed.

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Waiting for my turn on Jurassic Park, I thought if the Surgeon General’s Warning was scary, the signs in the back room might put things in a little more perspective. It’s tough love, but tough love is a lot better than no emotional content at all. There’s the classic “Free Beer Tomorrow,” but, in a plastic bag you have to push aside to play pinball, there are “Free Coats,” if you need one, today.

have you tried... Written by Hart Johnson, photo by Tim Burns

1. G reen Flash | Jibe IPA

4.0% - Session IPA - greenflashbrew.com

We can talk about the artistic value of a beer label all we want, but sometimes functionality outweighs everything. I do a fair amount of staff training for beer service and one of the biggest things I’ve learned is short & sweet. Sure, the occasional 10th level beer wizards will want to know how many gravity points were left when the beer was dry hopped the second time, but most people just want to know what exactly “Green Flash Jibe” means. Right there on the label, Golden Vibrant Ale. Sure we can go deeper, it pours a beautiful golden color, rocky white foam. It has a vibrant tropical fruit and sticky citrus aroma with a quick hint of fresh cut grass. Light and crisp on the tongue, not quite as thin and overly bitter as some Session IPA can be, but the hops are still the Liza Minnelli of the show. Oh and it’s an ale. Can’t forget that. Recommended if you like: Oskar Blues - Pinner, Founders - All Day, Rivertowne - Jah Mon, 21st Amendment - Down to Earth, Hop Farm Small Crop

2. Bell’s | Two Hearted Ale CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

7% - IPA- bellsbeer.com

I’m not gonna cite sources or name names, but it’s been fairly well documented that reaching the 5th level of beer wizardry concludes with hating everything that you used to love. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was your first good beer? They’re too big to really care anymore. Bell’s Two Hearted was your eye opener IPA? Gah, look at that awful design! And only old geezers drink that stuff. I get it, you learned a little bit of something and now you know everything. I’m not here to argue whether or not Two Hearted is the best IPA, I’m here to argue that it is the most approachable IPA. Oh, you hate IPA? Sweet, try this little bit of this slightly hazy beer. No, it’s not a wheat beer, just try it. Yeah, kinda smells like a freshly peeled

orange, huh? NIce and light on the palate, not too bitter, just full of fresh juicy citrus character, right? Maybe a little doughy maltiness on the finish to offset some of the bitterness. Delicious, right? Congratulations, you found an IPA you like. See you in 2 years when you’ll give me 1000 reasons why it’s boring. Oh, and the label is pretty awful. But you can see it boldly in a sea of 5000 other beers on a shelf. Recommended if you hate: IPA

3. F ounders Mosaic Promise

5.5% - Pale Ale - foundersbrewing.com

If we’re still in the mood to talk about beer artwork, how about turning artwork into beer? Ninkasi on the label of Mosaic Promise started out as a stained glass piece entered into an artistic competition that Founders has sponsored since 2013. The crew at Founders like the piece so much, they purchased it for the brewery tap room. About the beer, it is a neat little brewing experiment. Use a single grain and a single hop. Let simplicity shine. In this case Golden Promise malt, a rich Scottish malt that lends a clean malt sweetness, and Mosaic hops, a newer hop variety that produces too many fruity, citrus and earthy flavors to describe.The Golden Promise lives up the its promise, deep gold in color with a touch of haze, big fluffy white foam. The aroma is something to get lost in, lemon zest, honey soaked toast, corn syrup soaked pineapple chunks, fresh mango. There is a firm bitterness once you get it in your mouth, but it’s nicely balanced by that rich Scottish malt. The hop fruit salad just continues though, with an ever present note of “Otto’s Jacket.” A nice line blurring of the Session IPA and IPA styles, taking the best of both and finding happy middle ground. Recommend if you like: Victory - Headwaters Pale Ale, Long Trail SMaSH Project, Lakefront - SMaSH Ale, Brew Gentlemen - Momo

4. Flying Dog | Dead Rise

5.6% - Old Bay Summer Ale - flyingdogbrewery.com

You know how about 75% of Pittsburghers are kinda embarrassed by the prevailing notion that we put french fries and coleslaw on everything? You know how every article about how great our food scene is right now starts off by stabbing us with a french fry dagger and filling the infected wound with vinegary cabbage? I feel like Baltimore has that problem with Old Bay. Do they really put that shit (I say that affectionately) on everything? Well, to date, no one in Pittsburgh has jammed a sandwich into a beer. Advantage Pittsburgh, I think. You read this label and it shouldn’t exist. Old Bay spiced Summer Ale. That does not make sense. The glove does not fit. We must acquit. And here I am, for the third year, enjoying the shit out of this. The spice right up front, celery salt, black pepper, dried peppers all just laying atop a nice crisp blonde ale. I’m not saying you should pour a 12oz of this into a 20oz glass and then top off with your favorite bloody mary mix, but you should at least think about it. Recommended if you like: Oceans, Crab Boils, Sunshine, Fun

5. New Belgium + Oud Beersel | Transatlantic Kriek 7% - Sour Cherry Ale - newbelgium.com

As much as we like to think of brewing as an art, there’s another layer to that art. Blending beer. Sure, we’ve all seen your epic Cuvee De Adjunct Stout pictures on Instagram. We’re not talking about dumping the dregs of 30 beers into boot here. We’re talking Oud Beersel, in Brussels, blending a few different vintages of lambic with tart cherries then sending that to New Belgium, in Colorado, who took that blend and blended it with 2 of their barrel aged sour magic beers. The end result is a neon red glass of cherry pie. Sometimes the cherry pie description gets thrown around in the lambic circles, and I’ve had a few that were close. This is straight cherry pie. Big juicy cherries, a hint of buttery dough and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream melting it’s way into the crust. Ok, ok, it’s nowhere as sweet as actual pie, but that’s half the appeal to me, all those rich flavors in a dry, drinkable beer. Recommended if you like: Lindemans - Kriek, Founders - Cerise, Victory Kirsch Gose, Lost Abbey - Red Poppy, Unibroue - Ephemere Cranberry

6. Roundabout Mimosa Gose

INSURRECTION ALEWORKS

4% - Gose - roundaboutbeer.com

Recommended if you like: Anderson Valley - Blood Orange Gose, Sierra Nevada - Otra Vez, Rock Bottom - Big Boots Lime Gose, Full Pint - Tea Funk, Hitchhiker - A Different Animal

HA ND- CRA F T E D A RT ISA N A LE S NO W O PE N WIT H A F ULL SCRA T CH MEN U

INSURRECTION ALEWORKS

@WORKSALE

INSURRECTION ALEWORKS

WWW.INSURRECTIONALEWORKS.COM HEIDELBERG, PA

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Sours bro. Everybody wants them. Doesn’t matter what it is, is it sour? They want it. But there’s levels and intricacies and 2 drastically different styles of sour (among many others) that sound so very similar. Gueuze (pronounce G-er-zah) is a sour, spontaneously fermented beer native to the area around Brussels, Belgium and needs some time in oak to things about its sourly sins. Gose (pronounced G-oh-suh) is a tart quickly fermented beer, spiced with coriander and salt, native to Goslar, Germany. Because of the quick production schedule of Gose, and it’s neat little trick of the saltiness playing well with fruit flavors, Gose has gone from damn near extinct 10 years ago to the sour darling of the moment. So, Roundabout took their Gose and added tangerine & orange peel to it and BAM. A beer that is a dead ringer for a Mimosa. Slightly cloudy from the fruit additions, the aroma is effervescent & bright with freshly juiced citrus & maybe a hint of spicy coriander. Tart orange is the flavor, not the sweetish orange juice we’re all used to. The saltiness of the base beer peeks out just enough to combine with the tartness and spoof your palate into thinking this is actually a Mimosa. Best breakfast beer of the year.

cooking with beer By Mindy Heisler-Johnson

Horseradish Crusted Helltown Brown Braised Beef

Short Ribs I

’m pretty sure yinz guys have all heard of PCBW, right? It was an amazing week that wrapped up less than 24 hours ago as I type! As is a tradition of sorts the Thursday of Beer Week, we, being the crew at Piper’s Pub, do a Helltown Brewing Firkin takeover of our hand-pumped cask system. We hook up a delicious dinner feature for the event made with one of their beers; this year I decided to do a riff on our Sunday Supper and do a Helltown Brown braised beef short rib with a rich pan gravy, finished with a horseradish crust and all the trimmings. It came out so good I couldn’t *not* share. This is a low and slow meal—the prep time is minutes, the cook time hours. On a huge plus side the meat is better when it is made ahead, cooled and reheated, like a stew or soup is better the next day. I can cook it overnight at The Pub or at home, putting it in around 10PM and taking out perfectly tender short ribs about 12 hours later. Helltown Brown is perfect for this kind of cookery. It reduces without getting bitter and the maltiness lends itself to a very rich pan sauce. The recipe will work with bone-in or boneless beef short ribs, but the end result plates much more attractively using the boneless with a lot less hassle and mess to deal with at the end. You don’t need any special equipment, I sear these in a saute pan and braise in a roasting pan on a metal rack covered with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Setting them on a rack isn’t necessary, they can be laid directly in the bottom of the pan, but the rack makes removing them to cool without ruining their form effortless. If you have the ability to do so, please do! CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

Let’s Cook Some Meat.

• 6 portions boneless beef short rib (1 or 2 pieces per person) • Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper • Extra virgin olive oil • A white onion • Couple stalks of celery • A carrot or two • Crushed garlic clove • 1 qt Helltown Brown

Heat some oil in a heavy bottom saute pan until it’s HOT. Season the ribs all over with salt and pepper while the oil heats. Sear the ribs until they are a nice deep brown on all sides. This takes time, do it over medium-highish heat in batches, removing them from the pan as they are done and setting aside for later. While the meat is searing chop up your veggies. When all of the meat is seared add the veggies to the pan and saute over high heat until they are tender. Deglaze with a heavy pour of the beer and get all the awesome off the bottom of that pan. Dump all that into the bottom of the roasting pan and add the rest of the beer. Arrange the meat on the rack so it’s evenly spaced apart and place the rack on top of the beer awesome. (If you are not using the rack method arrange the ribs in the pan then pour the beer awesome over top of the ribs.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap then foil. You can either refrigerate them at this point and fire into the oven later or go directly into a heated 250º oven. Forget about them for at least 10 hours. Delicately peel back the wrap, trying not to damage it, and check for tenderness. The ribs are done when they will easily pull apart. Re-cover and cook until they are done. Pro Tip - always err on the side of *too* tender. No one likes tough short ribs. When they are tender and soft remove from the oven, uncover and let them rest for at least half an hour. Once they have rested remove the rack from the pan and set it on the counter to let the ribs cool until they are handleable. {Direct in the pan - let them sit until they are cool enough to remove without them falling apart}. While the ribs are chillin’ out, make your sauce. Strain all the pan drippings into a small pot and bring to a simmer—mash out all the juice. Taste and see if it needs salt and pepper or possibly some beef stock to deconcentrate it, it will vary every time you cook them. You ideally do not want to have to reduce, but if you do need to, do so at a low simmer. Mix a cornstarch slurry of ½ cup each cornstarch and water. Use the slurry to thicken the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. At this point the meat and sauce can be cooled and reheated later or proceed to the next step!

Horseradish Crust Adjust the amount of the topping as needed to based on the number of ribs you are cooking. Allow for 3-4 Tbsp of topping per rib, this will make enough for 6-8 ribs. Adjust the horseradish to your own tastes, too, this is midrange on the pungency level. And as always: fresh parsley is best, but dried will do in a pinch.

Heat your oven to 400º. Put everything in a bowl and mix it up. Line the ribs up on a foil lined baking tray as level as possible. Top each with 3-4 Tbsp of the crust mix. Get in the hot oven and bake until the crust is golden brown. Heat the sauce over low heat on the stove while the meat cooks. We served it sitting in a puddle of sauce with whipped potatoes, bacon roasted brussel sprouts and a Yorkshire Pudding, a not-so-traditional Sunday Supper on a Thursday. Or any other day, really.

e s i t r e adv

! R HEE

sales@craftpittsburgh.com

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• 2 cups panko bread crumbs • Scant ½ cup horseradish • ¼ cup melted butter • 2 tsp kosher salt • Fresh ground black pepper • 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

home brewing

Spruce It Written by Jack Smith

brewing with bits of tree Here we are—well into spring. Summer is on its way. Flowers are blooming, everything’s coming back to life. So let’s brew some Christmas beer!

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 25

Why am I talking about winter beer now? One reason: because it’s spruce tip season! Spruce tips - the tender, fluffy, sweet and aromatic new growth on spruce trees - are ripe for the harvest in mid-late May. Once we get into June, they mature into woody twigs with hard, pokey needles on them. If you don’t pick them when they’re soft and brightly colored you’ve missed out. Mature spruce tips are woody, resinous, harsh; they taste like Pine-Sol. New growth spruce tips are sweet, lemony, bright, floral, and, yes, evergreen-flavored.

To harvest spruce tips, all you need is a spruce tree (that you have permission to pick from) and a little bit of knowledge to identify the best ones. We have two widely-grown species of spruce in PA—Colorado Blue Spruce and Norway Spruce. They’re easily distinguished by their color—blue spruce is almost teal whereas Norway spruce is dark green—no trace of blue. Both can be used to brew beer, but I’ve found Norway spruce produces a far superior flavor and aroma pleasant, bright, like a very piney hop with pronounced lemon and floral, perfumey notes.

Blue spruce, meanwhile, produces a dirty, musty, pine-sap flavor in beer. Avoid blue spruce tips. To harvest, simply find a Norway spruce tree in May and look for the new growth at the end of each twig. It’s light green in color and fluffy soft. When they’re about 2-3” long, pluck them off. It’s that simple. Since they’re soft and sweet, go ahead and chew one up to get an idea of the flavor. If you’re in a grove of spruce trees, taste from several trees and harvest from the one that tastes the best. You’ll find some trees will taste better than others. You will need about ¾ lb. for 5 gallons of beer. That’s about a gallon of tips by volume. If you don’t want to brew with them immediately, you can vacuum seal them and put them in the freezer until you’re ready. Like smoked beer or sour beer, people tend to either love or hate spruce beer. I don’t see a lot of in between. I happen to like it a lot, but I admit I have had some bad spruce beers—including ones I’ve made—so I hope I can convince some haters that they don’t hate all spruce beer; they just haven’t had the right one yet. The bad ones I’ve had (or made) were too sweet, or too muddled with too much going on, or the spruce character was overwhelming like a Christmas tree or, worse, dirty and harshly resinous. Through some trial and error I have found what works, what makes a really good spruce beer. The recipe below was well received by open-minded drinkers and timid balsam-wary folks alike. Hey, it even took first

Up!

Grainbill 10 lbs. Maris Otter 6 oz. Crystal 40L 4 oz. Special B (180L) 2 oz. English Roasted Barley (500L) *Extract Brewers: Replace the Maris Otter with 6 lbs. Light DME, preferably British. Steep the milled Crystal 40, Special B, and roasted barley in a muslin sack for 30 minutes at 150F. Remove grain sack from pot, allowing all the good stuff to drain into the pot before discarding. Turn on the heat and add your DME. Boil, chill, top up with water however you normally do, then ferment.

Hops N’At 21 g. Northern Brewer (8% AA) @ 60 minutes 6 oz. Fresh* Norway Spruce Tips @ 60 minutes 3 oz. Fresh* Norway Spruce Tips @ 20 minutes 10 g. Northern Brewer (8% AA) @ 10 minutes 3 oz. Fresh* Norway Spruce Tips @ 10 minutes

32F for a couple days to crash the yeast and trub out of suspension, then package and serve as you normally do.

Suggested Pairings Drinking spruce beer will remind you of the holidays, so obviously it goes well with holiday foods: a clove-studded ham and all the traditional fixins, or a dish of figgy pudding. But it does just fine during other times of the year. I once had an excellent spruce lager on draft at a New York State brew pub in June, and it was amazing with fish and chips. If it’s well made, the spruce should not be overwhelming. It doesn’t need to be a Yankee Candle. If it’s well balanced and appropriately restrained, the spruce acts much like a hop and the beer can be paired just about anywhere you’d drink an American amber ale. Cheers! A homebrewer since 2002, Jack Smith is a National BJCP Judge, the president of the Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers, and an active member of the Three Rivers Underground Brewers. Follow him on Twitter @whenyeastattack

* Fresh or frozen - just not dried or brown or moldy.

Mash, Boil, Steeping Grains

The keys to a good spruce beer, I’ve found, are to start with a malty (but not sweet) base, go light on the hop aroma and flavor, use hop varieties that will compliment the evergreen character of the spruce, and ferment it with a clean yeast strain—either a lager or a clean ale strain. Too much yeast character will clash with the spruce. Add the spruce tips to the boil incrementally. They aren’t like hops where the longer you boil the more bitterness you get and the less flavor/aroma you get, but I’ve found that adding them at various times builds a layered, complex spruciness. Now get picking!

Naw, That’s ‘Em Balsams Red Spruce Ale Batch Size: 5.25 gal. Boil Time: 60 minutes OG: 1.054 FG: 1.012 ABV: 5.5% IBU: 27 SRM: 14 (red) Difficulty: Easy *Assuming 75% mash efficiency

A simple single-infusion mash at 152F is all this beer needs—easy peasy. Middle-of-the-road temperature allows for a fair amount of body and residual sweetness without becoming cloying. If you normally perform a mash-out, go ahead and do it here. Lauter and sparge as you typically do.

Yeast/Fermentation Any clean fermenting ale yeast is perfect, and I recommend the Chico strain—Wyeast 1056, White Labs WLP001, or Safale US-05. You could experiment with other yeasts, but I suggest brewing it once with Chico before trying other strains. This beer could work with a lager yeast, or maybe a hybrid (Kolsch, AltBier, California Common) yeast. Denny’s Favorite 50 (Wyeast 1450) could work well, but it accentuates maltiness so maybe mash at 150F if you use it. Aeration/Oxygenation: Aerate or oxygenate well using your favorite method—plenty of oxygen helps promote healthy yeast growth and reduces lag time. For an average-sized beer like this, I go with 60 seconds of pure O2. Fermentation, aging, conditioning: Pitch at 64F and allow it to free-rise to 66F. Hold at 66 until it’s nearly done fermenting—about three or four days after the krausen first shows up, then raise it to about 70 and hold it there for about a week or three. This ensures the beer ferments as dry as it can and allows the yeast to clean up all the crap it produced during fermentation—diacetyl, acetaldehyde, and more. Chill the beer down to

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place in the Spice/Herb/Vegetable category at the TRASH homebrew competition a few years ago—a category that includes coffee stout and pumpkin beer.

SUMMER SEASONAL WAT ER M EL O N LI M E AL E

BANG YOUR MELON DOWN LOA D

@NEWBELGIUM_PGH HEAVY MELON WATERMELON LIME ALE IS BREWED AND BOTTLED BY NEW BELGIUM BREWING FORT COLLINS, CO & ASHEVILLE, NC