CraftPittsburgh Issue #4

CraftPittsburgh

CraftBeerMagazine

BIGpour the

Pittsburgh Oktoberfest

Cooking BEER with

Brewing the Great Pumpkin Ale,

CHARLIE BROWN

Issue #41

CraftPittsburgh.com

Double the Bocktown

Double the Fun 16 Craft Beers on Tap Rotation Over 400 Bottle Choices Complimentary Craft Beer Tastings Hard-to-Find Beeried Treasures Curated by our Beer Librarian Unique Craft Beer Experiences with Brewser the Infuser Bocktown Robinson Across from Target 412-788-2333

Bocktown Monaca Next to Macy’s 724-728-7200

Letter from

THE EDITOR

This past September was the fifth anniversary of the Steel City Big Pour. I was at the very first one way back then, as I was just getting into craft beer. I heard it mentioned during a weekly radio spot on the DVE Morning Show while getting ready for work one day. After falling ill prior to the summer’s previous fest, Penn Brewery’s annual fest I believe, I decided I wasn’t going to miss this one.

I had no idea what to expect. I had never been to a beer fest before. Was it going to be full of frat boys taking advantage of basically all-you-can-drink beer? Or full of beer snobs, swishing and spitting their sample pours like I imagined a wine tasting to be. I really wasn’t interested in the company of either. But it turned out to be an amazing festival ran and attended by great Pittsburgh people. I also made the second Big Pour, this time introducing some friends to their first experience of what I felt was the biggest and best festival in the region. I was in Europe during the annual event’s third year. Poor vacation planning.

Big Pour Four, as it was known, was the first focus for this magazine. It ran as the cover story for our pilot issue that came out last fall. The idea was for the event to have all the emphasis for that issue and everything else would fall into place around it. This was my first foray into Pittsburgh’s craft beer scene as something other than a beer drinker and, again, I had no idea what to expect. After getting a chance to observe for the first session, speaking with some of the organizers, artists, and brewery reps, all for the first time, though I know consider many of them good friends, I had the material for a story.

One person I couldn’t seem to track down for a good quote was David Lagnese, the lead organizer of the event and the person kind enough to grant me with a “hall pass” to attend. I was told by another member of the Construction Junction board that David “goes into hiding” after each event as a means to recover from the stress that planning apparently induces.

After covering the details of last year’s event, I really wasn’t sure what angle we could take without repeating ourselves.

At, first I actually considered not covering it all. Then, I decided I couldn’t really call this a beer magazine without including some content from the biggest beer festival this city has ever seen. After getting a pass from David again, I did know I had him where I wanted him. Why not just do a Q&A session with the “Main Instigator”? It’s fresh and you get some real behind-the-scenes info on what it takes to recreate this festival every year.

Two things I really picked up from David is how much gratification he gets from the enjoyment of others at the event and everything that makes it more than just a beer festival. I wanted to capture that not only through David’s words, but also visually with the images in the Big Pour feature for this issue. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Sláinte, Tim Russell

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

Tim Russell

On Tap

SPECIALS

THIS ISSUE

The Big Pour 11 After five years of

The Steel City Big Pour it’s now bigger than ever

16 Oktoberfest

pg.11

pg. 19

Eins, Zwei, Drei, G’suffa!

rewing the Great 19 BPumpkin Ale, Charlie Brown

Pumpkin ale ushers

THE REGULARS

in autumn to beer folk

4 Upcoming Events 5 Industry News 9 Unfiltered 18 Cooking with Beer

PUBLISHER

Craft Media, LLC

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

pg.16

Tim Russell • Tim@CraftPittsburgh.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Mike Weiss • Mike@CraftPittsburgh.com

DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Rob Soltis • SoltisDesign.com For information on contributing editorial content or placing display advertising please contact us at info@CraftPittsburgh.com Craft Pittsburgh is issued quarterly by Craft 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 Craft 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 Craft Media, LLC. Craft Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertiser assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads

CraftPittsburgh.com

South Side, Pittsburgh www.otbbicyclecafe.com

Phone: 412-381-3698 CraftPittsburgh.com

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Upcoming

EVENTS

October 28 ‘Burgh Brewery Tour 29 Reverse Keg Ride Beer Tasting, Benefits the 29 Harvest Remi Savioz Glut1 Foundation November 5 Butler Brewfest Homebrew Competition 11 Fat Head’s Firkin Friday 12 East End Brewing Hike w/ Venture Outdoors 15 Pittsburgh Whiskey and Spirits Festival 19 Pittsburgh Brewfest December 1 Weekly Tasting at 1 For The Road 7 Pbrgh Brewmasters Tastings at Sharp Edge 20 Craft Beer School - Holiday Cheese Pairing 28 Craft Beer Samplings at Bocktown Check our calendar at CraftPittsburgh.com for even more regularly updated events

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” – Dave Barry 4

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

Industry

NEWS

The 30th Annual Great American Beer Festival, the world’s largest commercial beer competition, marked Penn Brewery’s return to the event since re-opening the Pittsburgh brewery early last year. Head brewer Andy Rich and Company brought back two medals to Pittsburgh. St. Nik Brewer’s Reserve won silver in the Dopplebock category and Penn Dark received bronze for the third time for Euro-Style Dunkel. Penn Brewery has been now been awarded fifteen medals since winning their first back in 1990.

Erie Brewing Company, the only other brewery representing Western Pennsylvania, took a silver medal in the fruit beer category with Derailed, a black cherry ale. Erie Railbender previously medaled in 2008 and 2009.

Tröegs made their usual presence at this year’s festival, winning a silver medal with Sunshine Pils and taking home gold for Tröegenator. Overall, Tröegenator has received four GABF medals, including three gold. Tröegs Brewing Company has medaled eleven times now at the GABF since 2007.

Winners List Other Pennsylvania breweries winning awards this year were Weyerbacher Brewing Co. of Easton, Fegley’s Brew Works in the Lehigh Valley.

Though Fat Head’s brewing is done at their Ohio brewpub, we aren’t holding that against them. Fat Head’s once again medaled in the American-Style IPA category with their flagship brew Head Hunter, this time taking bronze. The American IPA category was the most competitive style ever at the GABF, having 176 entries judged. Head Hunter took silver last year among 142 entries.

Seemingly submitting Battle Axe on a whim, brewer Matt Cole took home his first ever GABF gold medal, receiving top honors for Baltic-Style Porter.

Fat Head’s now has four medals in three years. The first was a silver for Up In Smoke smoked porter.

PITTSBURGH BREWERIES

PENNSYLVANIA BREWERIES

AMERICAN-STYLE WHEAT BEER - 20 ENTRIES

2011 Brewery and Brewer of the Year Awards SMALL BREWING COMPANY AND SMALL BREWING COMPANY BREWER OF THE YEAR Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, Wash.

Will Kemper

MID-SIZE BREWING COMPANY AND MID-SIZE BREWING COMPANY BREWER OF THE YEAR

Firestone Walker Brewing Co, Paso Robles, Calif.

Matthew Brynildson

LARGE BREWING COMPANY AND LARGE BREWING COMPANY BREWER OF THE YEAR Pabst Brewing Company, Woodridge, Ill. Bob Newman

SMALL BREWPUB AND SMALL BREWPUB BREWER OF THE YEAR

Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, Calif.

Yiga Miyashiro

LARGE BREWPUB AND LARGE BREWPUB BREWER OF THE YEAR Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, Calif.

Pizza Port Brew Guys

BREWPUB GROUP AND BREWPUB GROUP BREWER OF THE YEAR

TAPS Fish House & Brewery, Brea, Calif.

Victor Novak

Gold: SchWheat, SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA Silver: Shredders Wheat, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR Bronze: Wagon Box Wheat, Black Tooth Brewing Co., Sheridan, WY

AMERICAN-STYLE WHEAT BEER WITH YEAST - 38 ENTRIES

Gold: Leavenworth Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen, Fish Brewing Co., Olympia, WA Silver: Tumblewheat, Altitude Chophouse and Brewery, Laramie, WY Bronze: Leavenworth Whistling Pig Hefeweizen, Fish Brewing Co., Olympia, WA

FRUIT BEER - 56 ENTRIES

Gold: Raspberry Tart, New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI Silver: Brainless on Peaches, Epic Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT Bronze: Derailed Black Cherry Ale, Erie Brewing Co., Erie, PA

FRUIT WHEAT BEER - 48 ENTRIES

Gold: 5 Lizard, 5 Rabbit Cerveceria, Chicago, IL Silver: Mr. Pineapple Wheat, SanTan Brewing Co., Chandler, AZ Bronze: Vintage Blonde Ale, Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, CO

FIELD BEER OR PUMPKIN BEER - 37 ENTRIES

Gold: Upslope Pumpkin Ale, Upslope Brewing Co., Boulder, CO Silver: Pumpkin Ale, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery - Chandler, Chandler, AZ Bronze: Turnip the Beets, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO

HERB AND SPICE BEER - 92 ENTRIES

Gold: Mexican Chocolate Stout, Copper Kettle Brewing Co., Denver, CO Silver: LSD, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN Bronze: CBC Heather Ale, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cambridge, MA

CHOCOLATE BEER - 30 ENTRIES

Gold: Chocolate Beer, Barley Brothers Brewery and Grill, Lake Havasu City, AZ Silver: Samuel Adams Chocolate Chili Bock, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA Bronze: Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA

COFFEE BEER - 60 ENTRIES

Gold: Java Mac, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Silver: Coffee Monster, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Bronze: Coffee Milk Stout, Dry Dock Brewing, Aurora, CO

SPECIALTY BEER - 24 ENTRIES

Gold: Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR Silver: Chateau Jiahu, Dog sh Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE Bronze: Denver Beer Co. Graham Cracker Porter, Denver Beer Co., Denver, CO

RYE BEER - 36 ENTRIES

Gold: Three Flowers IPA, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur, CA Silver: Bock in Bock, Tequesta Brewing Co., Tequesta, FL Bronze: Crank Tank, SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA

CraftPittsburgh.com

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SPECIALTY HONEY BEER - 32 ENTRIES

WOOD AND BARREL AGED BEER - 40 ENTRIES

SESSION BEER - 44 ENTRIES

WOOD AND BARREL AGED STRONG BEER - 118 ENTRIES

Gold: Sixteen, Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, PA Silver: Eye of the Storm, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN Bronze: Midas Touch, Dog sh Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE Gold: Provo Girl Pilsner, Utah Brewers Co-op, Salt Lake City, UT Silver: Twerp, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Bronze: Firestone Walker Extra Pale Ale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Gold: Velvet Merkin, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA Silver: Wee Pogue, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Bronze: Pinot Jubel, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR Gold: Melange a Trois, Nebraska Brewing Co., Papillion, NE Silver: BBJ (Bourbon Barrel Johan), Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Bronze: Barrel Aged Naked Evil BBW, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH

WOOD AND BARREL-AGED STRONG STOUT - 74 ENTRIES

OTHER STRONG BEER - 53 ENTRIES

Gold: Wheat Wine Ale, Smuttynose Brewing Co., Portsmouth, NH Silver: Saison du Summer, Backcountry Brewery, Frisco, CO Bronze: Totality Imperial Stout, FiftyFifty Brewing Co., Truckee, CA

Gold: Bourbon Murder, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR Silver: 2010 Bourbon Barrel Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout, Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC Bronze: Grand Inquisitor, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE

EXPERIMENTAL BEER - 83 ENTRIES

WOOD AND BARREL-AGED SOUR BEER - 75 ENTRIES

INDIGENOUS BEER - 31 ENTRIES

AGED BEER - 36 ENTRIES

GLUTEN-FREE BEER - 15 ENTRIES

KELLERBIER OR ZWICKELBIER - 48 ENTRIES

AMERICAN-BELGO-STYLE ALE - 43 ENTRIES

SMOKE BEER - 43 ENTRIES

Gold: Mangalitsa Pig Porter, Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City, MI Silver: Petit Obscura, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA Bronze: Belgorado, Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO

Gold: Hqt, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA Silver: Monticello Reserve Ale, Starr Hill Brewery, Crozet, VA Bronze: Hot Rocks Lager, Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA

Gold: Gluten-Free Lemon Pale, Strange Brewing Co., Denver, CO Silver: New Grist, Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, WI Bronze: Seeley Axe White, Kettlehouse Brewing Co., Missoula, MT

Gold: Angry Birds, Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago, IL Silver: Blue Reserve, Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, VA Bronze: Boulevard Collaboration #2, Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO

Gold: Le Terroir, New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO Silver: Framboise de Amorosa, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA Bronze: Ching Ching, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Gold: Kolsch Kellerbier, Mad Fox Brewing Co., Falls Church, VA Silver: Bottle Rocket Lager, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que - Lake Travis, Austin, TX Bronze: B3K Schwarzbier, Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO Gold: Smoke Ale, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR Silver: Smoke Out, Starr Hill Brewery, Crozet, VA Bronze: Alaskan Smoked Porter 2010, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK

Gold: BEER, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM Silver: Popcorn Pilsner, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Bronze: Legacy Lager, Silver Moon Brewing, Bend, OR

Gold: Pavlov’s Pils, C.B. & Potts Restaurant & Brewery - Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO Silver: Sunshine Pils, Tröegs Brewing Co., Harrisburg, PA Bronze: Pilsner, Marble Brewery, Albuquerque, NM

German-Style Pilsener - 42 Entries

AMERICAN-STYLE BRETT ALE - 31 ENTRIES

Gold: Expedition Stout, Bell’s Brewery, Galesburg, MI Silver: Release the Hounds, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO Bronze: 2004 Triple Exultation, Eel River Brewing Co., Fortuna, CA

US OR INTERNATIONAL STYLE PILSENER - 31 ENTRIES

AMERICAN-STYLE SOUR ALE - 21 ENTRIES

Gold: Friek, Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO Silver: The Wanderer, The Bruery, Placentia, CA Bronze: Le Serpent Cerise, Snake River Brewing, Jackson, WY

Gold: Confluence, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME Silver: Super Friends IPA, Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca, NY Bronze: Grimalkin - Super Kitty Fantastico, Brugge Brasserie, Indianapolis, IN

BOHEMIAN-STYLE PILSENER - 42 ENTRIES

Silver: Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, CO Bronze: Pilsner, McCoy’s Public House and Brewkitchen, Kansas City, MO

MUNICH-STYLE HELLES - 38 ENTRIES

Gold: Chuckanut Helles, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA Silver: Where in the Helles Gunner?, Emmett’s Brewing Co., West Dundee, IL Bronze: Órale, Del Norte Brewing Co., Denver, CO

DORTMUNDER OR GERMAN OKTOBERFEST - 20 ENTRIES

Gold: Move Back, The SandLot, Denver, CO Silver: Tommy Two Fists, Devils Backbone Brewing Co., Roseland, VA Bronze: Dog Days Lager, Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, IL

AMERICAN-STYLE LAGER, LIGHT OR PREMIUM - 55 ENTRIES

Gold: Old Milwaukee Light, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL Silver: Busch Light, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO Bronze: Pabst Blue Ribbon Light, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL

AMERICAN-STYLE LAGER OR CREAM ALE - 31 ENTRIES

Gold: Red Dog, Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, WI Silver: Rainier, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL Bronze: Old Style, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL

VIENNA-STYLE LAGER - 32 ENTRIES

Gold: Jomo Lager, Starr Hill Brewery, Crozet, VA Silver: Cityfest, Brewzzi, West Palm Beach, FL Bronze: Vienna Red Lager, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE

GERMAN-STYLE MÄRZEN - 58 ENTRIES

Gold: Stein Knocker, Hoppers Grill & Brewing Co., Midvale, UT Silver: Munster Fest, Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN Bronze: Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

Photo © Jason E. Kaplan

AMERICAN-STYLE AMBER LAGER - 58 ENTRIES

Gold: Uberbrau, Humperdink’s Restaurant and Brewery, Dallas, TX Silver: Colorado Native, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO Bronze: Florida Beer Florida Lager, Florida Beer Co., Melbourne, FL

EUROPEAN-STYLE DUNKEL - 23 ENTRIES

Gold: Dunkel Lager, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co., Glenwood Springs, CO Silver: Chuckanut Dunkel, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA Bronze: Penn Dark, Pennsylvania Brewing Co., Pittsburgh, PA

AMERICAN-STYLE DARK LAGER - 16 ENTRIES

Gold: Durango Dark, Durango Brewing Co., Durango, CO Silver: Session Black, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR Bronze: Schwarzbier, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO

GERMAN-STYLE SCHWARZBIER - 26 ENTRIES

Gold: TAPS Schwarzbier, TAPS Fish House & Brewery (Corona, CA), Brea, CA Silver: Nevermore Lager, Rock Bottom Brewery (King of Prussia, PA), Louisville, CO Bronze: Gordon Biersch Schwarzbier, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Seattle, WA), Chattanooga, TN

BOCK - 34 ENTRIES

Gold: Troegenator, Tröegs Brewing Co., Harrisburg, PA Silver: PrePro Bock, Coors Archive Brewery, Golden, CO Bronze: Maibock, Stewart’s Brewing Co., Bear, DE

GERMAN DOPPELBOCK OR EISBOCK - 22 ENTRIES

Gold: Autumnal Fire, Capital Brewery Co., Middleton, WI Silver: St. Nik Brewer’s Reserve, Pennsylvania Brewing Co., Pittsburgh, PA Bronze: Eisphyre, Capital Brewery Co., Middleton, WI

BALTIC-STYLE PORTER - 19 ENTRIES

Gold: Battle Axe Baltic Porter, Fat Head’s Brewery, North Olmsted, OH Silver: White Eagle Baltic Porter, Montana Brewing Co., Billings, MT Bronze: Puddy Porter, Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse, Berkeley, CA

GOLDEN OR BLONDE ALE - 56 ENTRIES

Gold: Blonde, Ram Restaurant & Brewery - Seattle, Seattle, WA Silver: Alaskan Pale Ale, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK Bronze: Kent Lake Kolsch, Iron Springs Pub & Brewery, Fairfax, CA

Photo © Jason E. Kaplan

GERMAN-STYLE KÖLSCH - 48 ENTRIES

Gold: Chuckanut Kolsch, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA Silver: Great Adirondack Kölsch, Great Adirondack Brewing Co., Lake Placid, NY Bronze: Capital City Kolsch, Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka, KS

ENGLISH-STYLE SUMMER ALE - 33 ENTRIES

Gold: Summer Lovin’, Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, VA Silver: Peacemaker, Austin Beerworks, Austin, TX Bronze: Mad Fox Brewing Company English Summer Ale, Mad Fox Brewing Co., Falls Church, VA

CLASSIC ENGLISH-STYLE PALE ALE - 25 ENTRIES

Gold: Clear Creek Pale Ale, Silver City Brewery, Bremerton, WA Silver: MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale, MacTarnahan’s Brewing Co., Portland, OR Bronze: Prime Time Pale Ale, Big Time Brewery, Seattle, WA

ENGLISH-STYLE INDIA PALE ALE - 46 ENTRIES

Gold: Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Hallertau Mittelfrueh, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA Silver: Napa Smith Organic IPA, Napa Smith Brewery, Napa, CA Bronze: Down ‘n’ Dirty IPA, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

INTERNATIONAL-STYLE PALE ALE - 20 ENTRIES

Gold: Boulevard Pale Ale, Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO Silver: Intercontinental Pale Ale, Flossmoor Station Brewing Co., Flossmoor, IL Bronze: Radiant, Ninkasi Brewing Co., Eugene, OR

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE ALE - 105 ENTRIES

Gold: Pale 31, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA Silver: Mission St. Pale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA Bronze: Ute Trail Pale Ale, Amicas, Salida, CO

ORDINARY OR SPECIAL BITTER - 28 ENTRIES

Gold: DBA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA Silver: New Speedway Bitter, Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery, San Francisco, CA Bronze: Bonnie Lee’s Best Bitter, Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery, San Francisco, CA

EXTRA SPECIAL BITTER - 43 ENTRIES

Gold: Minaret ESB, Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, FL Silver: Colorado Kind, Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery, Boulder, CO Bronze: Harvest Ale, Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL

SCOTTISH-STYLE ALE - 27 ENTRIES

Gold: Hope and King Scotch Ale, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN Silver: Naughty Scot, Rock Bottom Brewery (College Park - Indianapolis, IN), Louisville, CO Bronze: Brown Bear Brown, Rock Bottom Brewery (Bethesda, MD), Louisville, CO

AMERICAN-STYLE STRONG PALE ALE - 103 ENTRIES

IRISH-STYLE RED ALE - 31 ENTRIES

AMERICAN-STYLE INDIA PALE ALE - 176 ENTRIES

ENGLISH-STYLE BROWN ALE - 45 ENTRIES

IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE - 102 ENTRIES

Gold: Pako’s Eye P.A., Snake River Brewing, Jackson, WY Silver: AleSmith IPA, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA Bronze: Hop Knot, Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe, AZ

Gold: Elevated IPA, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM Silver: Deviant Dale’s, Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, CO Bronze: Head Hunter IPA, Fat Head’s Brewery, North Olmsted, OH Gold: Citra Double IPA, Kern River Brewing, Kernville, CA Silver: Double Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA Bronze: Imperial IPA, Epic Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT

AMERICAN-STYLE AMBER/RED ALE - 82 ENTRIES

Gold: Amber Waves, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA Silver: Jamaica Red Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA Bronze: Rocket Red, Big River Grille and Brewing (Chattanooga, TN), Chattanooga, TN

IMPERIAL RED ALE - 57 ENTRIES

Gold: 547 Haight - The Toronado San Francisco’s 20th Anniversary Imperial Red Ale, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Silver: Rhino Chaser Imperial Red Ale, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA Bronze: Organic Deranger, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR

ENGLISH-STYLE MILD ALE - 25 ENTRIES

Gold: Skidmark Brown Ale, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA Silver: Dawn Patrol Dark, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA Bronze: Bird and Baby Mild, The Public House Brewing Co., Rolla, MO

Gold: O’Rion Irish Red, Equinox Brewing, Fort Collins, CO Silver: Copperhead Red, Ghost River Brewing, Memphis, TN Bronze: Colorado Boy Irish Ale, Colorado Boy Brewing Co., Ridgway, CO Gold: Good Grief Brown, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Silver: Rock Bottom Brown Ale, Rock Bottom Brewery (San Diego, CA), Louisville, CO Bronze: Molly’s Titanic Brown, Rock Bottom Brewery (Westminster, CO), Louisville, CO

AMERICAN-STYLE BROWN ALE - 49 ENTRIES

Gold: Great American Brown, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Silver: Redrock Nut Brown Ale, Redrock Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT Bronze: Brave American, American Brewing Co., Edmonds, WA

AMERICAN-STYLE BLACK ALE - 74 ENTRIES

Gold: Blacktop IPA, New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI Silver: Blackened CDA, Carter’s Brewing, Billings, MT Bronze: Black Racer, Bear Republic Brewing Co., Healdsburg, CA

GERMAN-STYLE ALTBIER - 30 ENTRIES

Gold: Little Red Cap, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Loveland, CO Silver: TAPS Alt, TAPS Fish House & Brewery (Brea, CA), Brea, CA Bronze: Chuckanut Alt, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA

GERMAN-STYLE SOUR ALE - 13 ENTRIES

Gold: Berliner Weisse, Crabtree Brewing Co., Greeley, CO Silver: Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, The Bruery, Placentia, CA Bronze: Gordon Biersch Goze, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Rockville, MD), Chattanooga, TN CraftPittsburgh.com

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Robust Porter - 62 Entries

Gold: Moonlight Porter, Rock Bottom Brewery (La Jolla, CA), Louisville, CO Silver: DeadEye Jack Porter, LoneRider Brewing Co., Raleigh, NC Bronze: Pier Rat Porter, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA

CLASSIC IRISH-STYLE DRY STOUT - 24 ENTRIES

Gold: Ring of Dingle, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Silver: Breakside Dry Stout, Breakside Brewery, Portland, OR Bronze: Shaft House Stout, Dostal Alley Brewpub & Casino, Central City, CO

FOREIGN-STYLE STOUT - 23 ENTRIES

Gold: Dark Side Stout, Silver Moon Brewing, Bend, OR Silver: Malpais Stout, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM Bronze: Z-Man Stout, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA

AMERICAN-STYLE STOUT - 37 ENTRIES

Gold: Jules Winnfield, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA Silver: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout, Brit Antrim Benefit Beer, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA Bronze: Disorder Stout, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR

SWEET STOUT - 19 ENTRIES

Gold: Steel Toe Stout, Ska Brewing Co., Durango, CO Silver: Cream Stout, Redwood Brewing Co., Flint, MI Bronze: Outlaw Oatmeal Stout, Great Basin Brewing Co., Sparks, NV

OATMEAL STOUT - 36 ENTRIES

Gold: Back Road Stout, Millstream Brewing Co., Amana, IA Silver: Oatmeal Stout, Crabtree Brewing Co., Greeley, CO Bronze: Stagecoach Stout, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Buellton, CA

IMPERIAL STOUT - 56 ENTRIES

Gold: BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH Silver: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE Bronze: IMOS, Max Lager’s Wood-Fired Grill & Brewery, Atlanta, GA

SCOTCH ALE - 39 ENTRIES

Gold: Wee Muckle, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Silver: Wee Heavy, Vintage Brewing Co., Madison, WI Bronze: Old Chub Scotch Ale, Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, CO

OLD ALE OR STRONG ALE - 35 ENTRIES SOUTH GERMAN-STYLE HEFEWEIZEN - 64 ENTRIES

Gold: Hefeweizen, Dry Dock Brewing, Aurora, CO Silver: Wild Pitch Hefe Weizen, The SandLot, Denver, CO Bronze: EOS, Nebraska Brewing Co., Papillion, NE

GERMAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE - 23 ENTRIES

Gold: Boscos Hefeweizen, Boscos Brewing Co., Memphis, TN Silver: Weizenbock, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA Bronze: Dark-n-Curvy, Piece Brewery, Chicago, IL

BELGIAN-STYLE WITBIER - 53 ENTRIES

Gold: Witte, Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY Silver: La Perouse White, Maui Brewing Co. - Brewpub, Maui, HI Bronze: ZON, Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO

FRENCH AND BELGIAN-STYLE SAISON - 65 ENTRIES

Gold: Papier, The Bruery, Placentia, CA Silver: AleSmith Decadence ‘10 Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA Bronze: Arctic Alchemy, Fegley’s Brew Works, Allentown, PA

BARLEY WINE-STYLE ALE - 42 ENTRIES

Gold: Horn Dog Barleywine, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD Silver: AleSmith Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA Bronze: Johan the Barleywine, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

2011 GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL PRO-AM COMPETITION

Gold: Before Capone, C.B. & Potts Restaurant & Brewery, Westminster, CO Brewmaster: Dennis O’Harrow, AHA Member: Tom Gardner Silver: Schwarzherz, Uinta Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT Brewmaster: Uinta Beer Team, AHA Member: Travis Grimm Bronze: Kriek, Dry Dock Brewing, Aurora, CO Brewmaster: Dry Dock Brewers, AHA Member:Ted Manahan

Gold: Saison-Brett, Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO Silver: Funkwerks Saison, Funkwerks, Fort Collins, CO Bronze: Sofie, Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL

BELGIAN AND FRENCH-STYLE ALE - 56 ENTRIES

Gold: California Ale, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA Silver: TAPS Biere de Garde, TAPS Fish House & Brewery (Corona, CA), Brea, CA Bronze: Pin-Up Blonde, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI

BELGIAN-STYLE LAMBIC OR SOUR ALE - 51 ENTRIES

Gold: Fifth Element 2008, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT Silver: Blue Sunday, New Holland Brewing Co., Holland, MI Bronze: Barton Kriek, North by Northwest, Austin, TX

BELGIAN-STYLE ABBEY ALE - 76 ENTRIES

Gold: Brother David’s Double, Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Boonville, CA Silver: Wild-Westmalle Tripel, Chicago Brewing Co., Las Vegas, NV Bronze: Two Tortugas, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Gold: Buffalo Slumber, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN Silver: Revelations, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA Bronze: The Twelve, Black Diamond Brewing Co., Concord, CA

BROWN PORTER - 32 ENTRIES

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Gold: Out of Order Porter, Wind River Brewing Co., Pinedale, WY Silver: FireHouse Porter, FireHouse Grill & Brewery, Sunnyvale, CA Bronze: Porter, Lexington Avenue Brewery, Asheville, NC

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

Photo © Jason E. Kaplan

BELGIAN-STYLE STRONG SPECIALTY ALE - 59 ENTRIES

UNFILTERED: Breakfast is served

By Mel Urick

I have a hard-on for breakfast foods: over-stuffed cheesy omelets, banana pancakes, alcohol-drenched French toast. But just as a bowl of cereal is appropriate for any time of day, so is beer. Keeping in mind never to mix milk and alcohol, of course.

The first meal is not difficult to orchestrate with drinking – even if it seems that most of us who drink in the morning do so to combat a potential hangover. Or dull the pain of one that already exists. I have written previously about the beer mimosa and the strangely popular Michelada (no, thank you), but beer with breakfast is every bit as good as a do-it-yourself Bloody Mary bar. And more bars in Pittsburgh should embrace this early bird following.

You know… acknowledging PLCB drinking laws coordinate with when I want to have breakfast.

Enter the Beer Brunch.

While only beer for breakfast might be good enough for you, I’m mighty cranky if I don’t have food in the mornings. Enter: Fat Head’s Saloon yearly Beer Brunch.

Now in its third year – and now a collaboration with Big Pour Beer Week, which so happened to correspond this year with the restaurant’s anniversary – Fat Head’s pours some special drafts for its breakfast crowd, served alongside Belgian waffles from Point Brugge Cafe.

Over 800 Craft, Import, Belgium & Domestic Bottle Selections Over 800 Craft, Import, Belgium & Domestic Bottle Selections 2020 Constantly Rotating Craft/Import Beers onon Tap Constantly Rotating Craft/Import Beers Tap Complementary Beer Tastings Every Thursday – 7:00 – 9:00 Complementary Beer Tastings Every Thursday – 7:00 – 9:00 Join UsUs ForFor Team Trivia Every Wednesday – 7:00 – 9:00 Join Team Trivia Every Wednesday – 7:00 – 9:00 Mix N Match 6-Packs to to GoGo Mix N Match 6-Packs Daily Beer & Food Specials Daily Beer & Food Specials

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Collectively, we “woke up” to (both literally and figuratively for me) Founders Brewing Company’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout AND Canadian Breakfast Stout, and Terrapin Beer Company’s Wake & Bake Stout.

Keeping on trend with pairing beer with the perfect food, those aforementioned tasty waffles are dished up with syrup that comes straight from the same barrels in which the one-and-only Canadian Breakfast Stout is aged.

And what is better than maple syrup with waffles?

The answer is beer, naturally. And a room full of devoted craft beer fans enjoying breakfast stouts on a Sunday morning (working on the honor system, no less).

At this point, I watched in awe as a group of KBS and CBS drinkers dipped their sugary waffles INTO their glasses of respective stouts. Not only did I geek out (and follow suit), but this provoked me to search for recipes that use beer for – or with – brunch foods. I discovered several online calling for beer as an ingredient in both pancake batter and maple syrup. Just think of the possibility with pumpkin beers!

So… are we done with bacon yet?

I imagine brunch is a good time to explain away beer that tastes like bacon or other cured meats. Because, let’s be honest, I’m not all that interested in drinking something that tastes like pork.

Then again, I’m not much of a bacon fan to begin with. I recently discovered that Three Floyds Brewing Co. brewed a smoked beer that resembles a HAM SANDWICH. HAM is where it’s at, people! Add a side of eggs, and you have brunch.

With that, I would recommend any number of coffee stouts: the Beer Geek Breakfast, for one, as a perfect replacement for your morning coffee. You know, if your coffee was spiked to a 7.50% ABV. Perhaps best served on the weekends. Because I’m getting all kinds of tipsy on that alcohol content.

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rogue ales. ayinger. barbar. j.w. lees.westmalle. greens. nebraska. belhaven. val-dieu. ying dog ales. chimay. reissdorf. great lakes.

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3100 EAST CARSON STREET PITTSBURGH, PA 15203 412.488.8845

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

We do not have 3100 beers, but we do have Western PA’s largest selection of craft & imported beer, from the obscure to the widely known.

The

Steel City

BIG POUR

CraftPittsburgh.com CraftPittsburgh.com 11 11

fter five years of The Steel City Big Pour it’s now bigger than ever with the inclusion of the first ever Big Pour Week, designed to permit the attendance of Big Pour related events without overselling Saturday’s main attraction. We decided to sit down with David “The Main Instigator” Lagnese to get his take on this annual experience, where it’s been, and just how far it’s come.

A

At first we were going to give it the boring name of The Pittsburgh Craft Beer Festival, but artist and designer Patricia Tsagaris came up with the The Steel City Big Pour with the artistic treatment borrowing from the Woodstock poster. But her vision was to also make the event a true festival type event. We talked to Glen Benigni from Fat Head’s and he offered to be the taster glass sponsor. Others like Hootie from D’s, Rodney Swartz from Harris Grill, Jesse Saeger from Point Brugge, and Drew Topping from Pipers Pub all showed interest and got involved in the event. It was like a train leaving the station, everyone we spoke to got excited and added ideas for the event. It kind of took on a life of its own.

What made the Construction Junction folks come up with the idea for a beer festival? Would you even call it a beer festival? It’s really much more than that.

So for example, doing the kegerator art, I can’t even remember who thought of that one, but someone came up with the idea of doing it, so we did it. The reality is

Well, it was originally thought of as just a craft beer festival. A bunch of the “regulars” from the Sharp Edge came up with the idea of having a beer festival. We were talking about it for years, frustrated that Pittsburgh didn’t have more beer fests, but then the summer that Penn Brewery didn’t do theirs, we started talking more seriously. I think that was the summer of 2006. We started doing some research and realized how much work it would be, and expensive to put on. The biggest obstacle was where to have it. It would be very expensive to rent a hall. I was on the Board of Construction Junction and approached Mike Gable with a crazy idea - to see if we could rent the warehouse. His immediate reaction was to do it as a fund raiser. So, we pulled together an organizing committee which comprised of Sharp Edge regulars and folks from CJ. We also pulled in brewers Scott Smith from East End and Matt Moninger from Church Brew Works.

We had several TRASH guys as well - Chris Meta and Dave Pittman.

The Sharp Edge crowd had a certain vision for a fest after talking about it for 10 years. The CJ folks had lots of ideas.

And we reached out to a lot of other folks in the craft beer industry. The first meeting was with Tony Knipling from Vecenie Distributing who explained some of the basics on how to do a fest. Chris Dilla gave us the idea of mixing the food booths with the beer, not putting them in a separate area. The CJ folks had a lot of ideas about how to incorporate art into the event.

12 Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

that with the time, effort, and expense involved in making kegerators, we don’t make any money on it, but we keep on doing it because it’s so cool.

This was the 5th anniversary. Five years ago, where did you think the Big Pour might be at this point?

Well, like anything new you’re creating, you really don’t think that far ahead. We just wanted to do it one time. We weren’t sure if people would even come. Although, we did get a good reaction from the craft beer community, so we figured there was some interest out there. I wasn’t able to sleep for days before the event because I was afraid it would be a flop.

If we knew just how much work was involved in putting on an event like this, we probably would never have done it.

As they say, ignorance is bliss. But based on the feedback we got after the first year, we figured we had something special. That motivated us to keep it going. Again, it kind of just took on a life on its own.

We’ve tried each year to make it a little bigger and better, but not to ruin the original character of the event. We refuse to oversell the it, which just about every other festival I ever go to does. And that’s tough because we get a lot of pressure to sell more tickets, as it sells out so fast.

Five years of memories now. Any truly memorable moments stand out?

That’s a good question. I do have lots of memories, mostly good. I love the fact that we bring lots of people together from the craft beer community, and that so many people come to the event and have a fantastic time. When I look at pictures of people at the Big Pour, they’re mostly smiling and laughing and having a good time. That makes me feel really good.

What have you learned since then? Has it become easier?

More difficult?

It‘s become easier in the sense that the CJ staff really has taken over the planning and logistics of the event. That makes it more sustainable to continue having the Big Pour.

The difficult part is managing people’s expectations for the event. More people want to buy tickets than we can sell.

More breweries and restaurants want to participate than we have room for. It’s a good problem to have, but none the less, it creates some pressure. We on the organizing committee put pressure on ourselves to continue to raise the bar and make it a better event each year. From a personal perspective, I will be passing the torch for being the Main Instigator next year. After 5 years at the helm, I want to let someone else bring their own creativity to the event. I plan to stay involved by continuing to organize the food partners.

After 5 years, this was the first Steel City Big Pour Week.

Can you tell me about that?

Big Pour Week we thought was just a way to extend the Big Pour since we can’t really grow the event itself. Events had sprung up the last two years, as so many brewer reps and brewers come to town for the Pour. But they were always somewhat last minute and chaotic. So, we were trying to bring some organization to the process. We spoke with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and they expressed some interest in being the media sponsor. The events were all posted on the Big Pour website, including a number of beer dinners that were a lot of fun. I personally attended the ones at 1947 Tavern, Salt of the Earth, and Root 174. All were really good, with unique food and great beer pairings.

CraftPittsburgh.com

13

I’m not sure where it will go next year, but I hope we’ll be able to get more beer dinners going. Overall, I think it was a success. It certainly was a lot of fun.

We’ll need to sit down next year and try to figure out how to grow the concept. Hopefully the Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week will take off in May of next year and we can learn from that.

Is there anything in particular that CJ plans to put this year’s proceeds towards?

The CJ operation is pretty much in a break-even situation.

The money we get from selling materials covers our labor, rent, and expenses. So, money raised by the Big Pour is used for capital improvements such as equipment and computers. One thing we are working on is a computerized inventory system so that we can better track the material when it comes in the door and let our customers see material online.

Do you have any new ideas churning for next year’s Pour yet?

Not yet. We still haven’t had our internal debrief meeting yet. In general, I would say more of the same with a few new twists.

- Tim Russell

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

CraftPittsburgh.com

15

By

runk The D

r Yinze

O

ktoberfest. Perhaps no single word in the Brewer’s vocabulary signals so many singular emotions. We think of beautiful orange and brown lagers served by saucy frauleins. Here in the U.S., Oktoberfest or Marzen beers spring onto the market just as the first nip appears in the air. The first sign of autumn means football, apple cider, and a good Marzen Beer.

One beer. Two names. Confused yet? We used to be, but the nomenclature becomes quite apparent when we look back in time. The first Oktoberfest was in 1810 as Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese.

What we now recognize as “Oktoberfest” in Munich, was really the best wedding reception ever. All of the Munich area breweries prepare their special Marzen beer for the nuptials every year. Just as the Germans take their purity law very seriously, Oktoberfest beer is no laughing matter. Each one given the label of “Oktoberfest” officially must be brewed within the city limits of Munich. So the only real Oktoberfests come from German breweries in Munich: Hofbrau, Spaten, Paulaner, Augustiner, and Lowenbrau.

Most Americans know Oktoberfest is one of the biggest parties of the world and celebrate accordingly. But how do ‘Burghers celebrate this grand festival? We combine our city’s strong German heritage, penchant for drinking, and two local German breweries to create two of the year’s biggest beer events. If you haven’t visited Penn Brewery or the Pittsburgh Hofbrauhaus during their respective Oktoberfest celebrations, shame on you, but keep reading to learn what you’re missing.

During each Oktoberfest session, Penn Brewery has live German band who strikes a chord with every native Pittsburgher by playing the Steelers polka. Penn’s sessions run on the weekends and while the evening sessions can be crowded, there’s also a nice Sunday session from 4 -10 pm for the casual day drinkers.

Half-gallon milk jugs of your favorite Penn concoctions are available for $15 each including: Penn Pilsner, Penn Dark, Oktoberfest, and Allegheny Pale. There are other 16

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

sizes available, but come on, it’s a milk jug full of beer! While the more serious beer connoisseur may scoff at the plastic jugs, we say enjoy the environment and drink up.

During Oktoberfest, Penn’s festivities expand beyond the brewery and take over the parking garage and outside balcony areas so there is more room for beer drinkers. Check out the upper parking area for one of the most underrated views of the city at night. Don’t forget about the food, as the options are plentiful from a selection of sausages and sauerkraut to some delicious pretzels. Parking can be limited around the brewery, so head down the Heinz parking lot just off the bridge on 16th street and take the short walk up the pedestrian walkway.

Pittsburgh’s other German brewery, the Hofbrauhaus, hosts a celebration is more in tune with the mainstream view of an Oktoberfest. With a livelier atmosphere that includes plenty of singing, dancing, and well-known frauleins dutifully carrying liters of beer, you’re all but guaranteed to wake up the following morning knowing full well you celebrated Oktoberfest the night before.

In addition to main beer hall where most of the fun takes place, Hofbrau’s outside seating is a big reason to stop by.

There’s plenty of seating, an outside bar and even fire pits to keep you warm as you drink liters of beer long into the night. Take a few friends, stand on a few tables and slur your way through a few songs. This is what the Hofbrauhaus does best and this is never more apparent than during their Oktoberfest celebration.

So the question is, whose Oktoberfest is better? Well, the last thing we want to do is anger any Germans. Unique in their approaches to the annual celebration, both Penn and the Hofbrauhaus provide an authentic Oktoberfest experience that every Pittsburgher shouldn’t miss. With Oktoberfest lasting for two weeks, you plenty of time to check out both breweries and decide for yourself.

But let’s not pretend we’re only interested in the Oktoberfest experience. While we enjoy obnoxiously screaming the Pittsburgh Polka into the faces of our Cleveland friends, we’re here for the beer. For a larger sample size, we specifically looked into the differences between authentic German Marzens and the American craft varieties. The American brews came from Penn Brewery, Blue Point, Brooklyn, Lancaster, and Stoudt’s. The German brews included Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Erdinger, and Hofbrau. We were astonished to find that the American Marzen style beers were for the most part similar, but collectively very different from the German Oktoberfests.

The German brews are light, crisp, and contain a very sharp almost woody aftertaste. The American Marzens tend to be maltier, darker, and overall richer in complex flavors although mostly missing the aftertaste. Our favorite American brewed Marzen was Pittsburgh’s own locally brewed Penn Oktoberfest with second place going to Brooklyn’s offering. Both of these brews are a nice mix of the refreshing flavors from the traditional German style with some added malty sweetness and a softening of the woody aftertaste. Our favorite German Marzen beer was Paulaner, with Hofbrauhaus as a runner up.

Even though you may have missed the big Oktoberfest bashes, it might not be too late to go out and grab a great Oktoberfest brew. There’s no better place to start than with Pittsburgh’s very own Penn Oktoberfest.

CraftPittsburgh.com

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COOKING

BEER

with

By Mindy Heisler-Johnson

A

utumn. Bountiful amounts of deliciousness at every farmer’s market and farm stand. The leaves are turning and starting to fall.

There’s crispness to the air that lets you know snow is just around the corner. Don’t throw things at me! You all know its coming!

My favorite? Apples. When picked at their prime, they’re just about perfect; crisp, sweet, tart, juicy…a delight for all your senses and the inspiration for our culinary adventure today.

Cider Brined Pork Chops with Apple Sauerkraut I’m from the “go big or go home” school of grilling. I started with four 1” thick fresh cut bone-in center cut pork loin chops. You really should too. This is the Porterhouse steak of swine and is perfect for this dish. Ask your butcher to cut it for you special, making sure they are THICK. The brine is also good on other cuts of pork, but these chops are just somewhat life changing. Not kidding.

Hard Cider Brine

24oz

2 cups ¼ cup 3 Tbsp

hard cider, “dry” hot water sugar kosher salt

thyme

1 Tbsp

I used Arsenal Cider House dry cider for my brine, but any bottled dry cider will work beautifully!

Dissolve the sugar and kosher salt in 2 cups hot water. Once dissolved, add to your cider and stir to combine. Add the thyme and some fresh ground black pepper. Place the chops in a shallow pan. I used a 9x9 glass baking dish. Pour the brine over the chops so they’re completely submerged. Chops MUST be totally covered. Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but as long as 24.

To cook the chops: Heat up your grill to medium-high heat so you can get a nice sear on the chops. Remove chops from the brine and let drain. Grill each one for about 7 minutes per side for a perfect medium to medium-well temperature. Let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 3

Cider Brined Pork Chops with Apple Sauerkraut Apple Sauerkraut

6 slices thick cut bacon 1 each yellow onion, julienne 2 each cloves of garlic, minced 3 cups peeled & sliced apple (I prefer Honeycrisp or Gala) 1 jar prepared sauerkraut (32oz roughly) 12oz pale ale or lager (I used Rivertowne Simcoe Pale with great results) 12oz chicken stock 2 each bay leaves

1 Tbsp

dried thyme

Render the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Add the onion and garlic and cook out until it starts to smell sweet. Add the onions and slowly caramelize until they start to take on some color. Deglaze the pan with the beer and then add the sauerkraut, stock, and spices and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat, stirring periodically until the liquid has reduced by half. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

I served the chops on the bone over the apple kraut with smashed potatoes and grilled corn on the cob with shallot butter. For dessert I chopped up the rest of the apples, tossed them with some cinnamon sugar and baked them in a crisp with oatmeal streusel and vanilla ice cream. Perfect harvest dinner!

Beer pairings for this meal run the gamut. Hart, chief food taster and knower of all things beer at my house, chose his homebrewed smoked wheat beer and after sampling I could see why – amazingly it held up really well against the kraut. Color me surprised. I assumed it would be drowned out by all those aggressive flavors. I was wrong. I decided to stick with the season and ran though some fall beers from around Pittsburgh – Penn Oktoberfest, East End Big Hop Harvest and some of Hart’s hoppy porter, all paired well for different reasons.

Happy grilling!

Brewing the

GREAT PUMPKIN ALE, Charlie Brown

A

By Brian Reed

bout mid-September every year, like clockwork, they start appearing on shelves and draft lists in annually increasing abundance. Like the cool evening air or the ubiquitous changing leaves, pumpkin ale ushers in the autumn dance to beer folk and brewers around the ‘Burgh.

And like Linus waiting in the most sincere of pumpkin patches, we anticipate their arrival with feverish intensity.

Once they’ve arrived, we gluttonously gobble them up and, if we’re lucky, manage to stow away a bottle or two to enjoy postThanksgiving dinner.

We all have our preferred and overtly celebrated commercial brands, but as is evident by the most recent Northern Brewer sales numbers—ranking their Smashing Pumpkin Ale ingredient kit as the number one seller—the great unwashed homebrewing masses are turning inward for their fall beer fix. The following are but a few humble suggestions for those considering brewing this beloved style at home.

As is the case when brewing any number of fruit or vegetable beers, we must first decide what type of base beer we’re aiming for; our canvas, so to speak, on which we will be painting our pumpkin-y portrait. Personally I’ve tasted excellent renditions based upon recipes for brown ales, Irish red ales, and even cream ales just to name a few. However, I would venture to say that well-balanced, medium bodied American Ambers or mild English ales are the most widely used styles. Something that provides a moderately sweet and substantial malt backbone with fairly clean yeast character—in order to let the adjuncts shine through—and just barely enough hops for balance.

Now on to the stars of the show: pumpkin and spice. Let’s be frank, the reason we love pumpkin beers is the same reason we love pumpkin flavored everything…pie spice. Very few “pumpkin” flavored products actually taste a damn thing like pumpkin; they taste like nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and/or possibly allspice, ginger, and cardamom. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, a considerable number of your favorite commercial pumpkin ales, as well as homebrew recipes, contain no pumpkin at all. Most of these brews still bare some sort of pumpkin-themed name or label but are generally categorized as “spiced ale.” Let’s face it, the flesh of a pumpkin—without the aid of spices—is a pretty bland enterprise, even when roasted.

Historically, locally produced agricultural ingredients like pumpkin were basically used only to stretch a brewer’s supply of expensive and imported malted barley. Nowadays barley is relatively cheap and we certainly aren’t depending on our results for sustenance (at least most aren’t), so no worries there. That being

said, I still tend to lean toward favoring a bit of actual pumpkin in my pumpkin ale, if not at least for some diluted sense of historic brewing integrity, as well as a bit of body and a certain underlying depth of flavor it can provide if executed well. Picking the veggie variety is where many a mistake can be made. If you insist on using fresh, then aim for a sweeter, smaller variety of baking pumpkin as opposed to the large carving pumpkins you find most often. A few varieties to look for are the Baby Pam or Sugar Pie Pumpkin, Lumina, or any number of smaller European heirloom varieties. Generally speaking, larger “carving” varieties—even when roasted—result in undesirable cooked vegetal flavor when used for brewing.

Many folks also turn to other squash varieties such as butternut and acorn when the appropriate pumpkins can’t be found or are out of season. I tend to prefer the simplicity and consistency of canned pumpkin puree. Canned is less work and has less variability; good enough reasons for me. One issue to point out is that when using canned pumpkin, be sure to use significantly less volume than you would with fresh as it’s obviously more concentrated. As for when to add the pumpkin, most pros agree on adding it straight to the mash as opposed to in the boil or at some point during fermentation. However if you prescribe to this same philosophy, I would strongly suggest employing the use of rice hulls in your mash as the puree tends to create a somewhat gelatinous consistency that can create flow problems during lautering.

A few additional tips: First and foremost, brew to your liking.

Pumpkin Ale is about as loose and undefined a style as they come, so by no means should you feel restricted by specific guidelines (or my suggestions for that matter). Secondly, when considering the amount of pumpkin to add, it’s better to error on the side of less (at least at first). When considering spices, it’s better to error on the side of more. Too much pumpkin—even the right variety—can potentially result in those cooked vegetal flavors. The flavors gained from spices tend to mellow significantly over time.

And if you’re considering holding on to some of your concoction through the holiday season, a little extra spice addition may buy you some time.

Even if you won’t admit it, you love pumpkin ales, everyone does, so if you’ve never tried your hand at brewing one—or maybe you’ve never brewed anything at all—take this opportunity to try your hand a crafting your very own version of this inviting and festive crowd-pleaser. The best-case scenario is you’ll be keeping in historical autumn tradition and ultimately enjoying the fruits of your labor, and if worst comes to worst, you’ll have something interesting to hand out to the neighborhood grown-ups for trick-or-treat.

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