cooking with beer • homebrewing • upcoming events • the hoppy couple • have you tried...
table of contents editor’s notes upcoming events facebook beer group bingo pittsburgh brewery guide sneak peek mbda - defenders of the distributors beer business chronicles - pete kurzwec hoppy couple - washington county brewing
pin pals - sustainability under construction - lincoln avenue brewery plates & pints - cinderlands have you tried ... brewer sit-down - brad primozic home brewing - mexican lager cooking with beer - dark rum blondies
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5. 6. 9. 11. 15. 18. 22. 26. 20. 32. 36. 40. 42. 44.
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PUBLISHER
P•Scout Media, LLC
head hunter
now in 6packs
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Rob Soltis rob@craftpittsburgh.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Mike Weiss mike@craftpittsburgh.com
COPY EDITOR
Jason Cercone, Nathan Stimmel
SALES DIRECTOR
Tom Garzarelli tom@craftpittsburgh.com
CONTRIBUTORS Joe Tammariello, Brian Conway, Amanda Stein, Mindy Heisler-Johnson, Hart Johnson, Jack Smith, Carl Samuels, Jason Cercone, Tom Marshall
PHOTOGRAPHERS Jeff Zoet, Buzzy Torek
CREATIVE
Soltis Design soltisdesign.com
COVER PHOTO
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Jeff Zoet
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FOR INFORMATION ON CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL CONTENT OR PLACING DISPLAY ADVERTISING PLEASE CONTACT US AT INFO@CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM
one of america’s most award-winning breweries!
Craft Pittsburgh is issued bi-monthly by P•Scout Media, LLC for readers of legal drinking age. All information and materials in this magazine, individually and collectively, are provided for informational purposes. The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of P•Scout Media, LLC., nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without expressed written permission from the publisher. Advertisements are subject to the approval of P•Scout Media, LLC. P•Scout Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertisers assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads.
It's a well-known fact that nothing pairs with beer and the outdoors better than music. Thanks to the advent of cheap, Bluetooth, waterproof speakers, it's now possible to take your tunes pretty much anywhere. With that in mind, we asked our Managing Editor and professional day drinker Mike Weiss if he'd be interested in putting together an official CraftPittsburgh 2018 Summer Mixtape. Turns out he already made one back in February so it "would be ready to go when the weather broke." He's apparently in some kind of obscure folk/alt country/bluegrass phase, and to no one's surprise, most of the songs are about drinking. If that sounds like something you'd be into, we made Mike's playlist available on Apple Music. 1) Trampled By Turtles — Wait So Long 2) Tyler Childers — Charleston Girl (live) 3) Colter Wall — Sleeping on the Blacktop 4) Turnpike Troubadours — Before the Devil Knows We're Dead 5) Nikki Lane — Right Time 6) Lost Dog Street Band — Carry On 7) The Devil Makes Three — Old Number 7 8) Jesse Stewart — Cold Beer (live) 9) Whitey Morgan and the 78's — Me and the Whiskey 10) Fifth on the Floor — Distant Memory Lane
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editor’s notes
crazy good
pub grub
11) Turnpike Troubadours — The Mercury 12) Audra Mae & The Almighty Sound — Jebidiah Moonshine's Friday Night Shack Party
NOW IN 6-PACKS!
13) Cumberland Gap — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 14) Punch Brothers — Rye Whiskey 15) Uncle Lucius — Keep the Wolves Away 16) Jawbreaker — Kiss the Bottle 17) Steve Earle — The Mountain 18) Deer Tick — Let's All Go To The Bar 19) Hank III — Straight to Hell 20) Diamond Rugs — Gimme a Beer 21) Monsters of Folk — Man Named Truth 22) John Moreland — Hang Me in the Tulsa Count Stars 23) Benjamin Tod — Using Again 24) Chris Stapleton — Midnight Train to Memphis Cheers,
1805 E. CARSON ST. PITTSBURGH PA, 15203
CALL FOR TAKEOUT 412.431.7433 Rob Soltis
FATHEADS.COM
upcoming events
Visit CraftPittsburgh.com/calendar for the most comprehensive and up-to-date list of local beer events. July • 13-14 PGH Summer Beerfest @ Stage AE • 13-14 Deutschtown Music Festival @ The North Side • 13 Grand Opening @ Spring Hill Brewing • 14 Good Vibes Beer Fest @ Voodoo Compound, Meadville • 19 Babes & Brews @ Eleventh Hour • 20 Bar Climb @ Threadbare Cider • 21 Brews & Bumpers @ Helicon Brewing • 21 Brawl Under The Bridge 4 @ Homestead Grays Bridge • 27-29 13th Annual Kecksburg UFO Festival @ Kecksburg • 28 Beer on the Bay @ Liberty Park, Erie • 29 Pups and Pints @ Grist House
August • 4 BikePGH Fundraiser @ Grist House • 4 North Country BrewFest @ North Country Brewing • 4 Rhythm and BREWS @ Tall Trails Amplitheatre • 4 Craft Brew Fest @ Leechburg Volunteer Fire Company • 11 Fresh Fest @ Threadbare Ciderhouse • 11 12th Annual Millvale Brew Fest @ Millvale Park • 11 The All-Star Craft Beer Festival @ PNC Park • 17-18 Camp Tröegs @ North Park • 25 Summer Recess Food & Music Festival @ Spirit
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
September
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• 4 Rare Tapping: Epic Common Interests @ Mindful Brewing • 15 Steel City Big Pour 12 @ Construction Junction • 21-23 & 28-30 Oktoberfest @ Penn Brewery • 21-29 Greensburg Craft Beer Week @ Greensburg • 27 OctChamberfest @ Quinn Brewing • 30 Brewers Double Dare @ All Saints Brewing
October • 12-20 Pittsburgh Libations Week @ Pittsburgh • 20 Brewtal Beer Fest @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Camp Trรถegs at North Park
Friday August 17th-Saturday August 18th Find your way to this two-day adult day camp featuring: - Zip lines & tree top adventures - Kayaking & biking - Cool camper swag
- Geo-caching - Beer from Trรถegs Independent Brewing - Food by: Dad's BBQ, Blue Sparrow, & Leona's Ice Cream
Single-day options are available and space is limited so register today!
CraftPittsburgh.com
troegs.com/northparkcamp
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CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Kids At Breweries
"Craft Beer is Dead."
Dogs at Breweries
Epic Share
Storing Beer Upside Down
(photo of empty bottles on kitchen counter)
Deleted Meme
Attempted Coup
#IMWTK
"They're Overrated."
Out of Focus Photo
"How Long's the Line at...?"
Admin Issued Warning
"Meh."
Vacation Beer Photo
Line Cutting "Where Should I or Drink While "Beer Mail!" Visiting...?" "Check Out My Haul!"
Original Concept by: The "As is Tradition" crew.
Mystery Beer
(just picture, no details)
"Ugh, Do You Know Who Owns Them?"
Locked Post
"My Homebrew is Better."
Dirty Lines CraftPittsburgh.com
Dirty Glass
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Nu Skool IPA, brimming with tropical citrus and American hops. 8 Days A Week, a refreshing and infinitely-drinkable blonde ale.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Be Overpack’d for Everywhere this summer with a 15-can variety pack featuring five Southern Tier favorites.
STBCBEER.COM | BREWED & CANNED BY SOUTHERN TIER BREWING COMPANY | LAKEWOOD, NEW YORK | VISIT OUR PITTSBURGH TAPROOM at 316 NORTH SHORE DRIVE 10
Pittsburgh Brewers Guild to Launch Brewery Guide and Interactive Website August 24. Pittsburgh’s beer scene has grown by leaps and bounds in the last half decade. Our region now boasts over 50 independent breweries producing quality beer with more in planning. Allegheny County alone is home to over 30, which represents the highest brewery population of any county across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Growth has been exceptional and this meteoric rise in popularity means brand and product awareness are at an all-time high and innovative, tasty liquid is flowing from one side of Pittsburgh to the other. Words Jason Cercone
Despite the uprising, Pittsburgh’s brewing community refuses to get complacent. As brewers continue to push the envelope and take their
talents at the brew kettle to new levels, those responsible for producing the liquid we love decided the time was right to unify their efforts with hopes of amplifying our region’s overall presence as a true worldclass craft beer destination. This decision led to the formation of the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild, a group comprised of 30 tightly knit breweries throughout Allegheny County, each of them unique in their own way. Headed by Brian Eaton of Grist House Craft Brewery and Matt McMahon of Eleventh Hour Brewing Company as Vice Chairman, the mission of the PBG is to provide a strong, united voice for independent craft breweries in Allegheny County. It aims at bettering the position of local craft breweries as it relates to promotion, legislation, representation, and taxation. To celebrate the official launch of the Pittsburgh Brewery Guide and website, the PBG will be hosting a special release party on Friday, August 24th from 6-10pm on the lawn at Nova Place. Tickets are $55 per person and will include a special edition version of the Pittsburgh Brewery Guide, a souvenir tasting glass, samples of 10 exclusive collaboration beers, and an opportunity to interact with the brewers. In addition, three food trucks and a DJ will be on hand to round out the extravaganza with additional Pittsburgh Brewery Guide swag available for purchase.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
The collaboration beers are a show of community and support amongst the Guild’s members. Each exclusive beer will be produced by three breweries working collectively. You’ll be able to experience these beers
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at the release party, then at each Pittsburgh Brewers Guild member brewery thereafter. The 10 host breweries where the collaborations will unfold include Dancing Gnome, East End, Eleventh Hour, Grist House, Helicon, Hitchhiker, Hop Farm, Spoonwood, and Strange Roots. An interactive website will also be released that will run parallel with the printed guide and include additional information about each brewery. The key feature of the website will be a virtual map that allows users to create a personalized brewery tour across the city. The map will optimize the best route available to its user and provide information for driving, biking, ride sharing, or walking to each destination efficiently. Your personally designed brewery tour can be shared and saved by sending it to a user’s phone or email address. The website (pghbreweryguide.com) will give beer enthusiasts more in-depth access to the 30 PBG members than they’ve ever had before and will serve as the ultimate showcase of Allegheny County’s continued craft beer growth and evolution.
Tickets to the Pittsburgh Brewery Guide Release Party will go on sale Wednesday, July 25th at 12:00pm. Please visit pghbreweryguide.com or the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild Facebook page for more information about tickets.
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CraftPittsburgh.com
MBDA DEFENDERS OF THE
DISTRIBUTOR Words & Photo Carl Samuels
advocacy of Act 166, which gave PA distributors total package reform and allowed them to sell singles, six-packs, growlers, and crowlers. They also vehemently oppose bills and legislation that would allow grocery and convenience stores to cross into distributor territory, which includes alcohol sales over 192 ounces or the simultaneous sale of multiple 12-packs. Such changes would weaken the ability of distributors to provide their low prices and broad selections to the consumer.
What is the MBDA?
After two days of beer and banquets, representatives from distributors across the state convened on Sunday morning in the main lodge beneath the snowless slopes of Seven Springs to discuss general business and legislative updates. Several panel speakers were scheduled for the morning business session and these included John Bodnovich, executive director of American Beverage Licensees; Warren Scheidt, owner of Cork Liquors in Columbus, IN; and Ed Mulvihill, owner of Peco’s Liquor Store in Wilmington, DE.
The Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania is a trade organization comprised of over 350 members from across the state. Their mission is to provide one unified voice for distributors and wholesalers by advocating for appropriate legislature and reforms, ensuring these institutions remain autonomous. They are the political voice, advancing the goals and welfare of businesses and their consumers by providing lobbying, trade, and public relations services. Led by president Frank Pistella of Pistella Beer Distributor here in the Steel City, the organization has intensely fought for and against various legislative reforms that impact the current retail scene of the Pennsylvania beer industry. Their accomplishments include: the passing of legislation to allow on-premise beer tastings; extending hours of operation to include Sundays so you can get your suds after Mass; continued opposition of an increase in the excise tax on beer; allowing the sale of 12-packs so you can scratch that import itch without gouging your wallet; and leading the
Distributors have always offered beer drinkers what they want: beer, reasonably priced and in large quantities. But the national market changes, and so do the tastes and preferences of the consumer. The MBDA is the response to a fluctuating and evolving industry. And for 82 years, they have met annually to determine how to preserve and improve business to better meet the needs of the consumer.
Slope-side Seminar
Mr. Bodnovich began with legislative updates and economic concerns that are expected to impact the beer industry nationwide. He covered the Trump Administration’s aluminum and steel tariffs, which are expected to increase the cost of production for aluminum cans—a surge that will undoubtably land on the consumer. Heritage and main street stores were also a concern in the wake of giants like Amazon, Walmart, and other online retailers. Over 7,000 brick-and-mortar businesses closed in 2017, jeopardizing the retail worker and threatening to completely change the way modern Americans shop. When this is combined with mobile
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his past April, from the 27th to the 29th, representatives of beer distributors, brewers, importers, and allied trade suppliers from Pennsylvania and beyond made the journey to Somerset County for the Malt Beverage Distributors Association’s 82nd Annual Convention, hosted this year at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. The weekend started with The Brewski Festival on Friday, where over 100 beers from 54 breweries were available to be sampled in the resort’s ski bar, The Foggy Goggle. This included Pennsylvania natives like Arsenal Cider House, Rivertowne Brewing, Sobel’s Obscure Brewery, Levity Brewing Company, Erie Brewing, Fat Head's, and many, many more. And if that wasn’t enough, the adjacent Foggy Brews Restaurant was open for dining and featured live acoustic entertainment. It was a great way to kick off the weekend and a perfect reminder as to why organizations like the MBDA are so important to the longevity and success of the craft beer industry.
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Blue Diesel and watching Mr. Bean’s Holiday in absolute perplexity is a great time (don’t fight me on this), it is nothing like drinking a lager with a burger or sucking down a pale ale in the shower (don’t fight me on that, either). After the business session, I stopped upstairs at the trade show to grab some brews for myself. I stopped for a Peachy Pilsner from Sobel’s Obscure Brewery which smelled exactly like a freshly opened bag of peach candy rings, and I was an immediate fan. I took my beer and sat down to talk with Ryan Federbusch, the MBDA convention chairman and owner of Beer Express in Crafton. I asked him about the MBDA, what they do, and about the event itself. Warren Scheidt, John Bodnovich, Ed Mulvihill alcohol ordering apps like Thirstie, Brewdrop, and Drizly, distributors nationwide need to find a way to deal with the increasingly solitary and online-focused ways consumers are engaging with the marketplace.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Warren Scheidt and Ed Mulvihill discussed the history of their respective franchises and the sometimes arbitrary laws and legislation they had to overcome in their states as distributors in order to reach and maintain success. As the session drew to a close, the floor was opened for questions from the crowd and, interestingly enough, conversation returned several times to the same concern: marijuana. As the nation is struck by a green fever, more states have or are expected to legalize weed for medicinal or recreational use—and it’s the idea of legally getting high after work that draws concern. In states where the product is widely available to the consumer, there has been an observed impact on beer sales—and it’s a negative one. Mr. Bodnovich’s reason: people only have so much money to spend on recreational substances. But while smoking a bowl of
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“We’re always looking out for the distributor,” he tells me. “We’re just trying to keep people's doors open.” We also talked about the six years he’s spent with the MBDA and the legislative and lobby work the organization does. “We use all the money raised at events like this to support the organization throughout the year. They’re fun and when you’re here, it’s nice because you’re building relationships in the industry.” “Most people don’t even know there’s an organization out there fighting for the rights of beer distributors and the consumers,” Ryan told me before we parted. And he’s right. But the MBDA is out there; they keep the doors of the brick-and-mortar, heritage, main street distributor open. They do it with fervor. And they do a damn fine job.
Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania
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CraftPittsburgh.com
PETE Words Jason Cercone Photo Brian Conway
BEER BUSINESS CHRONICLES
KURZWEG • THE INDEPENDENT BREWING CO. • HIDDEN HARBOR • LORELEI
As I bring you the latest installment of Beer Business Chronicles, I do so on the verge of my 20-year high school reunion. I've never been one to contemplate where all the time has gone. In fact, my typical sarcastic response to those who ask this burning question is to send a link to a YouTube video explaining how clocks and calendars work. I try to live in the moment and soak in the experiences unfolding around me right here and now. But, at the same time, I love to look back on memories past and wax nostalgic whenever possible.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
I'm a pretty lucky guy in that a big group of friends I attended high school with still maintain regular contact. We may only see each other a couple times a year, but the power of group texts, social media, and fantasy football keep us in touch no matter what corner of the world we find ourselves. And those times when we do all convene in one place? My word, how the good times and memories run amok.
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It never ceases to amaze me how accurately we can recall a party we attended in high school or the details of a night camping with one another. (If you run into me out and about, ask me about what my friends and I have simply dubbed 'The Raccoon Story.' And if you don't believe me when I tell you, I have three friends on standby who will back up the happenings). Without fail, we can recount conversations, famous quotes, and events that unfolded. This may not seem like much, but when you factor in this all took place under the influence of some godawful swill in copious quantities, it becomes a pretty impressive feat. Yes indeed, we remember all the great things that happened. But I'll be damned if we can remember the exact beer we had in hand when it all went down. We could narrow it down to a few selections based on what we always consumed, but to pair the exact beer with every situation just isn't in the cards. This phenomenon has always been the most alluring draw to the libations industry for me. Thousands upon thousands of hard-working
men and women across the globe work tirelessly to create exceptional, high-quality beer, wine, spirits, etc. And that liquid serves as a vehicle that forges memories, builds communities, and delivers an experience you'll hopefully remember for years to come. And when the time comes to recollect, the memories that shine brightest will be amplified not by the beverage in your hand, but by the people you shared those moments with. Today's drinking culture is fueled by experiences. Without question, the beer, wine, or spirit you consume plays a major factor in the destination you choose. But equally as important is the ambiance that surrounds you - the friendliness of the staff, the warmth of the setting, the music and conversation that reverberates through the air, even the cleanliness and use of proper glassware. These details play heavily in the cultivation of an experience, especially in today's review-driven world where all consumers have a voice and a platform to speak it. To learn more about what it takes to build a memorable encounter, I reached out to my friend Pete Kurzweg, co-owner of The Independent Brewing Company and Hidden Harbor in Squirrel Hill, and the soon-to-befully-open Lorelei in East Liberty. Each of these destinations offers something unique and something special. But a common thread binds them all: their crew's unwavering dedication to hospitality and making you feel welcome each and every time you visit.
You can get an adult beverage anywhere. But you'll return consistently to the locales that treat you well and give you reasons to come back. This isn't easy to accomplish with competition pulling people in hundreds of directions, but learning from experience and approaching the business realistically has helped Kurzweg and company develop a loyal customer base that knows each time they visit one of his establishments, they'll walk away satiated. Kurzweg took some time to reveal a few of the necessary components to offering a genuine, worthwhile experience to guests. If there is one thing you know now that you wish you knew before you first opened The Independent in 2014, what would it be? Exactly how much work it takes to provide a quality experience to your guests. Staffing, equipment, ordering, inventorying, repairs, reservation handling, cleaning, bookkeeping — all of these things that we do behind the scenes are a full-time job in themselves. When you add the important part of this business — taking care of the people who choose to have a drink or something to eat at your place — you are really working two full-time jobs. What are qualities and aspects you've seen at other locales that you try to replicate at your destinations? Warmth. No matter how good the beers, the cocktails, and the food are (or are not), you won’t remember those things nearly as much as you’ll remember the people who greeted you and served you — those people make the experience; the product is just the last (albeit important) touch. How do you go beyond the liquid in the glass to create a memorable experience for your guests? We always try to determine how we can make a better experience by constantly revisiting our space (is the music right; is the lighting too bright or too dark; is the space inviting?) and our staffing (are we greeting people when they walk in the door; are we making adjustments to accommodate every person who joins us; are we doing well by our community; are our people taking good care of our guests?).
VECENIE DIST. CO. 412-821-4618 beersince1933.com
FOR THE BEST SELECTION OF CRAFT IN CANS
What have you done to adapt to the constantly growing and evolving craft beer culture here in Pittsburgh? We believe that our role is to help that culture grow and evolve. Our newest project, Lorelei, was created in that vein. We wanted to provide
CraftPittsburgh.com
Where do you feel some locales "miss the mark" when it comes to what they present to the public? When they fail to care about the public — focusing on gadgets, aesthetics, and flash over hospitality and warmth.
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a lager-forward place because we believe that lager is the most sociable expression of beer, and we’re worried that it is at risk of largely being dismissed as “boring” or “old-fashioned." As craft beer grows and evolves, we want to be sure our community doesn’t forget beer for what made them start drinking it: that it is cold, refreshing, easy on the palate, and easily enjoyed with friends in both good times and bad. We felt an urge to return to our drinking roots, and we believe that many others will feel the same way. What's a current trend in today's drinking culture you thought you'd never see? The en masse rebirth of Tiki. When we opened Hidden Harbor, we were worried people wouldn’t get this whole “tiki thing” we were so into. Now it seems like every store you walk into is pushing aloha shirts and every bar has a Jungle Bird on its menu. What sort of thought process and research went into developing the concepts of The Independent, Hidden Harbor, and your newest location, Lorelei? Starting first by considering what we think people like about drinking; then figuring out what they like, but they’re getting too little of in their community; then considering what we’re actually good at doing; then figuring out what we’re actually interested in doing; then finding the overlap of those circles of the Venn diagram.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
You and your team have done a tremendous job making The Independent and Hidden Harbor staples of the Pittsburgh adult beverage scene and, undoubtedly,
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Lorelei will do the same. Give us an idea of what one should expect when visiting one of your destinations. We hope that you will find a place that is filled with good human beings and centered around conversing with those humans. In the age of the Internet and social media, our goal is to provide a space that is centered on human interaction and face-to-face kindness. Opening a bar seems to be one of those dream jobs that everyone wants to do at some point in their life. But there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. If someone reading this right now is thinking about going down this road, what's the best piece of advice you could offer them? Think hard about why you want to do this. If you want to do it merely because you like alcohol, don’t do it. If you want to do it because you think you can make lots of money, don’t do it. If you are in it because you truly want to host, feed, and care for other people, then you should find a liquor license and a space to open.
The Independent Brewing Company and Hidden Harbor can be found at 1704 and 1708 Shady Avenue, respectively, in Squirrel Hill. The new Lorelei beer hall is located in the former home of The Livermore at 124 South Highland Avenue in East Liberty. Jason Cercone is the founder of Breaking Brews and is the executive director of Pittsburgh Libations Week. Learn more by visiting breakingbrews.com.
COME SEE WHAT’S
BREWING BUFFALO
IN
With 30+ craft breweries, locally grown hops, and one of the world’s great lakes in our backyard, it’s a wonder you didn’t stop by to wet your whistle sooner. Come see what’s on tap. And while you’re here, check out beer’s
BREWCATION BEERINBUFFALO.COM
CraftPittsburgh.com
best friend on the Buffalo Wing Trail!
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hoppy couple
THE WASHINGTON
BREWING COMPANY
28 E Maiden St, Washington thewashingtonbrewingcompany.com
Joe
Location
The Washington Brewing Company (TWBC) is located in Washington, PA, which is a fairly substantial area and is a 45-minute drive from Pittsburgh proper. The nice thing about making this drive is that, of course, there are many other breweries along the way! A few examples being the newly opened Rusty Gold Brewing in Canonsburg and a long time favorite of ours, Insurrection AleWorks, in Heidelberg. In addition, if you are at all into horse racing and losing money, the Meadows Racetrack and Casino is also on the way as you drive down Interstate 79. Take an afternoon and go for a drive down south, you won't be disappointed.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Beer
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I stuck to two of The Washington Brewing Company’s craft ales during our visit. First up, a hop masterpiece called “Hoptimus Prime”. This wonderfully bitter but also kind of sweet IPA is brewed with agave syrup and is 6.9% ABV. It was hard to switch and try something else because this beer was a perfect summer IPA given its hazy and refreshing twist. It had an undefinable flavor to it that must have been the agave - quite different than most IPAs I’ve had. The other ale I tried was the “Isiminger’s Oatmeal Stout,” named after the family who was a great help in getting TWBC going. While dark and somewhat heavy, this oatmeal stout was very drinkable, even on a hot day. I plan to go back soon to try some of their other offerings!
Atmosphere
When entering TWBC, make sure to take note of the brewing area on your right where you can see large fermenter tanks containing the beer you are about to enjoy. Left of that is a long bar with plenty of seating. Overall, the space is pretty large and bright with many windows allowing for nice natural light to enter. I can imagine a great day to check out TWBC is on a Sunday because we learned they do a brunch buffet that day, every week, and the menu sounded quite excellent. Who doesn’t love a breakfast buffet? I know Ron Swanson does.
Food
I think most of you know me by now, and as a non-vegetarian (I do also love vegetables), red-blooded American, I have this insatiable desire for outdoing myself when it comes to the number of meats on a sandwich. That being said, I decided to order something called the “Pork Belly Reuben Burger”. You are probably thinking ‘Wow, Joe is gonna have a heart attack soon.’ And you may be right, but at least I went out eating awesome food? For starters, the burger patty is the result of combining short-rib and brisket. Then, to make it even more ridiculous, they slapped a thick piece of pork belly on top and then complete that mess with some savory sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Being a Reuben, they shoved all of that into a house-made rye bun. Whoa, enough said.
Amanda Location
Owned and operated by married couples and friends, the Burgesses and DeFedes, The Washington Brewing Company is nestled into the heart of downtown Washington, PA. Yes, there are plenty of great breweries along the way, but there are also some other notable places just blocks from the brewery itself. Around the corner from TWBC is their sister business, The Washington Winery, and just down the road are two new distilleries, Liberty Pole Spirits and Red Pump Spirits. Plenty to do and see (and drink!) nearby.
Beer
Alongside the higher ABV pours, TWBC offers some lighter, lower octane beers, which is great. Everything we tasted was so flavorful and easy to drink. They were offering a Beer Mary (their “Peace, Love, and Lager” topped off with Bloody Mary mix) called “Hair of the Dog” so clearly I needed to try it. Odd at first but really quite tasty! TWBC also offers wine by the glass from The Washington Winery and cocktails handcrafted with local spirits from the aforementioned Liberty Pole and Red Pump. As if that’s still not enough, you can even bring your own bottle of wine for the table! Truly something for everyone.
Atmosphere
The restaurant area is nice and open with an industrial vibe. The day we visited happened to also be their first go at a Barks & Brews event which welcomes friendly, leashed dogs with their beer-drinking humans. So many cute pups! They’re planning more of these events in the future. So if you want to bring your four-legged friend out for a pint or just steal some snuggles from other pups, keep tabs on their social media for updates. They also offer live music almost weekly. Brad Bendis was jammin’ on his
On the trail or in the woo ds, we’re here fo r your post ri de ... refreshments .
north park boathouse • historic southside
a great sele ction of seasonal craf t beer on tap. Espe cially the local br ews.
otbbicyclecafe.com
CraftPittsburgh.com
Made fresh everyday, be sure to try the one with peanut butter. Really!
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acoustic guitar the day we visited and really nailed the playlist! TWBC seems to keep things interesting so they’ll definitely keep you coming back for more!
Food
TWBC has a rather large menu with lots to offer. On top of the burgers, sandwiches, brick oven pizzas, pastas, and entrees, they also offer new specials each week. Everything looks picture perfect and tastes incredible. I had the “Capricciosa” pizza which had a red sauce base topped with arugula, kalamata olives, artichokes, mushrooms, Italian sausage, and (of course) cheese. I’m only slightly ashamed to say I ate the whole thing but I loved every bite. They also have a very extensive brunch buffet on Sundays complete with an omelet station, soups, salads, eggs benedict (my personal favorite), and more. If you leave TWBC hungry, you’re doing it wrong!
Summary
The Burgesses and DeFedes really hit a homer with their joint booze endeavors, The Washington Brewing Company and The Washington Winery. Well-curated and deliciously executed food and alcohol menus will hook you from your first visit and all of their special events will keep you keep you coming back time and time again!
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
The Hoppy Couple is one part Joe Tammariello and one part Amanda Stein. We don’t consider ourselves beer experts, but we spend a good bit of our free time exploring the city of Pittsburgh and sampling all of the food and drink it has to offer. Say “Cheers!” if you see us out!
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CraftPittsburgh.com
Words Tom Marshall Photos Jeff Zoet
10 Frames / 10 Beers Light Dark Little Big Pale Sour Malt Wheat Wild Card Import
Honey Kolsch [3]
ROGUE FARMS HOP FARM
Fresh Pot of Porter [1] [4]
HOP FARM
Small Crop [1] [4] Trip in the Woods: Narwhal [4]
SIERRA NEVADA EAST END & TROEGS
Born & Raised [3] Adour [1] [2]
STRANGE ROOTS
Fat Tire [4]
NEW BELGIUM
A Little Sumpin‘ Sumpin [4]
LAGUNITAS
Hop Nosh [4]
UINTA STONE(BERLIN)/THE BRUERY
Fahrt Die Ziege [4]
Kolsch
5.2% ABV
Coffee Porter
5.0% ABV
Session India Pale Ale
4.1% ABV
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
11.9% ABV
India Pale Ale
6.5% ABV
Wild/Farmhouse Ale Hybrid
6.2% ABV
Amber Ale
5.2% ABV
Pale Wheat Ale
7.5% ABV
India Pale Ale
7.3% ABV
Imperial Wheat w/Blueberries
11.5% ABV
[1] USES HAZY DAZE HOPS [2] USES APPALACHIAN MALT [3] USES ESTATE or LOCALLY GROWN INGREDIENTS [4] BREWERY USES SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
My name is Tom, and I have been working in the craft beer industry in one capacity or another over the past six years. Pin Pals is a bi-monthly installment where I interview a veritable who's who of the craft beer world at a bowling alley. We drink beer, shoot the shit, and of course bowl. In this installment, we are bowling and chatting with Matt Gouwens, head brewer & owner of Hop Farm Brewing Company; Noah Petronic, owner of Hazy Daze Hop & Lavender Farm; and Andy Golden, owner of Appalachian Malting, about sustainability in the craft beer industry.
sus·tain·a·ble |səˈstānəb(ə)l/|
adjective conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources
ANDY: My name is Andy Golden. I am married with three young daughters. I grew up in Western Pennsylvania on a family farm, but I moved away from Pennsylvania for a few years to join the military. We moved back to the family farm to try to give my daughters the same experiences I had growing up that made me the person I am today. When I decided to move back to the farm, I wanted to change a couple things about the farm’s operation and output. Now we provide products to the end-user and started up a malting business and flour milling business as well. MATT: I’m Matt Gouwens. I am 39 years old, married, with three children. I love everything about my job, and I love to grow shit. Hop Farm Brewing Company started out of my love of cooking which turned into a love of beer. I started brewing when my wife got me a home brew kit. As an athlete, which has made me very self-competitive, I would say, ‘I could do better,’ ‘I could make better beer,’ and it all kind of snowballed from there. I got kicked out of the kitchen, kicked out of the basement, and kicked out of the garage. So I had to get a much larger garage, that’s where we are with Hop Farm right now. Before Hop Farm, I attended brewing school at American Brewers Guild and did an apprenticeship for about nine months at Iron Hill in Lancaster. NOAH: My name is Noah Petronic and I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am 30 years old. A farmer by trade, I have been working at Soergel’s Orchard for the past 16 years. I run all of their fruit production. Three years ago, my wife and I started Hazy Daze Lavender and Hops Farm. We grow two-and-half acres of hops and three-quarters of an acre of lavender, and we are hard working to get the most out of the farm to see what works.
2) Who/what can you attribute your love of beer to?
ANDY: You know, I can't pin it down to one specific person or thing. I just think it's just a really cool industry with a lot of like-minded individuals. We all have similar interests. They're all problem solvers and really laid-back personalities. Just a mix of people that I want to hang out with. MATT: 100% my wife. She got me into it. Got me into making it really even before I drank it. So I would definitely give a shout out to my wife, Emily (51% owner of Hop Farm Brewing Company).
Matt Gouwens, Andy Golden, and Noah Petronic
NOAH: Actually, it’s kind of a weird story. I was straight-edge until I was 21. I was too punk to drink, I guess. Then once I broke edge and began to drink beer, I started correlating beer to agriculture. Once I made that connection to agriculture is when I started really getting into the craft beer scene. I learned about what a hop plant was and started growing them, but not for retail at first. I continued to mess around with hops for a couple of years, and it all blossomed over the past 10 years into Hazy Daze Farm.
3) Tell the readers about your company.
MATT: Hop Farm Brewing Company opened its doors five years ago in September. We are located at 5601 Butler Street in Lawrenceville. We focus on locally sourced ingredients and sustainable practices, whether it’s the way we farm our properties to the way we handle our trash. As far as our products, don't let the name ‘Hop Farm’ fool you. You have to have hops to make any beer (or it’s a gruit or something else). But we do try to encapsulate a very large variety of styles from nut brown to a hefeweizen to sour ales to several forms of IPAs. We have been piloting a new Hazy IPA that we will be adding to our portfolio soon. Name to be announced, but when I shared the beer name with my wife, she laughed for about five minutes.
4) What efforts does Hop Farm make to be a sustainable brewery?
MATT: First and foremost, when we decided to package our product, we bought a canning line. The can is infinitely recyclable and it’s much lighter than a bottle. A can is ten times lighter than a bottle, and you can pack twice as many into a truck. Glass is not easily recyclable and takes 95% more energy to recycle. There is very little actual waste coming out of the brewery. Obviously like every other brewery, we recycle our spent grain with a farmer. The neat thing about our spent grain is the grain is used to feed beef cattle up in Ford City, Pennsylvania. The beef then comes back to us in one- or five-pound packages and is on the menu on the pub. Arguably one of the best burgers in the city, and with the expansion it will get even better... I'll just leave it at that. In the future, we are looking into a green roof and solar panels because there are great incentives right now. About 25% of our hops are locally grown which is about 500 pounds
CraftPittsburgh.com
1) Tell the readers about yourself.
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of hops per year. Noah and I have been working really closely over the last five years, and every year Noah and I make a wet hop beer with hops grown exclusively on my property. Additionally on my property, we have cage free eggs and raise chickens and ducks for the menu. I have an apple tree and a pear tree. We also grow some rhubarb, lime basil, tomatoes, and some other things in the garden for beers.
5) What impact does buying your raw brewing materials locally have on the environment?
MATT: So as far as the impact buying local materials has on the environment, the biggest thing is the transportation. We don't have all that CO2 emissions on the roads because we are cutting back on the vehicles moving the materials from place to place. If I am growing something on my property, there are very little emissions. It is quite small scale, nonindustrial, sweat equity, plus three kids really helping with the farming (as long as they want to help), but they get more and more excited every year about it. Aside from that, all of our local sources that we use are growing pesticide-free and as close to organic as possible.
6) Why cans over bottles?
MATT: The main reason to use cans over bottles is the energy saved while using cans. One 12oz empty bottle weighs the same as 10 empty cans. You can fit 90,000 bottles into a 52-foot trailer. You can fit 173,000 cans into the exact same space. Additionally, a can is infinitely recyclable, where a bottle can only be recycled so many times. One thing I really didn't touch on previously was the light influx. Zero light is going to get through the aluminum. I hate a light-struck IPA.
7) What can a craft brewery do to be more sustainable? What sustainable efforts would you like to see adopted by the local beer scene?
MATT: First and foremost, if you're going to package, put it in the can. Secondly, depending on where your accounts are, you can get creative with your delivery. When we deliver to areas in Lawrenceville (especially Cure), we would walk the barrel down on a dolly. I have done that multiple times before...walking five or six blocks pulling a barrel behind me. Find a way to dispose of your grain without throwing it away (which there is no
excuse for). If the budget is there, look into solar and other green options. I have seen brewers not reclaiming the hot water out of the heat exchanger. It blows my mind...hook that back up to your hot tank water and reclaim that water. Recycle everything you can. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, Construction Junction has a great sorting facility. We utilize it once maybe twice a week. Breweries get so many boxes and so much plastic. Any given week, we will have a pile of recycling. This does help us save money on waste removal. In regards to the Pittsburgh scene, we need to watch our water. We are not a water-deprived area, but we have to think of other folks that are. I personally look at Hop Farm’s water bill, and as our production increases, I make sure that we are saving as much water as we can. Watch your gallons of water. My hope is that, in the future, Pittsburgh will come to be known as a sustainable brewing town.
8) Tell the readers about your farm.
ANDY: Golden Farms (home of Appalachian Malting) is located in Central Western Pennsylvania. My father has been farming it organically for the past twenty years, but we have only been certified organic for the past seven. We focus on small specialty grains: buckwheat, spelt, barley, and rye. We do have an acre of hops as well. We farm a little over 130 acres and the majority of it goes to our organic flourmill. We are selling most of our flour direct to the customer on Amazon. We are growing our own grain for malting as well, and we are currently in the middle of expansion. When the expansion is complete, we will be able to produce 6,600 pounds of malt per week. NOAH: Hazy Daze Lavender and Hops Farm is up in Prospect, Pennsylvania. I actually lease the land off Reed Soergel. We do about two and a half acres. On the property, we grow Chinook, Cascade, Comet, Sorachi Ace, and Columbia hops. I just put in 800 Crystal plants just past weekend. We also do around three quarters of an acre of lavender growing seven different varieties, but that's mostly just trial and error right now. We are working with florists and people who are making their own soaps and byproducts from lavender. Hopefully we can get into distilling essential oil once we get our varieties figured out. We are also trying to get some brewers to start messing with lavender beers. Last year was our first harvest season at Hazy Daze and we harvested around 2,000 pounds, but we pretty much just harvested the Chinook, Cascade, and Comet. The other plants were a little too small to harvest, not worth it to put the time in for such a small yield. We are not organic. I grew organic hops for five years in Wexford. I could not get the crop that I needed to make it a profitable business down the line and the quality of the hops was just not there. Organic hops...God bless you if you do it.
9) What products/services do you offer?
ANDY: On the malting side of the house, we offer malted barley, malted rye, and wheat for breweries and distilleries. By varying our kiln temperature, we can offer three different base malts. On the milling side of the house, because we have the malting equipment, we are able to specialize in a really niche market known as sprouted grains. It's where we germinate the grain, dry it back down, and mill it into flour. Right now, we have sprouted spelt, sprouted buckwheat flour, and regular buckwheat flour on Amazon right now. We will be introducing another four new products later on this summer.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
(Andy did a product presentation for us at the bowling alley. We tasted the three different malts and drank different single malt beers made with each grain.)
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NOAH: Hazy Daze offers wet hops (freshly-picked hops), dried whole cone hops, and T-90 pellets. Last year was the first year we did pelletizing. So hopefully we will continue to increase our ability to pelletize (while keeping the quality there).
10) W hat drew you to farming, specifically agriculture related to brewing?
ANDY: I grew up on a farm. So when I was exiting the military, I was job hunting. I always enjoyed the brewing industry and our farm already had a lot of the infrastructure set up to grow barley. I had some friends that
12) How many breweries do you work with? What opportunities do you have for growth this year?
ANDY: So I'm probably working with around 10 breweries and distilleries right now. We work with a couple breweries near Pittsburgh as well, so I think there is potential for a lot of growth. We're pretty excited about an organic out-of-state distillery that will be coming on later this summer. We are also excited about the breweries opening up that are 10 to fifteen minutes from our malt house. In the craft beverage industry, it really matters what the customers want. I think the attitude’s going more towards local. People want to know where their ingredients are coming from and they also want to support their local community, too. We are looking forward to fostering the connection between locally grown ingredients and local breweries. NOAH: I work mainly with Hop Farm Brewing Company. We have had a handshake agreement with Matt for a while now. That relationship helped to get the yard up in Prospect started. Full Pint Brewing Company was my first customer for hops. I've also worked with everyone from Wigle Whiskey to Strange Roots to Penn to 11th Hour Brewing to Hitchhiker to North Country and many more. Matt and all the other local breweries have been a big help pushing us to expand the Prospect yard. So hopefully we will continue to grow from there.
13) How can the readers connect with you?
ANDY: Based off my bowling scores, you will probably not find me at a bowling alley. You can find us on Facebook @AppalachianMalting or @GoldenFarmsMilling. We have a website appmalt.com. I'm not technologically savvy enough for Twitter and Instagram.
NOAH: It all came together over a long period of time. I worked in greenhouses for ten years and that drove me into agricultural. Once I broke edge and started drinking beer, I started to look into what goes into beer and how beer is made. Hops, barley, yeast - that stuff is all agricultural. My interest just kept growing and growing. I would be looking at what else (other than hops or grain) can we use for brewing, whether it was fruit or even certain type of vegetables. I would start growing fruits and vegetable for breweries/cider producers to use and experiment with. Every year I add something new. I have added in different varieties of cider apples and grown everything from beets to elderberries.
11) Is Pennsylvania a suitable growing environment for your crop?
ANDY: I work closely with an agronomist at Penn State and he helps me pick the grains that are suitable to grow in our climate. The one variety that we do grow was bred in Germany, which has a very similar growing season to Pennsylvania. With that being said, growing barley for malting in Pennsylvania doesn’t come without its risks because of our wetter climate and a later spring. You have to constantly check the fields to see if there's any type of fungus growing on the plant because there is a threshold for certain types of fungi on the plant. Everything has to be analyzed. Otherwise, the barley might not be suitable for brewing or human consumption. NOAH: Pennsylvania, back in the day with New York, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Maryland, used to grow hops. Now, it has become a lot more difficult with certain insects (aphids, spider mites) and other diseases. The big one in this area is downy mildew. That is until powdery mildew comes in. It hasn’t hit our state yet; however, I know it’s in Michigan and I think they found some in New York. Downey mildew has to do with our high humidity and our wet springs. Our heavy clay soil plays a factor in that as well, but it also holds a lot of nutrients. It's kind of a give and take with our terroir. The nice thing about Pennsylvania grown hops is that my Pennsylvania Cascade hops will have a different taste and are going to have different oil formulations than Cascade hops grown in New York, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, etc. You are getting part of Pennsylvania in every beer you drink that is made with Pennsylvania grown products.
MATT: The best way to connect with Hop Farm would by email: Matt@HopFarmBrewingCo.com or Emily@HopFarmBrewingCo.com. On FaceBook: @HopFarmBrewing and on Twitter & Instagram: @HopFarmBeer. Direct messaging is best on FaceBook. Serious inquiries please send an email to me or Emily. Current Pub Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 4:30pm to 11pm / Friday 4:30pm to 12am / Saturday: 12pm to 12am / Sunday: 11am (Brunch) to 6pm (Summer hours open till 8pm). NOAH: If someone wants to get ahold me for our hops or our lavender: HazyDazeLavender@gmail.com. I encourage anyone to get ahold of me personally and come out to see the farm, whether you come to see me up at my Hazy Daze in Prospect or at Soergel Orchards in Wexford. I’d rather meet you in person. That way, I can put a face to a name. I like personal communication rather than email or by phone. Twitter: @HDazeLavender, Instagram: @HazyDazeLavender, no Facebook...fuck Facebook. Tom Marshall is in the persuasion business. He is the sales & marketing manager for Full Pint Brewing Company in North Versailles, the President of Pittsburgh Libations Week, and a bowling enthusiast. [Twitter: @thomas_poet]
Special thanks to our friends at Crafton Ingram Lanes, the official bowling alley of PinPals. If you're looking to do some BYOB bowling, check them out.
CraftonIngramLanes.com
CraftPittsburgh.com
got out of the military a year prior to me and they started up Southern Pines Brewing Company in North Carolina. They are doing quite well. So I started talking with them and thought it might be a great idea to do something with brewing supply. It was a no-brainer.
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under construction
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Words & Photos Brian Conway
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Not since Voodoo Brewery opened in Homestead has a community been this excited for a craft brewery.
and for all that Bellevue was in need of its own craft brewery.
Up until late 2015, Bellevue was a dry town. Just a few minutes north of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River Boulevard, the borough has seen a resurgence in recent years thanks to an influx of new residents drawn by its close proximity to the city, quality housing, and walkable main street known as Lincoln Avenue.
The owners quickly gutted the interior and held an open house in early December during Bellevue's light-up night. Over 400 people stopped in to check out the new space and, ever since, the community has been clamoring for them to open.
Soon, Bellevue will have a craft brewery to add to their ranks, guided by a pair of local families. “The area is ripe for something like this – everybody is so ready for it,” says Grant Saylor, part owner and brewer for Lincoln Avenue Brewery.
Grant and Lisa Saylor started dating while teenagers at Northgate High School. Their partners, Amy and Joel Haldeman, have called the borough home since 2010. The Saylors actively campaigned in favor of the ordinance repealing local prohibition, and there's an iconic photo of Grant behind the bar at Grille 565 the moment Bellevue poured its first beer since 1935. Last summer, to celebrate Bellevue's 150th anniversary, Grant helped to organize a local homebrew competition. Over 230 people came through to sample beers from 10 local homebrewers, convincing the Saylors once
Meanwhile, the Haldemans closed on a former bank building at 538 Lincoln Avenue in November. A connection was made with the Saylors when Seth Zimmerman, a friend of the Haldemans, shared their intentions with Grant, with whom Seth serves on the board of BIGr, the Bellevue Initiative for Growth and Revitalization.
“The first weekend we had demo day, in January, it was three degrees outside and we had 35 people show up [to volunteer],” said Amy. Grant says three separate people offered to put together their website for free, and the logo was donated by a local well-wisher. Anyone who volunteers 20 hours of their time to the
operation becomes a member of the Founders Club, and will receive as a token of gratitude a Lincoln Ave. Brewery stainless steel growler and a free fill-up for the first 18 months the brewery is open.
staple offerings at opening – porters, pilsners, IPAs – alongside some newer varieties.
“We've had incredible support; it's been so humbling,” said Joel.
That's not all that will be made in-house. Grant says they'll have a “very small, compact menu of really kick-ass food.” – think charcuterie boards, soft pretzels with homemade beer mustard, and paninis piled high with houseroasted turkey, sliced to order.
When it comes to beer, Grant says they'll start with a 12-tap system, though it will most likely take a while to get all dozen of them pouring. He'll be brewing on a two-barrel system he found on ProBrewer that comes from Forked River, NJ's Backward Flag Brewing. Like so many professional brewers, Grant got his start homebrewing on a kit some 10 years ago. “I'll bet you I was brewing all-grain within two months of my first batch of beer,” he says. “When I do something, I'm all-in.” The building should have room for about 70 when the build out is complete. Expect all your
“Whatever the creative boundaries are, we'll keep pushing them.”
It's part of a deliberate strategy by ownership to become a destination itself, not just a spot for quick beer on the way out for the night. If the families have their way, both Bellevue and the brewery will become destinations in their own right. “There's some really cool stuff happening in Bellevue,” says Grant, “and we are all super stoked to be a part of it.”
CraftPittsburgh.com
Joel Haldeman, Amy Haldeman, Lisa Saylor, Grant Saylor
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CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
plates & pints
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Words Brian Conway Photos Buzzy Torek
CINDERLANDS
Can one of Pittsburgh's newest breweries also be one of the best new restaurants? When CraftPittsburgh started Plates and Pints, it was a way for us to celebrate some of the choicest food and drink coming out of local kitchens and breweries, paired together to complement and heighten the qualities in each. To eat and drink is to be merry, and so far we've shared four unforgettable meals at some of Pittsburgh's most outstanding restaurants, noshing our way through mouth-watering churrasco, plump sea scallops, and some downright delectable beers while learning what inspires the city's best chefs and brewers to strive for new heights and keep their fans coming back for more. For our fifth installment, we visit for the first time a location where the beer and food both come from the same source. At Cinderlands Beer Company, nothing is an afterthought: billed as a “craft brewery and scratch kitchen,” the emphasis is placed equally on food and beer alike.
“Down to the numbers, it's 50-50,” says managing partner Jamie Warden. He and brother Steve opened Cinderlands in the former Roasted Barrelhouse & Eatery location at 3705 Butler Ave. in Lawrenceville last November. The exposed brick interior is warm and inviting, with an open kitchen at its center and a cozy, plant-filled back room marked by a mural of Pittsburgh hillsides done by local artist Paul Roden, owner of Paul's Print Shop and co-founder of Tugboat Printshop.
Warden makes sure that every customer who walks through his door knows that all the beer is made in-house – there are, after all, places in Pittsburgh with “beer company” in the name who don't brew their own beer, adding to the confusion. But for every person who walks in expecting a straight-up gastropub, there's a local craft beer fan checking out the new brewery in town that has no idea there's an entire menu of from-scratch food at their fingertips. We start the meal with a few snacks and a tart, refreshing grisette. Head Chef Joe Kiefer, formerly of Meat & Potatoes, pairs the beer with some spent grain chicharrones and buffalo chicken rillettes. The chicharrones are a byproduct of the spent grain from the brewing process, but they're hardly an afterthought. The grain is cooled, then mixed with roasted garlic, lime zest, dried chilis, and tapioca flour before being steamed, dehydrated and deep-fried to create an addictive, endlessly munchable starter. “I accidentally made a vegan dish that everyone loves,” he says with a laugh. The rillettes, combined with blue cheese and pickled celery, tasted every bit as delicious as the neon orange chicken dip variety you'll find at any Steelers viewing party, probably more so.
Warden, a Fox Chapel native, says that Cinderlands' menu is a modern take on classic gastropub fare, peppered with Pittsburgh influences. Up next are some more small plates: Scotch egg, asparagus salad, and the ultimate Pittsburgh-staple, pierogi. While we wait for the dishes to arrive, Head Brewer, Paul Schneider gives us a quick masters class on the beer. This grisette, it turns out, is an American version of a classic style originally made for miners in Belgium, brewed with a rare and ancient yeast from Norway. “The grisette jives with Pittsburgh so well,” he says. “You have these workers deep in the mine all day come out, covered in dust, needing a drink. Can you give me a better allegory for what's happening here in the food and drink culture and everything that's been changing since the '70s? It just hits the nail on the head, and nobody's doing it or owning the style.” Schneider comes to Cinderlands by way of Solemn Oath Brewery, right outside of Chicago. He served as their assistant brewer for five years before getting married and moving to Pittsburgh. His dream project, he says, was to be in a mountain valley somewhere making fruit jams and farmhouse beers. And that was direction he was headed until he started talking to Warden about his plans to open a modern brewpub in a city that didn't yet have one. “There is no proper modern brewpub within the city limits besides us right now,” says Schneider. “What that means to me is we have to make beer that goes great with food, which means you have to have a wider range [of styles] both familiar...and relevant.” Beers at Cinderlands fall into one of six categories: sour, farmhouse, tea/coffee, hoppy, stout, and best of all, “dad beers:” mostly kolschs and pilsners. Schneider says that limiting beers to those six categories and “not getting too drawn into Belgian abbey ales, British pub ales or anything too specific in that direction” keeps them relevant in the context of modern craft brewing.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
“We absolutely want to be on the cutting edge of what's happening in beer,” says Schneider, who notes their IPAs outpace sales of other beers three-to-one. “But I'm not the kind of brewer who is going to chase trends and only make hoppy beers and overly fruited beers.”
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As we enjoy seasonal, house-made pierogies stuffed with Yukon gold and gruyere alongside a refreshing spring salad made with asparagus, dandelion greens, kalamata olives and morels sourced locally by Wild Purveyors, we graduate from an equally refreshing guava Berliner weisse to a pair of dad beers: a dry-hopped pilsner and unfiltered helles. For the main course, we have no choice but to go with the burgers. Before arriving, we all had
heard rumors that the burgers are incredible. And besides, it was super secret burger night. Every Wednesday, Cinderlands posts a special off-menu burger on their social media pages that's only available by special request. During our visit, it was a mouthwatering double patty topped with bacon mostarda, aged gouda, bacon, BBQ sauce, pickled shallots and bread & butter pickles all stuffed inside a Martin's potato roll. The meat, says Chef Kiefer, comes from Jubilee Hilltop Ranch in nearby Osterburg. The majority of the burger is short-rib, blended in-house with chuck and brisket. They keep some extra fat on brisket because the burger is cooked in a castiron pan for maximum char and deliciousness. Because of their commitment to sustainability and conservation, as well as their commitment to using ethical farm sources like Jubilee for meat, Jarosinski Farm for free-range duck eggs, and Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy for cheese, Cinderlands was given a Gold Plate designation from Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant. As we enjoy our burgers, supplemented with the best soft shell crab sandwich this side of
Baltimore, we get to talking about what it takes to elevate conventional Pittsburgh fare and reinterpret it for a new generation that grew up on the classics. “It's taking the time and caring about it,” says Kiefer. “I've probably overthought it, but the overthinking is justified when you sit down and you have a chicken sandwich that's this juicy or a burger that melts in your mouth.” It's no surprise the pairing of excellent beer with excellent food has been a success for Cinderlands, and things are just getting started. Warden & company has purchased the former Spaghetti Warehouse location at 2601 Smallman Street in the Strip District, not far from their current location. The two-story build out will give them 17,000 square-feet, outdoor seating and parking, and perhaps most importantly, a bigger brewing system for Schneider to work with than the three-barrel one he currently operates out of the Cinderlands basement. No matter what it's called: restaurant, brewery, taproom, or gastropub, so long as there's good beer and good food, we'll be there.
have you tried...
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Words Hart Johnson Photo Mike Weiss
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1. SIERRA NEVADA BFD
4.8% Blonde Ale? - sierranevada.com
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
You know you’ve been around a scene too long when you start “I remember when”-ing. Such as, I remember when “micro brew pubs” would always have a light-ish beer on tap called Blonde Ale or Cream Ale or if they was fancy Gold Lager or Helles Lager. Now the patriarch of modern beer is throwing what used to a phoned-in beer for grampa into 19oz cans aimed at your convenience store beer drinker. Is this a Big Fucking Deal? Somewhere out there is a Venn diagram of Hops, Balanced Beer and American Brewers with a big NOPE where they all meet and this somehow circles the nope without touching it. The hop character is earthy with a little bit of dark fruit and citrus but never overshadows the crisp and light character of the beer. I’ve come to embrace the term “this beer tastes like drinking beer outside” lately and I’m gonna slot this Beer For Drinking into that category.
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Recommended if you like: Evil Twin - Low Life, Epic - Los Locos Lager, Fat Heads - Starlight Lager, Victory - Homegrown Lager, Yellow Bridge - Higher Learning
2. BITBURGER Premium Pils
4.8% German Pilsner - bitburger-international.com
Let’s cut right to the chase here. I work at a soccer bar and this deadline is right in the middle of a month of Saturdays. Wait, so Saturdays in the service industry are like Mondays for you tie wearers only multiplied by
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30 and with less relaxation from having two days off in a row. The Men’s World Cup is a “Big Deal”. And MWC fans that go to pubs at 10am on a Tuesday have a common request: “just give me a pilsner.” It’s really hard to be let down by an imported pilsner, unless it’s in one of those silly green bottles. Canned pilsner is the wave of the future my friends, no lightstruck skunkiness, no pesky bottle caps, just 16oz of pure dry delicious beer love. Bitburger is one of those beers that have been grandfathered into greatness since I started drinking and, like Einbecker Pils & Reissdorf Kolsch, I’m loving getting back into the classics. Just simple, enjoyable lagers. Pale straw in color, a subtle nose of grassy hay and sweet barley. Crisp and light on the palate with a kiss of hop bitterness gently mopping the light malt flavors around your mouth. Another outstanding “tastes like drinking beer outside” beer. Recommended if you like: East End - Highway to Huell Pils, Pilsner Urquell, Sixpoint - Crisp, All Saints - St. Josef Pils, Einbecker - Pils
3. F OREIGN OBJECTS Mercury Rising 6.8% IPA - foreignobjectsbeer.com
There are two kinds of people: those who love the idea of an all-IPA brewery and those of you who already quit reading. Foreign Objects is unabashedly a brewery full of hops. All varieties of “new American hoppy ales” from 5% all the way to 8% with a couple 6.7% and 6.8%ers in between. Let’s break down some things here, I’m a dude that loves a little story on the side of beer label and I’m also a dude who loves hop forward beers. So, I’m either really missing the point of “Hermes is the air rising up
your spine” or shit man, you kids and your #penlife are just living different lives out there. Back to beer, FO is clear this is a Citra & Motueka hopped IPA, slightly hazy, but still full of all the juicy hop flavors your local hazelord demands. Sweetened pineapple juice, with a hint of grapefruit zest all wrapped around a lemon lime...uh… vape pen? Recommended if you like: Dancing Gnome - Cabin Color, Four Seasons - Nebulous IPA, Rusty Rail - Fog Monster, Helltown - Misfits & Misanthropes #8, East End - Partly Clahdy
4. C INDERLANDS Moon Calf 8.8% IIPA - cinderlands.com
It was late 2016 when I wrote about the arms race for Pittsburgh breweries to start canning dank IPA in 16oz cans. Fast forward not even 2 years and now every house party in town is littered with silver pounders with sticker artwork done by the barista at the coffee shop next to the brewery. Please note this is not a complaint. Cinderlands, who came the fuck out of nowhere last year to open up a nice little spot in lower Larryville, is among the latest to give us what we so desire: To drink 16oz brewery fresh beers at our domicile. Moon Calf is another one of those “new American hoppy ales”, fairly light on the hop bitterness and just saturated with hop flavor and aroma. Lactose, or milk sugar, has been added to this to give a rich body and a bit of sweetness without getting into a caramel malt sweetness. The result is velvety smooth monster IPA that focuses heavily on the Ekuanot hop and its distinct candied lime peel, ripe berry and a hint of celery. Recommended if you like: Insurrection - UpgrayDD, Voodoo - Big Secret Pizza Party, Green Flash - Tropical DNA, Rhinegeist - Cloud Five
5. NEW BELGIUM Bicycle Kick Kolsch 5.1% Kolsch newbelgium.com
Let’s break things down a bit here, David Levinson style. New Belgium, Fat Tire brewery, bicycles, collaboration, five continents, kicks, bicycle kicks, five continents. I think, I think what we have here is some sort of, some sort of Worldly collaboration, that you’d pour into a Cup. Perhaps a World Cup Collaboration without paying a ransom to FIFA. Yes, so that. New Belgium Brewing, England’s Adnams, Japan’s Baird, Brazil’s Bodebrown, South Africa’s Devil’s Peak and Mexico’s Primus all got together and decided a chamomile, the national flower of Russia, and lemongrass, “reminiscent of turf”, Kolsch is the unofficial beer of drinking beer at 10am on a Tuesday. Sure, you’re reading this in a sarcastic tone. But when was the last time you drank beer at 10am on a Tuesday? The soft spiciness of the chamomile atop this easy drinker culls the hop bitterness a bit while the lemongrass adds a gentle acidity and really this is just a few alcohols better than a cup of herbal tea first thing in the morning. NOW COME ON REF THAT’S A FUCKING RED CARD IF I’VE EVER SEEN ONE. Recommended if you like: Hitachino - Nest White Ale, Voodoo - White Magick of the Sun, Unibroue - Blanche de Chambly, Full Pint - White Lightning, Hitchhiker - Conversion
6. CIGAR CITY Maduro
Some of my favorite beverages envoke a flavor memory. Ardbeg Uigeadail with its Red Man tobacco, gasoline fumes and childhood filth notes that reminded me of riding the school bus my grandfather drove after retiring from the steel mills. I don’t care where it’s brewed anymore, but Rolling Rock always reminds me of sniffing bottle caps before I was allowed to drink the stuff. Cigar City throws down in the flavor memory hard with nice rich brown ale, it’s a damn fine enjoyable enough beer on its own with nutty malt flavors but a recent example used in a #showerbeer
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5.5% Brown Ale - cigarcitybrewing.com
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experiment opened up a whole lot of memories of finding the right mix of chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream. Remember that time you nailed the ratios? Right, but in a beer. Recommended if you like: Helltown - Mischievous Brown Ale, Newcastle - Brown Ale, Hop Farm - One Nut Brown Ale, Evil Twin - Wet Dream, Co-Star - Brick Alley Brown Ale
7. TWO ROADS No Limits
5.0% Hefe Weisse - tworoadsbrewing.com
The toughest thing about writing about beer in the middle of a heat wave is sometimes beer just tastes too good. I could sit here and dissect how I can pick up some of the spelt nuttiness or how the rye really bumps up the body of this into a truly velvety texture that rounds out the yeast forward fruitiness. This is just a bang on fantastic German Style Wheat Beer, dried plantains juiced into coconut water with a sprinkle of clove and aromatic German hops just Salt Bae-ed on top. I could probably spend wayyyyy too much time talking about how Phil Markowski, head brewer of Two Roads, shaped how I feel about wheat beer, farmhouse beers, fermentation and hell how to just enjoy beer but that’s all too much. This is beer for drinking, not for thinking. Recommended if you like: Weihenstephaner - Hefe Weisse, Troegs - Dreamweaver Wheat, Sixpoint - Apollo, Hofbrau - Hefeweizen, Brew Gentlemen - Straight Regs
@ MOARHOPS
Recommended if you like: Pittsburgh, beer, bicycles,
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
curmudgeons, clean draft lines, retweets, dogs, Wade Boggs stories, whiskey, South Side observations, obscure Simpsons quotes.
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BEER INFO@CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM
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brewer sit-down
brad
PRIMOZIC Insurrection AleWorks - 1635 E Railroad St, Heidelberg Age?
38, turns 39 in August
Hometown? Murrysville, PA
Brewing background?
I was working on the Vermont/New York border doing what everyone does: corporate crap that no one likes doing. There was a brewpub down my street that I hung out at all the time and I constantly picked their brain and asked if I could help. Then one day, they let me. So I figured I’d better learn how to brew. I bought a homebrew kit, but I learned most of the brewing process on the commercial side. It was a parallel learning experience.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
How did you end up at Insurrection Brewing?
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My family lives about a quarter mile away from 3 Rivers 6 Pack in Delmont and I was coming home once a month since I didn’t know a lot of people in Vermont. It was around 2006 or 2007 when Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist were just getting started. No one really knew who they were, but I was getting all this great beer and I thought that’s what beer was. I’d bring home beer and share it with people at the bottle shop and one guy started sharing with me. That guy happened to be Matt (Messer, cofounder of Insurrection). After a while, he convinced me to move back to Pittsburgh and we got started.
Do you remember the first craft beer that really stood out?
The one that really caught my eye was New Castle Brown Ale. To me, that was good beer. There was so much flavor. It wasn’t some light beer that you chug.
Do you have a guilty pleasure beer?
Not really. People that know me know I love gin. But if I’m golfing or I’m out and they don’t have something I want, I’ll have a Miller Lite.
Do you brew to any music?
Yes. A lot of Phish, Grateful Dead, Jackie Green, Bob Marley, and Slightly Stoopid. My fiancée loves reggae music and I love jam-band music.
Do you have a favorite bar?
The Polish Citizens Club right down the street from our brewery. It’s a couple blocks away and you can get $2 Gin & Tonics and $1.50 Miller Lites. I love it!
What kind of car do you drive?
Subaru Crosstrek. When you’re living in New England, it’s a must. Everyone has a Subaru.
Do you have a death row beer? Back Acre Sour Golden Ale.
Do you have a brewing hero or brewing spirit animal?
Not necessarily, but there are a lot of people I’ll reach out to when I need help. I learned a lot from the Vermont brewers, so all those guys up there at Hill Farmstead, Alchemist, or Switchback. If I have a problem, I’ll reach out to B.C. at Jackie O’s and ask him questions. We know each other through a mutual friend. So if I ever get stuck, he’s always been more than generous with his time.
How hard is it to name your beer?
I hate naming beer. It’s one of the worst parts. Matt and I are very different people. I’m very functional and he’s very artistic. What he likes I don’t like and vice versa. We’ll have beers ready to go and still not have a name for them. We’ll ask customers for their suggestions and our employees carry little notebooks with potential names we can use.
What's your daily carry?
Do you have a least favorite beer style?
The adjunct-heavy stouts. To me, less is more. It’s hard to brew a fantastic beer when you’re throwing all this shit in it. It doesn’t taste like beer anymore. You need balance.
We are in interesting times. Do you think people will get tired of beer not tasting like beer at some point?
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Things usually correct themselves when they get too far away from the curve. I started brewing the hazy IPAs back in 2007 and our first couple batches at the 6-pack shop, people were giving me so much crap for being a lazy brewer. In Vermont, they didn’t call it hazy or New England style. They just called it American Pale Ale or Imperial Pale Ale and it was all just a process of the brewing procedures.
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home brewing
Words Jack Smith Art Joe Mruk
M
exican-style lagers are so hot right now! Look around the country - or even around Pittsburgh - and you’ll find a myriad of craft breweries producing this style. There’s a simple explanation for this: it’s delicious! Mexican lagers are similar to American lagers to a degree. They tend to be pale in color, though they can range from yellow to amber in color. They’re lightly hopped like American lagers, though they can have a little more bitterness, aroma, and hop flavor than their American cousins - especially examples from craft breweries. Mexican lagers are generally more dry, crisp, and clean than American-style ones which, to me, makes them even more enjoyable as a summertime session beer.
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Mexican Lager’s history is not as straightforward as American lager. Scholars maintain its roots are in the old Vienna Lagers of 18th century Austria and while this is true for some of the darker, toastier beers brewed in Mexico, it does not account for all varieties. There’s a good deal of crossover within the style, a blending of Vienna Lager, the pale German-style lagers brewed in America, and good old Mexican influence and ingenuity. You have some room to play when designing a Mexican-style lager. Just remember: your beer should be crisp, refreshing, and be your #1 choice for taco’clock.
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You know you want to brew one, so let’s continue comparing and contrasting Mexican-style lager with American-style as we build a recipe. The malt bill for an American lager is dead simple - usually 2-row barley, often of the Pilsner persuasion, and maybe some corn or rice to help dry things out a bit. Mexican lager is similar, but the malt flavor should be a little more grainy, with notes suggesting hay fields and sweet corn. A blend of US 2-row, US 6-row, and flaked maize is pretty common. The 6-row has extra diastatic power to help convert the starches in the corn, which cannot convert itself in the mash. But 2-row has plenty of enzymes
to carry the load, corn and all, so the real reason to use 6-row is for the husky, straw-like flavor it adds. Aim for a starting gravity of about 1.045 to 1.055. On the hop front, whereas American lager has little to no hop aroma and flavor, your Mexican beer would benefit from a little bit of both. This isn’t an IPA by any means, but you should experience some hops when you drink it. This style’s origins are rooted in central Europe, but its history is based on new world ingredients. Therefore, it would be appropriate to use any American hops with a noble hop lineage, ones descended from Hallertau or Tettnang. Liberty, Mt. Hood, Crystal, Santium, Ultra, Vanguard, Sterling, etc. Pick one or two of these varieties and plan to use some late in the boil - with five or ten minutes remaining and if you’re feeling adventurous add some at flameout for a bit more hop aroma. Don’t add too much late, though, because you’re only looking to add a bit of aroma and flavor. From there, backfill your recipe with a 60 minute addition to get you to 15-25 IBUs total. Yeast-wise, since this is a lager you can get away with using any lager strain you like, but there are differences in flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel from all the various strains. You’d get better results if you go with one typically used for Mexican or American lagers as they tend to produce slightly drier, lighter-bodied beer than most of the German lager strains. White Labs and Wyeast each market a strain specifically for Mexican Lager - WLP940 Mexican Lager Yeast or Wyeast 2005 Cerveza Mexican Lager Yeast. They are not available year-round but if you can find either and it’s within its shelf life, use it. They produce a very clean, crisp lager beer. Otherwise, WLP840 American Lager Yeast is a great alternative. It produces a similarly clean and crisp lager with a slight touch of apple ester that would not be out of place in this beer. There you have it. Go brew this recipe now and the rest of your summer will be filled with refreshing deliciousness. ¡Salud!
“Un Verano Loco”
MEXICAN LAGER Batch Size: 5.5 gal. Boil Time: 60 minutes OG: 1.048 FG: 1.010 ABV: 5.0% IBU: 20 SRM: 3 Difficulty: M oderate - requires at least a partial mash plus oxygenation and fermentation temperature control *Assuming 70% brewhouse efficiency
Grainbill
• 6 lbs US 2-row malt • 2.5 lbs US 6-row malt • 2 lbs Flaked Maize Extract Brewers: Unfortunately, this recipe requires mashing as there is no
maize extract available on the market. Flaked maize needs to be mashed with malted barley to ensure conversion of starches to fermentable sugars. However, you can do a partial mash in a small pot. Combine the two pounds of flaked maize and two pounds of crushed US 6-row in 1.5 gallons of water at about 150F and hold it there for an hour. Then, strain the liquid into your boil kettle along with the rest of your water and 3.5 lbs of extra light DME. Boil as you usually do.
Hops, etc.
• 28 grams Mt. Hood (5.6% AA) @ 60 min • 14 grams Liberty (4% AA) @ 10 min • 14 grams Liberty (4% AA) @ 0 min
INSURRECTION ALEWORKS
HA ND- CRA F T E D A RT ISA N A LE S NO W O PE N WIT H A F ULL SCRA T CH ME N U
INSURRECTION ALEWORKS
@WORKSALE
INSURRECTION ALEWORKS
WWW.INSURRECTIONALEWORKS.COM HEIDELBERG, PA
Mash & Boil
A single infusion mash is all this beer needs. Dough in at 150F and hold that temperature for an hour. If your routine includes mashout, have at it. Perform your normal lauter and sparge process to collect your standard pre-boil volume for getting 5.25 gallons of wort into your fermenter. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at 60, 10, and 0 minutes.
Yeast/Fermentation
Make a big yeast starter. Use a yeast calculator to size your starter to produce about 350 billion cells. Be sure to oxygenate your wort very well prior to pitching. Lagers require more oxygen up front than ales. I would give this beer two minutes of pure O2 just before adding the yeast. Pitch your chilled starter into your chilled wort when both are 46F. Allow it to rise to 48F and hold it there until 48 hours after you see krausen form (or bubbling start in the airlock). At that point, begin increasing the temperature by 1F per day until you get to 64F. Hold it there for another week to ensure fermentation has finished. Perform a forced diacetyl test. If it passes, crash the beer and lager it for a month or two, then package and serve! Tacos, duh! Pork shoulder slow braised with spices, then pulled and crisped in a cast iron pan with a bit of lard on fresh-made corn tortillas with grilled pineapple pico de gallo, a squeeze of lime, and a sprig of fresh cilantro. Take a bite. Take a sip. Take a bite. Take a sip. Make another taco. Fancy yourself a BBQ pitmaster? In the time it takes to cook a brisket low & slow in that coveted thin blue smoke, you could have yourself quite a few of these delicious, sessionable lagers. Then, after the meat is rested and sliced, have another! Not much of a carnivore? How about roasting several eggplants to puree in a batch of fresh baba ghanouj. Bonus points if you sprinkle ground sumac on top before serving. A homebrewer since 2002, Jack Smith is a National BJCP Judge, a former president of the Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers, and an active member of the Three Rivers Underground Brewers Follow him on Twitter @whenyeastattack
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Suggested Pairings
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cooking with beer Words Mindy Heisler-Johnson Photos Mike Weiss
Maggie's Farm
DARK RUM BLONDIES
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
It’s the time of year where potluck picnics are a thing any given night of the week.
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It’s also the time of year when not a one of us seems to have minute to spare to do anything extra. I get tapped often to do desserts, my prowess with pastries generally precedes me, and I am totally ok with that; baking is my Happy Place and one of the easiest ways for me to take my stress levels from a 10 to a 5 AND me and my people get a delicious treat when I’m done. Nothing in that equation is not winning, so says me and my staff of happy baked goods eaters. I get bored with all the regular go-tos for picnic and bbq desserts. Brownies, cookies, dessert ‘salads’ that are just an excuse to use copious
amounts of cream cheese and whipped topping, strawberry pretzel jello and its variants... I mean don’t get me wrong, they are all delicious and I make them all quite well because, well, I’ve been going to Yinzer bbqs and picnics for over 40 years now so, yeah. But as yummy as all of those are, sometimes you just want to wow them with something amazing that also has to be easily transportable, would probably be best if it didn’t need to be kept cold, would be awesome if it didn’t take hours to prepare, and would be THE BEST if it could be taken to said event in a container/vessel that I didn’t care if I got back (RIP a bazillion 9x13 pans and dishes, you were all well loved while I still had you and I hope you are happy in your new homes). So that was the mission. The decision to add booze? That was all me. I have a lovely little strawberry patch in my yard that is giving me stupid amounts of strawberries, which I love with rhubarb, so I made a jam with both and a tick of Apis Black Raspberry Mead. Hardest part of making
jam is being patient while it does its thing on the stove, so I make it while I’m doing other things. You can absolutely use a store bought jam or preserves for this recipe (I won’t judge). But if you have the time (or a pile of strawberries to use up), I’d give the jam for this a whirl. The blondies themselves are thick, chewy, and scented with Maggie’s Farm Dark Rum, fresh lime, a hint of ginger, and browned butter. The secret to accenting the spice in the rum is the browning of the butter. It adds a nuttiness that plays well with the brown sugar and rum and adds some depth. The lime and macadamia nuts give a subtle nod toward a daiquiri. Add in the sweet/tart from the jam baked on top and you have Blondie Fit For A Grown-Up…one that comes together in one mixing bowl in about 15 minutes and can be cooled, cut, and sent on a disposable plate or dish you don’t love.
Apis Mead Berry Rhubarb Jam • 2 qts trimmed/cleaned berries - whatever kind you like • 1 qt d iced rhubarb (make a circle with you thumbs and index fingers, about that many stalks) • 1 cup Apis Black Raspberry Mead • 2 cups sugar Get it all in a pot. Bring it to a full boil for a few minutes while stirring to melt the sugar and soften the fruit, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Stir frequently and cook until the fruit and rhubarb turn into jam. The ‘sauce’ will get a glassiness to it when it has reduced enough and the mixture will naturally thicken as the pectins in the fruit do their job. When you think it is done, let it go for 5-10 more minutes (trust me), then remove from the stove to chill. This should yield about 2x what you need. Eat it on anything. I like it best made with strawberries and blueberries because raspberry seeds give me rage. Cherries are also good in the jam and on the blondies.
Maggie’s Farm Dark Rum Blondies • 1 lb butter, browned • 2 cups brown sugar • 3 eggs • 2 tbsp vanilla • ½ cup Maggie’s Farm Dark Rum • 1 lime, juice and zest • 1 lemon, juice and zest • 1 tsp kosher salt • 2 ½ cups flour • 1 tsp baking soda • ½ tsp baking powder • ½ tsp ground mace (or some fresh grated nutmeg) • 1 cup toasted, crushed Macadamia nuts • 16oz Apis Mead Berry Rhubarb Jam Melt the butter over medium heat and keep cooking it until: 1) liquid evaporates, leaving you with all butter and milk solids, leading to 2) the milk solids will start to cook in the butter, causing the butter to foam up -
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• 1 tsp ground ginger
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STIR while this is happening, because it will lead to 3) where the milk solids start to brown and smell all roasty-toasty awesome. At which point get it off the heat and into a bowl to chill for a few minutes. Don’t be afraid. Over medium heat, the process is gradual and to stop it, quickly dump it out of the pan and into your bowl. On a scale of 1-10 you want your butter to be a 7-8. Toast your macadamia nuts now, if you need to. The butter is browned, in a bowl and getting not HOTHOT. When it gets not hothot, add the brown sugar and stir together. Then the eggs, one at a time, stirring between additions. Then the vanilla, rum, juices, zests, and salt. Mix it all together until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the soda and powder. Add it to the butter mixture and fold together. Add the nuts and fold in. Pour into the pan and level out. Use a spoon to put 9 blops of the jam over the top like so, then use the spoon or a small metal spatula to drag the jam through the blondies - making it look marbled:
X
X X
X
X X
X
X X
CraftPittsburgh | issue #38
Bake 325 for 40-45 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan, remove to cut. Also serves as a delicious topping over a good quality ice cream and also meshes well with powdered sugar.
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