Craft
Camaraderie Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week Barge and in Charge Blood, Sweat, & Beer have you tried... • cooking with beer • home brewing • upcoming beer events
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CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
table of contents
5. 6. 7. 8. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 20. 22. 25. 26. 28. 30. 31.
Beeried Treasures BETTER CRAFT BEER DEBUTS EVERY THURSDAY
editor’s letter
MONDAY
upcoming events hand crafted - beer cupcakes style profile - saison the hoppy couple - the wild side pub @craftpittsburgh
Start mapping your own tasting adventure today at Bocktown tinyurl.com/beeried-treasures
the locals - john d. platt beer geer pittsburgh craft beer week 2015 blood , sweat, & beer reflections barge and in charge
brewer sit-down - steve ilnicki have you tried... home brewing - cream ale
cooking with beer - cider brined pork
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page
CraftPittsburgh.com
illustrated breweries of pa - weyerbacher
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e n i l d A HE
staff
PUBLISHER P•Scout Media, LLC
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rob Soltis rob@craftpittsburgh.com
MANAGING EDITOR Mike Weiss mike@craftpittsburgh.com
jack straw pilsner
in stores & on tap this may. IF YOU AIN’T DRINKIN’ THIS, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK!
COPY EDITOR Melanie Huber
CONTRIBUTORS Brian Meyer, Beth Kurtz Taylor, Joe Tammariello, Amanda Stein, Mike Weiss, Mindy Heisler-Johnson, Hart Johnson, Asa Foster, Frank Cunniff, Nils Balls, Jack Smith
PHOTOGRAPHERS Tim Burns, Malcolm Frazer, Brian Meyer, Gregor Bender
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
HEADS UP @THE SALOON
Jeff Zoet Visuals
AD SALES sales@craftpittsburgh.com
CREATIVE
1 8 0 5 E A S T C A R S O N S T, P G H .
NEW MENU COMING SOON!
Soltis Design soltisdesign.com
• 42 ROTATING BEERS ON TAP • 60¢ WINGS MONDAY NIGHT
award-winning beer, handcrafted for you! ™ CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
® ALPENGLOW • GOLD MEDAL • GERMAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE • GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL 2014 ® BONE HEAD • SILVER AWARD • IMPERIAL RED ALE • WORLD BEER CUP 2014 ® HEAD HUNTER • SILVER AWARD • AMERICAN STYLE IPA • WORLD BEER CUP 2012 & 2014 ® • • 2010 SILVER MEDAL & 2011 BRONZE MEDAL AMERICAN STYLE IPA GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL ® HOP JUJU • GOLD MEDAL • IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE • GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL 2013 ® TRAIL HEAD • SILVER MEDAL • FRESH HOP ALE • GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL 2013 BLACK KNIGHT • SILVER MEDAL • GERMAN-STYLE SCHWARZBIER ® GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL 2013
FATHEADS.COM 4
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editor’s letter
PCBW, camaraderie, and a wide drinking stance
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nother Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week has come and gone. I went to a lot of great events, met awesome people, drank a ton of good beer, and managed to make it through the week without being served divorce papers. I think I should take this opportunity to officially and publicly thank my wife for holding down the fort while I was “working” late all those nights. Love you. All in all, I thought the week was a great success. The PCBW board did a great job promoting and organizing everything this year. Wholesalers, retailers, reps and bar owners really went above and beyond to put on quality events. The most praise, however, really belongs to you, the craft beer enthusiasts of Pittsburgh. You were out in full force showing your support of craft beer and local businesses. On behalf of everyone involved, we thank you. None of it could happen without you. When I first became involved in the local beer scene, one of the first things I noticed was everyone knew each other and they all seemed to get along. Even if their breweries are a few blocks away from each other, they didn’t seem to be in competition with one other. Rather, allies in this craft beer movement, pushing each other to be their best while always being there to lend a hand. If there is ever any doubt in that statement, just look back at this years PCBW. There were, of course, all the collaboration beers, where local brewers teamed up to create a unique brew just for the week. However, the biggest show of camaraderie during the week had to be the Brewer’s Olympics hosted by Grist House. Not only did nearly every brewer in the city show up for some friendly competition, they came to help out a local brewery in need. You can read more about the event in Brian’s PCBW wrap-up on page 14. In a completely unrelated topic, I was recently told I have a “wide drinking stance.” I really never took notice to how I physically drink beer, have you? Apparently I sit very square to the bar. Raise my elbow straight out to side, nearly clipping the person to the right of me every time I take a drink. See the photo above for a visual. Is that weird? Am I alone in this apparent unorthodox drinking style? Let me know on Twitter, or better yet, upload a photo of your boozing stance to Instagram, #DrinkingStance @CraftPittsburgh.
Rob Soltis
CraftPittsburgh.com
Have fun, drink good beer, and be safe,
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upcoming events
For a full list of upcoming events visit CraftPittsburgh.com and make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. May • 4 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 9 Pittsburgh Brewery Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 9 Pints for Pets @ Peoples Natural Gas Field • 10 1 Year Anniversary @ Hitchhiker Brewing • 11-16 Erie Craft Beer Week • 11-17 American Craft Beer Week • 15-17 Dirt Fest @ Lake Raystown • 16 B eers of the Burgh @ 97 40th Street, Lawrenceville • 31 Rogue Nation Swearing In @ Caliente
June • 1 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 6 PA Microbrewers Fest 2015 @ Penn Brewery • 20 AHA Rally @ The Brew Gentlemen • 20 14th Annual Beer and Gear @ Ohiopyle • 21 The Steel Valley Brew Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 27 G reat European Beerfest @ Sharp Edge Beer Emporium
• 27 F rosty Mugs of Thunder Brewfest @ Somerset Historical Center
July • 6 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 10 Deutschtown Music Fest Pre-party @ James Street Pub • 11 D eutschtown Music Fest @ Deutschtown (Northside) • 11 Art Brew Fundraiser @ Sweetwater Center for the Arts • 17-18 Pittsburgh Summer Beerfest @ Stage AE • 18 Pittsburgh Brewery Tour @ PA Brew Tours
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
August
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• 3 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 8 Millvale Brew Festical @ Riverfront Park, Millvale • 21-23 BrewersFest @ Cooper’s Lake Campground • 22 Pittsburgh Wine Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 22-23 C orks & Kegs Craft Beer Festival @ The Meadows Casino
hand crafted
Beer Cupcakes
A Fare to Remember @ Home and Caliente Pizza & Draft House Written by Beth Kurtz Taylor
We know Pittsburgh is full of creative and independent craftsmen. As it turns out, not all of them brew beer. Drink and shop local.
Jeanne, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, worked in the kitchens of old Pittsburgh restaurant favorites Le Pommier and Café Azure. In 1998 she went out on her own to start a catering business, A Fare to Remember. In 2005 she changed the direction, and name, of her business to offer prepared meals from her storefront on Route 8 in Allison Park. She had already been experimenting with beer and baking when she met Angie. Prior to their first encounter, Jeanne offered an annual St. Patrick’s Day treat: a Guinness cupcake filled with Irish whiskey ganache and topped with Bailey’s Irish Cream icing. Before meeting Angie, Jeanne was not much of a beer drinker. Angie, who enjoys introducing
non-beer drinking women to the wonders of craft brewing, first enticed her to try wheat beers. Jeanne’s palate is now so expanded that she recently found herself enjoying Heady Topper from the Alchemist. Their mutual passion for great beer and delicious food come through in such combinations as: a vanilla cupcake kissed with Southern Tier’s 2X IPA and lemon zest, a chocolate Kasteel Rouge cupcake with cherry icing laced with the lovely Belgian beer, A Deschutes Black Butte Porter cupcake topped with vanilla icing and candied bacon, or a fresh banana cupcake blended with Wells Banana Bread Beer. Jeanne’s culinary training enabled her to develop a cupcake batter that accepts most flavor combinations she imparts into the mixture. She then creates a simple syrup with the beer and incorporates it into a variety of icing recipes. On some rare occasions, the syrup and icing do not meld. Ever-resourceful, Jeanne then has been known to pierce small holes into the cupcake and pour the mixture gently over the top.This increases the moisture and enhances the flavor. All of this attention to detail yields a delicious end product with the essence of quality beer delicately coming through.
Word is spreading about these baked delicacies! A recent Twitter post brought quite a few new customers in looking for the hoppy and malty confections, and Caliente continues to find new ways to introduce them to the public. For Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week the pair concocted a cupcake for Yards Brewery with the brewery’s Chocolate Love Stout in the cake and icing. Oh, and the chocolate icing is further enriched with the addition of Callebaut cocoa. There is a new flavor combo offered weekly at Caliente on their dessert menu and available in”6-packs” to go! Jeanne keeps them in stock at A Fare to Remember @ Home as well. Call ahead to any of the establishments to ensure they are not sold out. Don’t forget either establishment can also provide lunch or dinner before the cupcake dessert! For more information, A Fare to Remember @ Home fareathome.com 724-443-1200 Caliente Pizza and Draft House pizzadrafthouse.com Hampton, 412-682-1414 Allison Park, 412-487-7610
CraftPittsburgh.com
J
eanne Lewis and Angie Bogacz meet once a week. Angie brings along a craft beer selection when she travels along Route 8 from her Allison Park restaurant, Caliente Pizza and Draft House, to Jeanne’s shop, A Fare to Remember @ Home. Over lunch, the ladies put their brains together and dream up decadent, beer-infused cupcakes. Their collaboration results in boozy combinations like Founders RÜBÆUS combined with cocoa or a hoppy beer combined with citrus zest.
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style profile
Saison
Written by Brian Meyer
W
ith the weather warming up, the styles of beer we choose to drink usually tend to change to lighter, more refreshing beers. From lagers to IPAs, the crisp, lighter tastes seem to win out, especially in the summer. This is why many breweries choose this time of year to come out with a very special type of Belgian-style beer. The saison has quite a long history, dating back into the 19th century and possibly even earlier, making it not as old as some Belgian styles, but still quite a bit more history than many others. With history and a mixed pedigree, the saison is a unique style that has a range of tastes that need to be tried to be fully understood.
History of the Saison The saison style dates back to the 1800s and came from the Wallonia part of Belgium. This French-speaking community was mostly farmland, which meant that most of the actions taken here directly related to farming. The saison is a style created out of necessity for two reasons. First, this beer, traditionally brewed near the end of winter, helped to occupy farmers when there wasn’t much farming to be had. Second, it was used to hydrate farmhands during the hot summer months. Remember, this was during a period of time that water could contain diseases and easily kill you, so the lighter, refreshing taste of the saison not only hydrated and quenched thirst, it also saved quite a few lives as a replacement for possibly contaminated water. While today we think of constantly drinking while doing our jobs as a little odd, this was the norm at the time.
Saison Stats
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
When originally brewed in Wallonia there wasn’t much of a saison style to speak of, as this wild farmhouse ale varied quite a bit from farm to farm. Since the beer was brewed in the winter and consumed in the summer, most versions at the time featured a dry flavor profile and a moderate hop and spice presence to help fight infection and keep the beer fresh while fermenting. Along with a somewhat funky wild yeast character, these basic features carry through to today’s versions, and while there is much more definition to the style today, saisons still carry a variety that’s unique and always refreshing.
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Saisons tend to range wildly in terms of color, but most will be pale gold and hazy, at times stretching to very dark. Like other Belgian-style beers you should expect saisons to be moderately to highly carbonated with a rich, foamy head. Most saisons are highly attenuated which means a light body and slightly astringent mouthfeel. Some versions can be full-bodied however, further proving this is a style that can be hard to define. Flavors are highly variable with saisons, but overall hop flavors should be light to moderate with a focus on spiciness, which can come from complex yeast phenolics, added spices, or a combination of both. Characteristics of the grains used are also common, and funky flavors imparted by Brettanomyces or Lactobacillus are common. When it comes to specific stats, saisons are all over the board. A good saison can be as low as 3% ABV and up to 10%, while most stay in the 5-7% ABV range. Color, gravity, bitterness, and overall makeup of a saison all vary too much to list. The saison tends to be a catch-all category for Belgian-style beers that don’t nicely fit into any other category.
Ingredients Much like the stats for a saison, the ingredients can vary pretty dramatically. The key ingredients that tend to be included in most versions include late summer grains and hops with an earthy character and light bitterness. Spices such as orange zest, coriander, and ginger are common, but not necessary. The key ingredient that makes most saisons shine is the use of saison yeast. These funky yeast strains are often sourced from the Wallonia region and should impart an earthy, peppery note to the beer. As with many other Belgian-styles of beer, the yeast often makes or breaks a saison.
Commercial Examples Some readily available commercial examples of saisons include: • Yards Saison • Brewery Ommegang Hennepin • Saison Dupont • Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace • The Brew Gentlemen Nelson Saison • Hitchhiker Brewing Co. Trial By Fire Saison With a wide range of possible flavors, aromas, and appearances, the saison is a style that’s hard to describe but is usually easy to pick out. A good saison pairs extremely well with foods like roasted chicken, bouillabaisse, funky cheeses, and even some spicier dishes. While hard to define, saisons are a style that’s easy to enjoy.
Brian founded and writes for pghcraftbeers.com and craftbeeracademy.com.
SUMME R starts with SI ZZ LING S ELECTION!
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HUNDREDS OF DOMESTIC, IMPORT & CRAFT BEERS NOW AVAILABLE in over 30 Giant Eagle & Market District 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.
the hoppy couple
The Wild Side Pub 5310 Butler Street, PGH 15201 • wildpurveyorsmarket.com
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 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 well-rounded pint of our experiences with Pittsburgh’s local craft beer scene. Say “Cheers!” if you see us out!
Joe
Location
The Full Pint Tap Room is located on Butler Street in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville. It is situated next to Wild Purveyors, and is technically called The Wild Side Pub. Full Pint’s brewery and original tap room are located in North Versailles, PA. Parking is limited to on-street only, which wasn’t too hard to find. Wild Purveyors supplies the food options for the tasting room next door, which we will discuss a little later.
Beer
Full Pint’s beers can be found at a myriad of places throughout the city. Most of you have probably already seen or tried some of their beers at your local pub. After having a few sample sips, I decided to go with the Gus IPA (8% ABV). I ended up having a few of them because they were so good! Being a HUGE Seinfeld fan, I also really enjoy their winter seasonal beer, Festivus, which tastes great in addition to having an awesome name. Between the Gus IPA and all of the sample sips I had, I was very satisfied with their beer offerings. Plenty of styles for everyone.
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
Atmosphere
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The pub set-up inside was fairly typical. There is a bar along the right side wall with plenty of stools, and there are a few tables in the back. At the end of the bar is a doorway that will take you over to Wild Purveyors, a small café and artisanal market. The whole place has a very rustic feel with exposed wood, dried hop vines, and old farming tools on the wall. We were there on a Tuesday evening so it was rather quiet, which allowed us to chat with the staff and learn about their collaboration.
Food
As mentioned, Wild Purveyors partnered with Full Pint in a collaborative effort to bring you locally sourced food and beer - a brilliant match. Once you walk over and place your order, staff from the café next door will bring it over to you on the bar side. Conversely, you could
take a growler from the Full Pint side over to the café side and enjoy your food there. We decided to split the Lawrenceville Cheesesteak sandwich which was made from ground elk and sourced from Snyder County, PA. The sandwich was delicious and tasted very fresh. It was immediately clear that the café takes pride in their food based on the decorative presentation and robust flavor.
Amanda Location
The Wild Side Pub is located on the 5300 block of Butler Street with Hop Farm and Roundabout, two other awesome local breweries, just a few blocks in either direction. There are plenty of other watering holes in the area, too, if you’re up for a Lawrenceville brew tour. While you’re in the area you should also check out some of the unique shops and boutiques on Butler Street (closer to downtown), where you can find handmade soaps and lotions, clothing, jewelry, and even some zombie themed goods!
Beer
Tasting flights and small pours of their beers aren’t offered yet, but they are hoping to have that as an option soon. Until then, they are more than happy to pour you small free samples of all the beers they have to offer. Full Pint had a few Berliner-style sour beers, which I sampled and enjoyed much more than I expected to. I also tasted the Milk Plus (6.5% ABV), a stout brewed with wormwood as a bittering agent – absolutely delicious. Being the horror movie fan that I am, I had to go for a few glasses of their Night of the Living Stout (7.1% ABV), which was barrel aged and tasted much more vibrant than the traditional version.
Atmosphere
Let me paint you a picture: It’s a cool spring Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, you just had a hectic day at work, and are ready to unwind. You and your best friend head to Full Pint Wild Side, open the door, and are welcomed with cozy dim lighting, seats waiting for you at the bar, candles for days, and a friendly staff ready
to fill your taste buds with beer. That was our Tuesday night visit, and it was outstanding. The bartender was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about their beers, and it was really nice to chat with him during our visit. Oh, and the restrooms were out of this world! Two unisex restrooms are in the back of the bar, and while decorated very differently, both were clean, homey, and smelled beautiful from the candles that were lit.
Food
I could pretty much live off of cheese, so clearly we also decided to split the Wild Chevre cheese tray (a special that day). The plating was exquisite, as were the flavors. We chatted for quite some time with the staff from Wild Purveyors who are open and welcoming, and really take pride in their establishment (as they should!). They detailed their pickling process, and being a huge fan of pickles (I’m the kind of weirdo that drinks straight pickle juice), we tried the Pickle Plate, which was unique and delicious. I also picked up some of the best hand salve I’ve ever used next door at the café.
SUMMARY
Our trip to Full Pint/Wild Purveyors was wonderful. We had a great time getting to learn about the brewery and artisanal markets with the help of their outstanding staff. Full Pint Wild Side is definitely one of our new favorite date night spots. It should be one of yours, too, so make sure you stop by for some unique local beer and food! Cheers!
@CraftPittsburgh
We love Instagram.
Below are a few of our favorite accounts. Some are local, some aren’t. Check them out and follow us @CraftPittsburgh @thump3ar Andrew is the Head Brewer and Brewery Manager at Penn. Follow him for great behind the scenes photos and beautifully grungy photos from all over the city.
@louiebaton This dude recreates beer labels with Legos. There isn’t much more to say, it’s pretty amazing.
@butcher_rye Beautiful photos of food and craft cocktails by Pittsburgh’s own Butcher in the Rye.
Run by the owner Scott himself. Showcasing everything from the daily operations of the brewery to what he ate for breakfast.
CraftPittsburgh.com
@eastendbrewing
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the locals
John D. Platt
Written by Beth Kurtz Taylor
johndplatt.com
We don’t need to tell you that most craft beer enthusiasts are pretty cool people. So we thought “why not get to know a few locals that have a good story or you wouldn’t expect to enjoy a good beer?” Do you or someone you know fit the bill? Let us know!
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s of January 1, 2014, John D. Platt had been dealing with Multiple Sclerosis since 2003. He walked with a cane and experienced multiple symptoms of the disease including blurred vision, vertigo, leg spasticity and numbness. With all of these physical issues stacked against him, this fan of craft beer set out to run/walk the equivalent of “52 Marathons in 52 Weeks”. Last May he ran the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon and in October finished the Chicago Marathon. By the end of 2014, he had run 26.2 miles or more 51 out of the 52 weeks, running a total of 1,667 miles.
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
Tell us about your work as the Chairman for the National MS Society PA Government Relations Committee. It is a volunteer position within the national MS society that tries to push forward a lot of the society’s priorities that come from the MS community and make our government officials aware of them. I had the privilege of being inducted into their volunteer hall of fame in 2013. I speak at various events. MS awareness is a huge component because everything is derived from awareness. Last year we came up with, as part of the “52 in 52”, a pre-walk MS event. It was a marathon that another craft beer friend of mine, Neil Jacoby, created. We walked from my house by the airport, we devised a route, and we went the distance of 26.2 miles. I was interviewed by Ken Rice, and that interview aired on KDKA for the next three days. We were able to create the MS awareness that we really wanted to from that event.
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You have two daughters who are 10 and 11. Do they and your wife run as well? My wife was the athlete, she played college basketball. I was never the athlete. Now, we’ve pretty much reversed, I would say. But I’ve convinced her to run the half-marathon for Pittsburgh here coming up. My daughters are slowly picking it up. When did you first get into craft beers? I was a wine convert. There’s something about when you open the bottle, you should finish the bottle, and I kinda got tired of finishing
the bottle myself, given the fact that I started dealing with MS. So pre-MS, I’m a wine drinker, and when my body started to go a little crazy, I wanted less. Then I started picking up craft beer, to be honest, strictly because they came in small bottles. Now, I received a bomber, so I’m back to square one. It’s actually pretty interesting and we should probably put a disclaimer in this, but I always tell my doctor, I swear if I have a beer it helps with my MS leg spasticity (stiffness). It loosens and relaxes the muscles a little bit more. What types of beer do you prefer? What are some of your favorite breweries? I’m a hop head! I have four hop plants in my backyard, about a foot and a half tall. I have a whole hop garden. I infuse hard tack candy with hops. I spread them around to my buddies who brew beer. Whatever is left, I’ll French press them into whatever craft beer I’m having for that night, just to change it up to see exactly what it does to the beer. Stone came out with “Stone Enjoy by 9/21/12” and I remember it vividly. At that point it was brand new. I opened it up and just the fresh hops that were in the beer, it was such a special moment, just the aromas and the flavors, the crispness… They go only to specific markets, so I found myself just tracking down this beer every which way I could. At one point I followed a beer truck in Ohio. I was able to
secure the first 15 releases. It was about the story, it was about the adventure. Who brews your favorite beer locally? Helltown! Idle Hands, the original recipe. It’s craft, they change it slightly sometimes. For me, Helltown represents a couple things, I think they do hoppy beers really well and they experiment a lot. At the same time, it is where my family is from, we have 100 acres over there (Mt. Pleasant). Where do you like to pull up a bar stool and have a craft on draft? It would be Patrick’s Pub in Moon Township. How can our readers find out more about your running journey and contribute toward your work with The MS Society? We’re getting ready to ramp up for the NYC Marathon and have a lot planned. Follow my website closely for more details!
beer geer
Upcycled Growler Totes Growlers are an increasingly popular method for customers to transport beer from their favorite local brewery. Denise Johns, an employee of All Saints Brewing Company in Greensburg, saw the need for a convenient and stylish way to carry these growlers. She didn’t have to look far to find the perfect material: used grain bags.
The Double Growler Totes have a sturdy particle board base and sturdy nylon handles that are triple stitched for added strength. The bags even have a handy pocket which help keep your lids clean and safe in between brewery visits. The totes easily wipe clean inside and out.
A great gift by itself or paired with a growler of a local favorite brew, you can order them on Denise’s website; etsy.com/shop/djsbrewcrafts or at these local breweries: - All Saints - Full Pint - Rivertowne - Voodoo Homestead
CraftPittsburgh.com
The Divided Tote fits two standard 64 oz. growler bottles and keeps them from clinking and clanging. The Undivided Open Tote has plenty of room for the growler plus cooler packs. They also make a great eco-friendly market bag!
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WHAT CRAFT BEER IS ALL ABOUT Written by Brian Meyer
S
ome might say the most wonderful time of the year happens at the end of December, but those people probably haven’t been in in town during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week (PCBW). This annual ten-day celebration of all things craft beer in and around Pittsburgh was held from April 17th through the 26th, and by all accounts was an enormous success. From beer samplings to Oyster Fests to a very interesting Olympics held with only brewers as the competitors, to say there was a lot to do this year would be a pretty big understatement.
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So what makes Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week so amazing? Some might say it’s the beer, and those people would be partially right. Not only is Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week a celebration of our local breweries and brewers, it’s also a time to find those hard-to-get beers from all around the country. Whether Founders KBS or a rarity from Dogfish Head, there were definitely more than just local brews available.While these beers are surely the big draw for most people, just under the surface there’s something even more amazing about PCBW, and that’s the collaboration and camaraderie found only in the craft beer world.
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With PCBW 2015 in the books it’s time to look back and see what made this year amazing. From great beer to even better people, there’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started.
The Events
This year topped the scales at more than 370 events spread over the ten days of PCBW. This doesn’t even count the number of amazing beers still on draft at bars around the city as they clear out anything still left on tap from the week. While it’s impossible to get to every event we wanted to, we did make quite a few. Even at this, there were far too many great events to list here. If you want to see more about the events from this year, check out PittsburghCraftBeerWeek.com
One event worth mentioning here, however, is one of the last events of the week, The Brewer’s Olympics. Hosted by Grist House Brewing in Millvale, brewers from around Pittsburgh and as far away as Zelienople came out to have some fun, drink some beer, and raise money for a great cause. This goes to show how much collaboration is involved in craft beer, especially in Pittsburgh. Speaking of collaboration…
Collaboration
The craft beer industry is odd. Unlike most other businesses, brewers from different breweries consider it completely normal to call each other up to ask for help, get advice, or just hang out and have a beer. In an industry as small as craft beer is, you would expect there to be fierce competition, but the reality couldn’t be farther from this idea. Craft brewers around the city and around the country aren’t afraid to show another brewer what they do and lend a hand whenever necessary. This idea is most easily seen during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week with the ubiquitous Collaboration Beers. Each year brewers from “rival” breweries get together and decide on a beer to make as a team and brew it at one of the breweries with the help of every team member. It’s hard to think about chefs from different restaurants coming together in one kitchen and making a collaboration meal, but this is exactly what Pittsburgh’s brewers do each year. Along with working well with one another, Pittsburgh’s brewers know how to have fun with each other, too. The Brewer’s Olympics was possibly the best example of this idea. Breweries were paired up in six teams and had to work together to perform a variety of breweryspecific events like the sixtel carry and the grain bag race. Everyone had fun, and the idea that each brewer worked for a different business that technically competes with one another was nowhere to be found. This event raised more than $1,000 for Blue Canoe Brewing to rebuild
and support their family and friends in the downtime, which of course includes their employees. Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week is most importantly about educating anyone that will listen in Pittsburgh about how great our beer industry really is. In a world where small breweries can easily go out of business, it’s the support each brewery gives one another that makes this week so special.Without each brewery pulling their own weight and being a part of the community, few would succeed.
Thank You
Without you, we wouldn’t have Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, and we wouldn’t have nearly as many craft breweries - if any at all. From all of us at CraftPittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Craft Beer Alliance (of which I am a board member), we would like to thank you. You’re the reason craft beer in Pittsburgh is as big as it is, and you’ll be the reason there’s a PCBW in 2016 and beyond. Keep supporting your local brewer, your local restaurant, and your local shops. Show them support and not only will you get the best service and product possible, you’ll help that family do what they love. In the end, everyone wins.
Brian Eaton (left) and Kyle Mientkiewicz (right) from Grist House with Blue Canoe owner Bill Zimmer (center)
e s i t r adve
! R E HE
info@craftpittsburgh.com
CraftPittsburgh.com
The biggest part of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week in actuality isn’t the breweries, it isn’t the beer, and it isn’t the 370+ events. The heart of PCBW is you, the constant reader and craft beer fan. By supporting the small guy and making the choice to drink local, you’re giving money to family businesses and helping people live their dreams. Every person who supports craft beer is a vote for the little guy, quality, and most importantly, choice.
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#PCBW
Brewers Olympics - Sixtel Carry @ Grist House Photo by Gregor Bender, Soul Bender Brewing
Imperial Breakfast @ Piper’s Pub
The Freshmen Cask @ The Brew Gentlemen
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
Ali, Jay, Alan, Ryan & Bob - Beer Rep Olympics @ The Summit Photo courtesy of Ali Wyrostek
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PCBW board members; Ryan, Todd, & Brian @ House of 1,000 Beers Photo courtesy of Brian Meyer
Weyerbacher Beer Dinner @ Root 174 Photo by Chris Dayton
CraftPittsburgh.com
Meet the Brewers @ Rivertowne, North Shore Photo courtesy of Brian Meyer
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#PCBW
Q&A at the Blood, Sweat & Beer Premier - Directors Chip & Alexis with Matt & Asa from The Brew Gentlemen @ Row House Cinema
Oyster Fest @ Blue Dust
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
Collaboration Beer @ Caliente
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Brewers Olympics - Dolly Race @ Grist House Photo by Gregor Bender, Soul Bender Brewing
Lagunitas Kick Off Lunch @ Whole Foods, Wexford
CraftPittsburgh.com
Crush the Pin @ Caliente
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Blood Sweat & Beer
REFLECTIONS By Asa Foster
This years Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week kicked off with the local premier of Blood, Sweat, & Beer at Row House Cinema. The feature documentary by Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin follows the journey of two start-ups in the booming craft beer industry. One of which happens to be our friends, The Brew Gentlemen, as they work to open their brewery in the rebounding steel town of Braddock. I recommend anyone interested in the craft beer industry, Pittsburgh, or opening a business of any kind check out Blood, Sweat, & Beer. The film will be available for purchase this spring and it’s available for pre-order at bloodsweatbeermovie.vhx.tv
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
After seeing the film we really wanted to know what it was like to be part of a project like that. So we asked Asa Foster, co-founder of The Brew Gentlemen, if he would like to share some insight on the experience, and he kindly obliged. Below are his thoughts on what the film makers may have missed and what would they find if they came back for a sequel.
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T
here’s something about Braddock that pulls people in. There’s a weird energy I can’t quite describe that attracts a certain type of person. Maybe it’s the layers upon layers of historical significance; maybe it’s the bittersweet beauty of abandonment, urban decay, and the resulting landscape that is created as nature reclaims these spaces. Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin, the team behind the new craft beer documentary Blood, Sweat, and Beer, experienced that energy the first
time they came to Braddock to film the construction of our brewery. We were two recently-graduated kids renovating an electrical supply store to become a production facility and taproom, and between our project and its gritty industrial setting, Chip and Alexis were hooked on Braddock. Over the next few months, we became one of the main story arcs of Blood, Sweat, and Beer. While they worked on the other aspects of the film, Chip and Alexis periodically made the trip out to Braddock from their Maryland home to catch glimpses of the project’s development. These filming days were a whirlwind of interviews and updates as they worked to catalog the progress that had been made since their last visit. The sporadic nature of Chip and Alexis’ visits meant that they were only able to capture a few snapshots of the adventure that Matt and I were living every day. Although they were able to tell our story incredibly well given the nature of their filming schedule, what makes being a part of our team so enjoyable is the day-to-day banter: the off-camera jokes; the constant, comical antagonism; the laughter and the bullshitting; the brainstorming of ridiculous ideas, and the ability to transform those ridiculous ideas into reality. It all seemed too calm. Our renovation was a whirlwind of crumpled Iron City cans, loudly blasted Kanye albums, black steel mill soot, and emotional whiplash. There was the satisfaction of seeing all your
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measurements line up perfectly on the first try, or the frustration that would erupt when it didn’t line up at all, and it was too late in the evening to haul ass to the store for more materials. For all the blood, sweat, and tears we put into our old electrical supply building as we turned it into a brewery over those eighteen months, Blood, Sweat and Beer made us look far more composed than we actually were. If Chip and Alexis were to check back in, they’d encounter a much more lighthearted affair. We’re one year in, and as our company grows and new systems are put in place, Matt and I are able to take more time to appreciate what we’ve built and plan for its future. Even though the film reached its finale during our opening, we’re constantly learning new things, and we’ve got a long road ahead. An update would also mean seeing the taproom full of life. It’s become a community gathering spot - regulars have become friends with one another, familiar faces pop in for each new beer release, and we’ve formed lasting relationships with other local businesses. Every member of the team is more in their element. We’ve become better at communicating, and everyone is on the same page. We’re all rowing the boat in the same direction.
Blood, Sweat & Beer
A film by Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin bloodsweatbeermovie.vhx.tv
The Brew Gentlemen 512 Braddock Avenue, 15104 BrewGentlemen.com
CraftPittsburgh.com
There may never be a sequel to Blood, Sweat and Beer. But however concise, it told the story of our own prequel, and that’s something to be proud of. Now, we’re on to the next chapter.
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BARGE AND IN CHARGE I
Pittsburgh’s DIY Artisans and Corrupt River Law Enforcement Commandeer the Empress and Conscript Philadelphia’s Restorations to Kick Off Craft Beer Week
Written by Frank Cunniff t was a high five that could roll the end credits of a movie, hang in an art museum, or open for Black Flag. Well, Black Flag in the 1980s. Commonwealth Press founder Dan Rugh’s welcome aboard high five was like a handnumbered 1 of 300 autographed printand definitely worth more than a thousand words. Near the top of the pile of those words, “hotwired joyride” was giving “beer tasting” a redfaced, no-holds-barred rowdy tussle for headliner billing.
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
I kept my eye on his elbow and stepped on board the Gateway Clipper’s Empress.
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The 2015 CWP Beer Barge paired two decks of Western Pennsylvania craft breweries with performances from AF Records’ World’s Scariest River Rescue and Philadelphia’s hardest touring, heavy-indie-shoegazeypost-punk rock band, Restorations. For the onlookers cheering from the Roberto Clemente Bridge, it was a live action Venn diagram explaining the correlation between craft beer and independent rock‘n’ roll,a merging of two obsessive circles of beards to tap into a mutual, primal desire to get awesome on a boat. But as excited as I was to see ryes, sours, and big tasting lowabv stouts finally take a victory lap on the rivers after s urging in popularity in 2014, getting awesome was still a few items south on the agenda. My assignment from Craft Pittsburgh was tracking down Dan Zimmerman from Restorations. Dan’s journey as a musician shares plenty of scenery with successful craft brewers in Pennsylvania. His career started in basements and small bars, expanded its territory by winning one fan at a time across the United States, and is now growing to accommodate demanding national and international markets.
For once I was ahead of the freelance writing gameabout eight years and six albums ago, Dan lost his asthma medication after a show at my house and I had to mail it home to him. We were friends, or as Corey Cameron from Commonwealth Press would say, we were “dudes” ever since. Dan went on to lead his own band, record on albums released by Side One Dummy Records, toured Europe and Australia, and still found time to play bars and DIY venues in Pittsburgh at least once a year. He’s a friend to pets great and small, a ringer in darts, and I consider myself blessed every day that he has asthma. While World’s Scariest River Rescue were getting ready to warm up or possibly beat down the crowd swelling on the dance floor, we sat down over a Berliner Weisse sour and 50 Shades of Grain, the sorry youmissed it 2015 Craft Beer Week collaboration rye ale. I told Dan I was going to start his interview with a question about the real life security confiscating his flask when he boarded the boat. For lack of an even better pun, it was a loaded but fair question: we’ll go out for beers, but we used to drink a lot of whiskey when our bands were on tour. “What? (laughs) No, I don’t have my flask. People always say that, that they don’t think I like beer. I really like beer,” Dan assured me. “Beautiful! It’s like softballing a question with a grenade!” I excitedly thought. It was two minutes into the interview, and I already dispelled a major public misconception about the guy. “The dry cider downstairs is really good,” he paused, starting to look especially determined, “it could be drier, but it’s really good.” After
a few different, still well received midinterview sample glasses, Arsenal Cider House’s Picket Bone Dry remained his favorite of the festival. “I just prefer Belgians, saisons ... something funky over a pilsner,” Dan continued, “except for Bitburger, I like how it’s crisp and skunky.” Last May saw Restorations featured at Belgium’s biggest punk festival, Groezrock, in Meerhout. Imagine the Beer Barge stretched over four stages on dry land, drawing thousands of people with a lineup that skews heavily towards the Vans Warped Tour’s late 9 0s glory summers. “When we got there I split a mixed case with Zock from Astpaiit was everything between Duvel and Jupiler, which is like their equivalent of a Budweiser. I mean, it’s still better because you’re in Belgium, but they had it everywhere,” he remembered. More than the bands and beer, the food at Groezrock impressed Dan the most. “They have this catering company there, Just Like Your Mom, and they’re feeding like the whole crowd from this big tent. And it’s all vegan food, and delicious. It was amazing.” This May, Restorations will be returning to Pittsburgh for a one n ight engagement with The Early November at Mr. Smalls Theatre. Now that they’re in fullon rider territory, I had to know what beer, local distribution and state laws be damned, they’d be demanding for their upcoming tour. “We’ve actually had a case of beer on our rider for a while now,” Dan very bashfully admitted, “but it’s written up as, like, a case of that town’s local craft beer. If we’re in Cleveland, I wanna be drinking Great Lakes. If we’re here, I don’t know man, all these places are fine.” That’s right, even their rider is classy, demanding, and loose all at oncehow apropos.
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“You said you wanted to talk about differences in bar and venue cultures? Like, between here and overseas?” he asked, remembering my phone call pitching the story. At the time, I was thinking more of the tour he was on that was notably, or infamously, chronicled in the zine Dog Days. I hazily remembered as least one or two tall touring tales about Czech squats, but not enough to be a reliable source. It didn’t matter. Dan started talking about Australia, and in my experience, firsthand accounts from that
Dan from Restorations
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continent are worth sitting through. Especially when they’re delivered by a guy who came home with a “drop bear” tattoo. Go ahead and take a moment to search “drop bear” on the closest device with wireless internet. “Ben (Pierce, of Restorations) and I started calling it ‘Aussie Rules’ when we’d order drinks at bars on that tour. First, it’s really expensive to drink in Australia. Then, no matter what we’d ask for, every time they’d bring you something different that you didn’t order,” he claimed. Without prompting, Ben Pierce chanced by our table and he and Dan fell seamlessly into a long-ride-in-the-van-vaudeville-style recreation of Aussie Rules ordering, complete with competing cups of mystery beers and increasingly ridiculous cocktails. Later, as Restorations’ amplifiers growled and squealed to life, the significance of Aussie Rules ordering jostled into immediate and stark focus for me.You can’t return drinks to the bar and be on an adventure. Dan and Ben’s gambles in drinking down under, to them, were part of an adventure they shared with their friends. Their story could be just another snide Yelp review, but instead these guys from Pennsylvania figured out how to play to the crowd and made it what they wanted. Adventure works for Restorations, and if you ask the breweries on board, people who staked their livelihoods on their art and trade, it’s the only thing that works for local craft brewing.
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
Get tickets early next year, get on the boat, and raise a glass to uncharted waters.
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brewer sit-down
Steve Ilnicki
Spoonwood Brewing Company • Bethel Park FAVORITE PITTSBURGH BAR? D’s in Regent Square, I started cutting my teeth on craft beers there in the early 2000’s. IF YOU WEREN’T BREWING? Weeping. I love what I do and at this point, having had this opportunity, I can’t imagine doing anything else. WHAT’S YOUR DAILY CARRY?
Each issue we sit down with a local professional brewer and ask them the same 11 questions. Our goal is to have an interesting mix of characters with varying backgrounds and experience. This issue we talk with Steve Ilnicki, Head Brewer and Partner at Spoonwood Brewing Company. AGE? 39 HOMETOWN? Pittsburgh, I was born in McKees Rocks and now live in Regent Square. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BREWING? I got my first five gallon bucket kit around 1998 and I’ve been brewing professionally for about three and a half years. FIRST CRAFT BEER YOU DRANK? I drank my fair share of Saranac and Boston Larger. Hop Devil was probably my first foray into something different and hoppy.
IF YOU WERE TO BUY A CASE OF BEER RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I always buy a variety pack. I love Tröegs and I love Victory so it would be a pretty easy pick. GUILTY BEER PLEASURE? Sam Adams, they’ve soured a bit amongst the craft crowd but I still think they put out solid stuff. FAVORITE MUSIC TO BREW TO? When I’m mashing in it has to be something aggressive and heavy. I Probably listen to Coheed Cambria more than anyone else, they inspired my double IPA Good-Eye Sniper.
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BACKGROUND? After leaving the mortgage industry I worked parttime at Rock Bottom while completing The American Brewers Guild Program. That progressed into a deeper involvement over the course of three years. I left there at the end of May 2014 to start Spoonwood and by December I had my first brew in the tanks.
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have you tried? Written by Hart Johnson, photo by Tim Burns
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CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
1. Brooklyn | ½ Ale
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2. Ballast Point | Habanero Sculpin
3.4% - Session Saison - brooklynbrewery.com
7% - IPA with Habanero Peppers - ballastpoint.com
I remember pleading with a beer importer a decade ago to have them bring over Dupont Biolégère, this beautiful Belgian saison that weighs in at a svelt 3.5% ABV. Since EXTREME BEER was in full swing at the moment, I was pretty much laughed at. Well, take this Belgium, we’re gonna brew our own session saisons! And not have to pay outlandish prices for them, either! USA USA USA! Seriously, though -- year round available, reasonably priced, grass cutting beer that doesn’t need a billion dollar Super Bowl ad campaign? Dig it. Hazy pale yellow, maybe a hint darker than lemonade, with fizzy stark white foam. Bright saison-y aromas of white pepper, grapefruit zest, proofing dough, Juicy Fruit gum and little bit of musty basement.The internet tells me Amarillo, Simcoe & Sorachi Ace hops are in this here glass. My mouth confirms that this here glass of beer is quite hoppy. Fairly bitter and dry, lemon pith, under ripe mango. Highly carbonated and very light bodied. Tough beer to review, this isn’t a beer to contemplate the why and how of what Brooklyn has done. This is a beer to have while sitting on a deck with a few friends contemplating why and how Wade Boggs drank 107 beers on a cross country flight.
In the long long ago, there was a mythical Northstar IPA, a homebrew recipe that went on to become Sculpin. And it was delicious. Soft bitterness, bright hop flavor and aroma set it apart from the sorta sweet and astringently bitter IPAs of the day. And then Ballast Point took the whole idea of Sculpin and started playing. One-off versions would appear at the brewery. Coffee, lemon, mango, peach, grapefruit, habanero, ghost pepper. Two of the experiments made the leap to mass market, grapefruit & habanero. Grapefruit is a no-brainer, add citrus to a citrusy IPA. Habanero is a bit more of an adventure. Well, but not really, there’s that mango hop aroma, hey, that really compliments the fiery scorched pepper on the nose, doesn’t it? And hey, look, it still tastes like an IPA, what’s the big deal? And then the heat comes in and sets 1000 little fires on your tongue. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but it is a fatigue on the palate. The first sip is the best, everything after is chasing the fleeting citrus & tropical fruit hop note you thought you could taste while your palate is gently set on fire.
Recommended if you like: Dupont Biolégère,Victory Swing Saison, Sly Fox Grisette, Poperings Hommelbier, Hitchhiker Soles Saison
Recommended if you like: Ithaca Tastes Like Burning Ralph Wiggum’s Revenge, Green Flash Double Stout with Serrano Chilis, New Holland el Mole Ocho, Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers
3. Alpine | Duet
7% - IPA - alpinebeerco.com In one of the coolest, weirdest things to happen in the beer world, Green Flash Brewing bought the tiny little Alpine Ales last November. Southern California neckbeards and beer hoarders lost their mind because Green Flash intends to bring the glory of Alpine to the East Coast.And that’s fucking awesome. Alpine makes awesome beer. Green Flash makes awesome beer. So Green Flash is gonna brew Alpine and get it to me fresh and reasonably priced, as opposed to having to skirt a few laws and get some bottles thrown at you from a FedEx driver. I’m into it. Duet is their classic IPA brewed with Simcoe & Amarillo hops. Bright golden orange in color with orange peel, wet grass, and pineapple aromas. This is a celebration of hop flavors, tangelo, mango, baby aspirin, and kiwi. In the span of one year, this beer went from unobtainium to fresh and tasty in my belly. Live it up, friends. Recommended if you like: Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter,Voodoo Good Vibes, Fat Heads Head Hunter, Grist House Fire on the Hill IPA
4. F lying Monkeys | The Matador 2.0 El Toro Bravo 10.1% - Imperial Dark Rye Ale Aged on Spanish Cedar theflyingmonkeys.ca
This beer is the “It’s Complicated” Facebook status of beer. Ontario, Canada-based brewery with a penchant for cartoony Latino culture? Matador Version 1.0 was a completely different style? Twitter feed full of Untappd retweets? Brewery website has been “under construction” for how long? The underside of the bottle cap reads “Without ME, it’s just AWESO”? I fear this beer comes with baggage. You’re either going to have to deal with this 1-on-1 well into the wee hours of the morning or share it with a bunch of your friends. Complicated. A rather substantial brown ale, 10.1% ABV. Cedar and rye. As promised. Huge cedar aroma swimming atop caramel apples and brown sugar. There’s some talk on the label about hops but this isn’t about hops at all, this is about malt. And cedar. Holy crap, is it about the cedar. Every sip starts with the spicy cedar notes, rolls over into chewy, sticky, dark-rye-malt-toffee-land for a quick visit, and then wipes the palate clean with woody bitterness. I mean, this is a tasty beverage, but seriously, it’s complicated.
be the ultimate crossover beer if you’re stuck on certain wheat based BlueTopEnkugels. Recommended if you like: Bells Oberon, Elysian Superfuzz, Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’, Roundabout Motueka Wheat
6. Otter Creek | Backseat Berner 7% - IPA - ottercreekbrewing.com
There’s a lot of hints and nods from the craft brewing world that they’re hip to marijuana reform. Then there’s making a VW Bus your unofficial mascot, redesigning and rebadging every beer in your lineup to be a vague Cheech and Chong reference & just plain old putting “Load up your buds and partake…” right on the label. We get it Otter Creek, we all get it. And hey, I’m all for ditching a lineup of Copper Ale, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Red Ale and Raspberry Brown Ale in favor of delicious hop forward ales. This here IPA pours a hazy orange with some protein breakout. What’s protein breakout you say? Loop up that there website up there and find the Backseat Berner page, they have a nice little educational bit about it. See, now you learned something. Bright hops on the nose, but not your usual citrus and pine silliness. Peaches, apricot, cantaloupe, and fresh cut grass. Ok, maybe a little bit of orange marmalade in there. Flavor walks a fine line between old school high bitterness and new school juicy hop character, like a passionfruit smoothie spiked with grapefruit juice. Recommended if you like: Hop Farm IPA, Green Flash Soul Style IPA, Port Wipeout IPA, He’Brew Hop Manna IPA, Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA Follow Hart on Twitter, not Twiiter. @MoarHops
Recommended if you you like: Shipyard Barleywine, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Brooklyn Monster Ale
5. G rist House/Hop Farm/Hitchhiker | For Wheat’s Sake
Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week is behind us, and it took eight collaborative beers with it. Round of applause for every brewery involved this year, standout job all around.The Millvale/Lawrenceville/Mt. Lebanon contingent entered the ring this year with a Wheat IPA brewed with some choice El Dorado, Simcoe & Mosaic hops, and a weird yeast from Vermont. The yeast doesn’t flocculate very well. Like, at all. So that, coupled with using wheat (which contributes a cloudiness), and being an unfiltered beer, what we have here looks like a glass of orange juice. Opaque would be a way to describe it. Should’ve called it Mostly Clahdy With A Chance of Afternoon Shahrers. Some bright fruity hop notes on aroma, papaya, mango, and grainy wheat. Wheat is at the forefront here, not that banana ester everyone thinks is wheat, sweet chewy and soft wheat. The tropical fruit hop note is there, but it’s contributing nothing but juicy notes, bitterness is fleeting with a trace note of oily lemon peel. Might
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6.5% - IPA - pittsburghcraftbeerweek.com/2015-collaboration-beers
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home brewing Written by Jack Smith, photo by Malcolm Frazer
GRINNING LIKE THE CAT THAT GOT THE
CREAM ALE
Spring, what a scene! The grass is finally growing. Trees are turning green! Dang it, now the lawn needs mowing.
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
But that’s OK. You’re a craft beer lover. You probably have half a dozen kinds of “lawn mower beer” to help you get through an afternoon of yard work. Pale ale. Saison. Wheat beer. Session IPA. All fantastic. But what if Joe next door is outside and you want to offer him a cold one - but he doesn’t like any of that... funny beer? Why, give him a big glass of your homemade cream ale, of course!
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Pale yellow, crisp, and smooth with a low bitterness, a well-brewed cream ale pleases all. The beer aficionado with her trained palate will love seeking out the subtle intricacies of the delicate hops and light malt & adjunct flavors, while the lack of the more assertive flavors found in many craft beer styles makes cream ale an easy sipper for those who prefer to buy their suds in “30 racks.” Moreover, sharing a well-crafted, home-brewed example of a very approachable brew can open doors to the wide world of craft beer styles. When asked recently why he was brewing a batch of cream ale,WTAE Meteorologist and avid homebrewer
Ray Petelin (@Ray_WTAE) told me,“It’s a great way to introduce craft beer to your friends who only drink the mass produced varieties of beer. Sort of a stepping stone to experiencing beer, rather than just drinking it. Once they realize beer has taste (and tastes), it opens the door to try new things. It’s also an easy-drinking beer for the upcoming warmer months.” See? Ray gets it. Having a home-brewed cream ale on hand helps you get through to your macro-drinking friends, family, & neighbors without pushing the limits of what they’ll accept in a beer. It also lets you show that your homebrew is good. Not “trust me, you would like this if you liked this kind of beer” good, but rather “trust me, you’ll like this” good. Me? I love cream ale because sometimes I just want a dang beer. Although cream ale is a rather simple beer style, you do have some options when formulating a recipe as long as you stick to these guidelines: 1.050 OG (plus or minus 5-10), 75-85% base malt, 15-25% adjunct, under 20 IBUs. You can use any adjunct you like - corn sugar, table sugar, rice sugar, brewer’s rice, flaked maize - as long as it makes up 15-25% of the fermentable sugar to keep the body light and the finish dry. I like maize for the sweet, summery corn flavor it brings to the party. If you don’t like corn flavor in beer, go with another adjunct. Use any hops you like. I prefer German style hops in this
beer because I see it as a take on the German Pilsner style made with grain readily available to US brewers 85 years ago. Cascade, Willamette, Nugget, Goldings, Saaz, any of those would work if you prefer.
ability to perform a multi-step mash, go with as single Infusion @ 149 degrees for 75 min.
Batch Size: 5.25 gal.
The purpose of this mash schedule is to (a) break down some of the gummy protein in the 6-row malt and (b) create a highly attenuated wort that leads to a crisp, dry beer. We use 6-row for its high diastatic power, meaning it has more starch-cleaving enzymes than 2-row to make up for the flaked maize having no such enzymes. We then use a protein rest (122F) because the 6-row has more beta-glucans than 2-row. The protein rest breaks some of that down. If I’m honest, using all 2-row will work just fine and you can skip the protein rest. 6-row just provides a bit more of that old-timey American flavor. If you can do a step mash, the 140 and 150 rests work together to create a complex, yet fermentable wort. A single step at 149 will yield a similarly fermentable wort, albeit with slightly less body.
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Yeast/Fermentation
OG: 1.050
Chico yeast (Wyeast 1056, WLP001, Safale US05). You can use a Kolsch yeast if you want, but you’ll likely end up with more fruity esters than you want in what should be a very clean, crisp, straightforward beer. Make a starter to build up about 185 billion cells and aerate/oxygenate
“Get the Money” C.R.E.A.M. Ale
FG: 1.010 ABV: 5.25% IBU: 17 Difficulty: M oderate (all-grain, step mash), or Easy (extract or all-grain, singleinfusion mash) *Assuming 70% brew house efficiency
4 lbs. US 6-row pale malt 4 lbs. US 2-row pale malt 8 oz. acid malt 2.5 lbs. flaked maize *Extract Brewers: Replace the 8 lbs. of base malt (6-row and 2-row) with 5 lb. dry pilsner malt extract. Omit the acid malt. Replace flaked maize with 1.5 lb. of corn sugar. Corn sugar does not provide the sweet corn flavor that all-grain brewers can get from flaked maize, but it does allow for the lighter body and crisp finish this beer requires. By using pilsner malt extract you will get a sweeter, grainer flavor than using plain old light DME.
RIBUTING IST
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MPANY CO
Grainbill
VECENIE D
If you are brewing the all-grain recipe, note that the complete lack of any higher-kilned malt will result in a mash pH too high for the beer to taste right. If you typically use acid to lower mash pH, plan to employ your favorite technique here (and omit the acid malt from the recipe). If you prefer not to measure out acid additions, a good starting point is to use about 3% acid malt as I have in this recipe. This should get the pH into an acceptable range of 5.4-5.6 at room temperature.
th
1933
SI
NN N II V V EE RR SS AA RR YY AA N
well prior to pitching. Ferment cool, around 65F. I like to slowly ramp to about 70F at a rate of 1F every 12 hours once fermentation begins to slow (around day 4-5) and hold it at 70 for a week or two prior to packaging. This ensures a complete fermentation devoid of off flavors such as diacetyl and acetaldehyde. At this point package as you normally do. It’s fine when fresh, but if you lager it for a couple months it really comes into its own.
Suggested Pairings This beer pairs great with fresh cut grass, newly tilled gardens, and the faint whiff of two-stroke engine exhaust from a string trimmer. As for food, it goes with anything, really, but it’s truly in its element when paired with unassuming, easygoing food like burgers & dogs, barbecued ribs or brisket, street food such as a falafel sandwich or gyros, or game-time snacks like chips, pretzels, or beer nuts. They’re called beer nuts for a reason, and this is the kind of beer they were made for. Cheers! A homebrewer since 2002, Jack Smith is a Certified BJCP Judge, president of TRASH, and an active member of TRUB. Follow him on Twitter @whenyeastattack
VECENIE DISTRIBUTING CO. 140 North Avenue, Millvale, PA 15209
412.821.4618 beersince1933.com
2013
NCE 1933
Western Pennsylvania’s Premier Wholesaler of Regional, Craft, Imported Beers and Specialty Sodas
Wolaver’s
Organic
Hops 28 grams Hallertauer (4.1% AA) @ 60 minutes for roughly 17 IBUs
Mash Multiple-step temperature mash with rests at 122F for 15 minutes, 140F for 30 minutes, and 150F for 40 minutes, then ramp to 168F for a mash-out before sparging. If you do not have the
CraftPittsburgh.com
14 grams Tettnang (4.5% AA) @ 5 minutes for a touch of spicy hop flavor
NEW BREWS
Zesty notes of orange and stone fruit arise against a crisp malt backdrop in this West Coast pale ale featuring a new hop varietal
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cooking with beer Written by Mindy Heisler-Johnson Warm up the pineapple juice, either on the stove or in the microwave. Add the sugar and spices and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. When dissolved, put in the roaster bag and add the cider. Squeeze it shut and shake it all together. Open up your pork, rinse, and get into the bag with the brine. Squeeze out all the air and seal shut TIGHT so the pork is swimming in brine. At this point it will need to be flipped around at least once a day and kept cold until you are ready to cook it. I put it in an ice chest/ cooler in a plastic bin so the melting ice can’t get into the brine (and to keep my fridge not under pork attack for a week).
DAY OF
Pork. Cider. BBQ. P
robably one of my most favorite combinations of three words in the English language during the warm months. Well, hell, during the not-so-warm months, too, it’s just far more difficult to pull off. Pork on the smoker is a favorite at my house in many forms; for this recipe I use either a whole bone-in butt or shoulder. To get a whole one, ask for it from the butcher - they have them in the back usually. My personal preference is shoulder, but it isn’t always so easy to find, and butt is just as delicious. You can also go boneless, but in this professional’s opinion, when given the opportunity to roast anything on its bones, you do so because it’s just the right thing to do. This one requires some planning ahead, but on a 1-10 difficulty scale it ranks around a 2 (so easy, a vegetarian could do it!). I usually get this into brine on Tuesday or Wednesday with the plan of firing up the smoker on Sunday morning. You are staring down the barrel of a 10 - 12 hour cook time, but it is worth every delicious minute you wait, I promise. Don’t have a smoker? Not really a big deal, this is also totally delicious slow-roasted in a low oven. I will give instructions for both. Not having a smoker does not mean you should be deprived of this delicious pork. Now, what to do with all of this delicious pork? We eat it with a tangy vinegar sauce and all the BBQ fixin’s I make the day of. Leftovers turn into carnitas tacos, pulled pork sandwiches, smoked pork hash…mmmmm…leftovers. The pork can brine for up to six days, completely submerged in the brine. This is a large hunk of meat, so I brine in a turkey roaster bag to make sure it is completely immersed in brine and in an ice chest cooler in my kitchen, so my fridge isn’t dominated by brining pork for a week. Works out well and I change the ice out as necessary. I prefer a drier cider, so I used Woodchuck Granny Smith Cider: it’s not as sweet with a more pronounced sour apple flavor that is perfect with the pork.
Hard Cider Smoked Pulled Pork
CraftPittsburgh | Issue 19
PREP
30
1 turkey roaster bag 8-10 lbs. pork shoulder or butt 81 2-oz.- bottles Woodchuck Granny Smith Cider 3 cups pineapple juice 2 cups dark brown sugar 3 Tbsp. ground ginger 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper ¼ cup kosher salt 3 Tbsp. cracked black peppercorns
Remove the pork from the brine, rinse, and pat dry. Discard the brine. There is nothing that can be done with that mess. I promise.You will need to either fire up your smoker or grill as you would normally do for a low & slow BBQ or, in lieu of that, heat oven to 250 degrees and set up a roasting pan with a drain rack in the bottom for the pork. Next step is giving it a sticky-spicy dry rub that will caramelize like whoa while the pork cooks. The nice thing about dry rubs? Totally flexible. Adjust your spiciness as up or down as you like, just don’t mess with the sugar/salt ratio for optimal results!
Spice Rub ½ cup dark brown sugar 3 Tbsp. kosher salt 1 Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper 2 Tbsp. ground mustard powder 1 Tbsp. ancho chili powder 2 Tbsp. smoked paprika 2 tsp. cayenne pepper (+/- to taste) 1 Tbsp. ground ginger 1 Tbsp. ground cumin Mix the rub together, evenly coat the pork in it, and get it on to the smoker/BBQ or into the oven. Let it go for 10 hours minimum, without messing with it, just let it do its thing. Check your temp on the BBQ periodically, keeping it in the 225-250 range. You’ll see a gorgeous crust caramelizing in the last couple of hours. The pork is done when it easily pulls apart. Let it rest for a good half hour before pulling it off the bone, this lets it cool some to make it easier to handle, but also lets the meat juices pull back in for a juicier pulled pork. It’s now up to you what you do with it...my suggestion is to eat it with a cold cider as soon as you can!