CraftPittsburgh #22 by CraftPittsburgh

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

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

table of contents upcoming events editor’s letter style profile - winter & holiday the hoppy couple - house of 1,000 beers @craftpittsburgh - we love instagram

Breakfast features until 2 pm (full menu also available) Rare Beeried Treasures

Check bocktown.com for details

Aletails featuring Beermosas Doorbuster deals on retail until noon

the locals - ed vidunas

Debut of new tee slogan

Join us Black Friday, November 27 | 8 am

hand crafted - gift guide craft cocktails - boyd & blair | smallman galley the pink boot society of western pa the plague sweeps pittsburgh where dives survive - frankie’s extra long

cooking with beer - maggie’s farm spiced rum cake illustrated breweries of pa - the brew gentlemen have you tried...

home brewing - beerbecue

brewer sit-down - jake kristophel

page

First 50 customers will be registered to win $100 in Bocktown Bucks!

CraftPittsburgh.com

6. 7. 8. 10. 12. 15. 16. 18. 20. 22. 24. 26. 29. 30. 32. 34.

Kegs ‘n Eggs

staff

PUBLISHER P•Scout Media, LLC

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rob Soltis rob@craftpittsburgh.com

MANAGING EDITOR ®

Mike Weiss mike@craftpittsburgh.com

COPY EDITOR

2015 GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL WINNERS ®

Frank Cunniff

CONTRIBUTORS Brian Meyer, Beth Kurtz Taylor, Joe Tammariello, Amanda Stein, Mindy Heisler-Johnson, Hart Johnson, Ian Mikrut, Dino Juklo, Frank Cunniff, Sarah M. Cunniff, Nils Balls, Jack Smith, WIll Groves, Devon Murdoch

PHOTOGRAPHERS Tim Burns, Jeff Zoet

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Jeff Zoet Visuals

AD SALES sales@craftpittsburgh.com

CREATIVE

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

Soltis Design soltisdesign.com

HOP JUJU GOLD MEDAL IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE BONE HEAD GOLD MEDAL DOUBLE RED ALE MIDNIGHT MOONLIGHT GOLD MEDAL AMERICAN-STYLE BLACK ALE BLITZKRIEG BOCK GOLD MEDAL RYE BEER BLACK KNIGHT SILVER MEDAL GERMAN-STYLE SCHWARZBIER

FATHEADS.COM

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

In that case, Right-O-Way IPA must be pretty good. Try it in Pack-O-Pales with LIVE, IPA & 2XIPA, which are highly rated by people who read magazines like this.

CraftPittsburgh.com

They say weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re judged by the company we keep.

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

upcoming events Check out CraftPittsburgh.com for even more events and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. November

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

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

• 1 Home Brewers Competition @ Wigle Barrel House • 2 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 7 Winter Craft Brewhaha @ The Altar Bar • 7 Beers of the Burgh Winter Warmer @ 415 Bingham St. • 7 Food Truck Roundup @ The Brew Gentlemen • 11 Veteran’s Day Wing Night w/ Bell’s @ 99 Bottles • 22 Beer + Yoga @ The Brew Gentlemen • 27 Kegs ‘n Eggs @ Bocktown • 28 The Pittsburgh Brewery Tour @ PA Brew Tours

December

north park boathouse • historic southside

otbbicyclecafe.com

• 3 Tröegs Pale Ale Wake @ Piper’s Pub • 5 Food Truck Roundup @ The Brew Gentlemen • 5 Rust Belt Brews & Bites Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 6 The Steel Valley Brew Tour @ PA Brew Tours • 7 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 15 C raft Beer School: 7th Annual Holiday Brew

& Cheese Pairing @ Cabaret at Theater Square

• 19 3rd Annual Ugly Sweater Party @ 99 Bottles • 19 The Holiday Cheer Brew @ PA Brew Tours • 29 Homebrewdoo @ Voodoo Homestead

January • 4 Craft Beer Industry Night @ Caliente • 22 6th Annual Pour for a Cure @ US Steel Tower

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

April

15th - 24th

editor’s letter

Good bye old friend. Oh! And craft cocktails are back.

raft beer is losing one of the greats and I feel as if I’m losing an old friend. If you haven’t already heard, I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this. :::deep breath::: Tröegs has decided to quietly discontinued their classic Pale Ale from the year-round lineup. I’ll give you a second to let that sink in and mourn a bit. Tröegs describes Pale Ale as “an American style Pale Ale that is aggressively hopped with Northwest Cascades and balanced with crystal malts to create a hoppy, crisp, copper-colored ale. Simple and classic, yet full-flavored and sessionable.” To me and many others, it was more than that. Growing up in the State College area,Tröegs was one of the first craft breweries into the market and one of the first craft beers I ever consumed. Since then I’ve drank hundreds of other beers, but Pale Ale has always held a special spot on my liver, in my heart and was one of my “go-to” beers. I’m not the only Pale Ale loving Soltis, it’s also without a doubt my dad’s all time favorite beer. Every time I went back home there was a fresh case in the fridge and he’d have two open before I hit the door. It was our beer, the beer we drank while on the front porch and had with Christmas dinners. I’m sad to see it go and I’m sure they have good reasons for discontinuing it. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other amazing pale ales that I thoroughly enjoy, but this one will be missed. In other, happier news, we’ve teamed up with local mixology all-star Will Groves to bring back the “Craft Cocktail” section. Each issue Groves will feature local spirits and a few drink recipes at different bars around town. Our first stop is the soon to be open Smallman Galley in the Strip District. Will gave us a preview of not only the space but also the cocktail menu he designed for them. We hope you enjoy the issue! Have fun, drink good beer and be safe.

CraftPittsburgh.com

Rob Soltis

style profile Written by Brian Meyer

the history of

Winter & Holiday Beers I

n case you didn’t notice, it’s a bit nippy aht n’nat, which means two things. One: it’s almost time to get your parking chair dusted off. Two: it’s definitely time for winter and holiday beers. In past style profiles we’ve looked at specific styles like IPAs, Barleywines, and even general categories like sour beers. These all, for the most part, speak for themselves and when you hear them mentioned you have an idea what you’re getting. Holiday beers on the other hand can be a little trickier since, well, what do the holidays taste like? No, saying the holidays taste like beer doesn’t count. Holiday and winter beers are for the most part bigger beers that offer up a higher dose of alcohol along with spices and more often than not, some roasted toasty goodness. This doesn’t mean every holiday beer falls into this category, but it’s a pretty safe bet that a winter seasonal will be pretty close.

The History of Winter/Holiday Beers

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

The beers we know as winter and holiday spiced beers today most likely got their start with none other than the Vikings. These natives to the Scandinavian countries of today were known for liking their alcohol and doubly so in the cold months of winter.

The Vikings enjoyed something akin to our beer of today, but their version was very malty with little to no bitterness.This strong “beer” was drank in the winter months to celebrate their holiday Jul, which you’ve probably heard of, but as Yule. The Vikings would offer up some of this beverage to their gods, which meant it had to be strong or else they could fear the wrath of Odin. That Thor guy can get pretty salty about his beer too, or so I’m told. Even after converting to Christianity, these countries kept their love of these big beers, sharing them along with their idea of “Yule” with the new religion. Scandinavian households were even given a required amount of beer to keep on hand during the holidays, something that’s a pretty solid idea, even today. As travel between countries increased, these winter beers traveled throughout Western Europe, most notably to the birthplace of modern brewing: England. The British already liked dark beers, so they took this idea of Jul beers and merged it with their own to create some pretty impressive drinks, which in turn ended up being the basis for many of the holiday beers we have today.

A Wassailing We Will Go Along with the beers from the Vikings, the holiday season in other parts of the world was celebrated with mulled wine. This was typically red wine mixed with various spices and raisins.These mulled drinks took many names throughout the world, called glühwein in Germany and Austria, glogg in the Nordic countries, and vin chaud in France. Today’s winter spiced beers mostly started their history with a mulled drink known as wassail. This hot, mulled cider was traditionally enjoyed while…you guessed it…wassailing. It shouldn’t be a surprise that wassailing, which is the act of going door to door and singing to complete strangers, was fueled by alcohol. The tradition of drinking wassail during the winter months lined up with the apple harvest and can be dated back as far as medieval times. As tastes and alcoholic beverages fell in and out of popularity the spiced aspect of winter alcohol seemed to stay put. As you can see, the spiced beers we have today are based in quite a bit of history, so every time you have one, you’re linking yourself to thousands of years of celebrations. Pretty cool, eh?

The Winter Warmer Today, more often than not a winter or holiday beer will fall into the winter warmer category of beers. While not all winter or holiday beers are winter warmers, it’s a very common style for this time of year. Winter warmers are known for their maltiness and a full body. They can range in color from a brownish red to as black as night. While very malty, you won’t find much in the way of hop bitterness in a winter warmer, their major focus is typically on the malt body and sometimes spice. Much like IPAs, winter warmers are typically categorized as either British or American. British varieties often have little to no spice but instead focus primarily on the malt. It’s common to have a standard winter seasonal simply called a winter warmer here. American varieties of winter warmer beers, much like our IPAs, are often bigger, stronger, and a little more bitter. When spiced, both varieties often rely on the spices we think of when we think of the winter months. These spices include cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cocoa, brown sugar, and even some coffee. Since these are typically malt-driven, expect a toasty, bready quality that, when paired with the spices, can even be reminiscent of gingerbread.

VECENIE D

TRIBUTING ISSINCE 1933

MPANY CO

As for alcohol and bitterness specifics, this “style” is all over the board. There are some offerings that come in at 10% ABV while others go down as low as 4.5%. It’s common to find these beers edging towards the higher end of ABV however, as the alcoholic warmness seems to go just right with a cold, dark night.

2015

Commercial Examples Winter and holiday beers abound, as nearly every brewery has at least one offering, sometimes more as you get into barrel aging. Some notable varieties include: • Penn Brewery St. Nikolaus Bock • Great Lakes Christmas Ale • Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome • 21st Amendment Fireside Chat • Harpoon Winter Warmer • Sweetwater Festive Ale • Southern Tier 2XMAS • Anchor Brewing Christmas • St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

CraftPittsburgh.com

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

hoppy couple

House Of 1,000 Beers 357 Freeport St, New Kensington - houseof1000beers.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!

House of 1000 Beers is located in New Kensington, PA. New Kensington is about 20 miles from downtown Pittsburgh and really, not a bad trip at all. Being only 6 miles from the Pittsburgh Mills Mall, if you are looking for a unique spot to grab some food and drink before catching a movie at the theater, this is your spot. HO1KB has a parking lot and street parking as well. We had no problem finding an open space in the lot this particular afternoon.

Joe Beer

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

As the name says, HO1KB quite literally has over one thousand beers to choose from. When you enter the establishment you are immediately surrounded by various eight feet high walls of beer bottles. Further in, there are even more beers in coolers. One beer I distinctly remember trying was the Evil Genius Trick or Treat Porter. This was a pumpkin porter with hints of chocolate, which gave it an almost tootsie-roll flavor. I also had one of my go-to beers, a Bell’s Two Hearted. Can’t get enough of that beer. You can create 6 packs to go (actually, buy 5 and get the 6th for a penny) but don’t be surprised when you find it hard to nail down only 6 beers.

Atmosphere

Since the weather brought us that perfect autumn feel, we opted to sit outside on their fairly large and very welcoming patio and deck. Plenty of seating and plenty of sun, though their tables did have umbrellas for some shade which was nice. The staff was very helpful and I enjoyed chatting with their general manager, John Lakari, about watches and beer-- watch

collecting being another hobby (obsession) of mine. John also offered up some great beer recommendations. Our server that day, Tony, was awesome too and we were never left waiting or wanting.

Food

I very much wanted to try what sounded like a legendary Pittsburgh take on the famous Canadian dish, Poutine, but unfortunately they were out that day. I was not disappointed however when I ordered their Oktoberfest special which was a traditional German-style bratwurst dish complete with very fresh sauerkraut and a tasty German gravy. From what I could tell while I was spying on other patrons’ orders, HO1KB’s burgers seem to be a fan favorite. They were also gearing up for an outdoor BBQ party later in the day. Needless to say, a lot goes on at HO1KB!

Amanda

rather listening to watch conversations for a while) we started talking about our favorite seasonals. John’s mouth was watering when he told us about Elysian’s Punkuccino, a coffee pumpkin ale. He didn’t have it in stock (it flies off the shelves) but he said whenever you see it out you cannot pass it up. So, a few weeks later I happened to see it while I was out and of course had to buy it and it did not disappoint!

Atmosphere

HO1KB looks like it has been expanded several times which isn’t surprising since their food, beer, and customer base continues to grow. In the back of the building is their bar and some high top tables. It has dim lighting and a vintage bowling alley bar kind of feel which is really fun. There’s also some additional tables on the other side of the restaurant and their great outdoor seating. HO1KB also has lots of events going on like beer pairing dinners, cookouts on the deck, happy hour, and more.

Location

Food

Beer

Conclusion

About seven miles from HO1KB is the Wooden Door Winery. We didn’t get the chance to explore it after our visit that day but I definitely plan on checking it out soon. I’ve heard their wines are fabulous and the outdoor space is breathtaking. New Kensington also seems to be going through a revitalization process much like many cities around the ‘Burgh. This small town is now holding a Better Block event to help the community come together and make improvements for New Ken. It’s showing lots of promise for the future. HO1KB has a large tap list which included some local beers from Hop Farm, Grist House, and Voodoo but their specialty is the tremendous amounts of bottled/canned beers they offer. They had a big seasonal selection, too, which included lots of Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers. After chatting with John for a while (or

I’ve had a hankering for wings for a few months for some reason and finally conquered my craving at HO1KB with Chef Brian’s Beer Wings. The wings are brined in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Yum!) and deep fried right before serving. They’re drizzled in a delicious house sauce, not smothered in it, so the wings stay nice and crispy. Some of the best wings I’ve ever had.We also split a Margherita Pizza which was so fresh and cheesy and crispy...pardon me while I mop up my drool. Everything we had there was amazing and I can’t wait to go back to try a new dish. Kudos to Chef Brian.

HO1KB is absolutely worth the drive.They have exceptional handcrafted food, practically any beer you can imagine, new and exciting events all the time, and a wonderful staff (Thanks John and Tony!).

Stocking Up on Cheer!

Hundreds of domestic, import & craft beers now available in over 40 Giant Eagle and Market District CafĂŠs throughout 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.

@CraftPittsburgh

We love Instagram.

Below are a few of our favorite brewery accounts. Some are local, some arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Check them out and follow us @CraftPittsburgh.

@breweryommegang The Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY is pretty much the most photogenic place on earth.

@foundersbrewing Professional photos and updated daily, Founders does a great job keeping their followers happy.

@brewgentlemen

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

Our friends at Brew Gentlemen keep it classy with great lighting and perfectly composed photos. Follow them for great pics and brewery news.

@draailaag Stay up-to-date with events and bottle releases from Millvaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Draai Laag Brewing.

@lccb_farmbrews A Virginian farm brewery in the middle of a sunflower field. We started following Licking Hole Creek right about the time they started digging footers for the brewery.

Expect more Download the zTrip app and get home safely The new app that gets you a black car or taxi

@trvebrewing Beer. Metal. Denver.

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@greenflashbeer

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*One per customer.

West Coast goodness from Green Flash. Lots of bright, colorful product shots and behind the scenes pics.

@yardsbrew Yards loves Philadelphia the way we love Pittsburgh.

Southern Tier has a great mix of brewery and product shots along with reposts of their beer â&#x20AC;&#x153;out in the wild.â&#x20AC;?

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@stbcbeer

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

the locals

Ed Vidunas pittsburghbrewers.com Written by Dino Juklo

When did you first start getting into beer? I think the first beers I ever had other than Iron City were Strauss, Heineken and more Iron City. I enjoyed drinking with friends but didn’t quite think of myself as a beer enthusiast. It was just something I did socially until a buddy of mine one day decided to take me to Chiodo’s in Homestead. We had no idea it was a destination bar, and it wasn’t at the time, but something about it kept me coming back. It was like a living museum and since I was into antiques it drew me in pretty quickly.We went in at 8pm on a Friday night and it was empty except for Sam Chiodo, the manager, and Marsha, the cook. They had about five or six imported beers on the shelf so we took a liking to that. It ended up being a great night and we returned the following weekend. I would continue to come back for the next 20 or so years until they finally shut down. Over that time, I made so many good

friends there and learned so much about beer long before anything considered “craft beer” came to Pennsylvania. If you were a beer person back then, you went to Chiodo’s.

shows. Once I started researching this, I discovered so much Pittsburgh history along the way and from there just kept hunting for more.

How did this experience turn into a passion for writing about beer? One night I was at Chiodo’s and Sam introduced me to a group of guys who called themselves the Western Pennsylvania Homebrew Society (now known as T.R.A.S.H). They all had an appreciation for nicely made beer as I did so it only made sense to join up. Eventually I did their newsletter for eleven years and suddenly realized I had become a beer writer.The British journalist Michael Jackson was a big influence for me. He was a newspaper man who wrote a book about whiskey and then began writing about beer. Jackson had a lot to do with the early formation of craft beer in America because he wrote about all the different styles that exist back when most people were only familiar with the mediocre lagers.

How has South Side changed since you first started going out with friends here? This is not the same town I grew up in. It used to be all blue-collar and I knew just about everyone… can’t say the same about the college kids that now occupy my neighborhood. Back then there were about as many bars as there are now but the quality of them has gotten much better. Bars used to be a place where the men went after work while the women and children stayed home. They only offered a few different beers and were the last place you wanted to eat. Nowadays, bars like Fathead’s and Piper’s Pub offer the best of both worlds. It’s just the total opposite from how it used to be, especially once the old steel mill closed and the big box companies moved in after the area took a nosedive way back when.

You run two different websites about local beer, PittsburghBrewers. com and PubNetwork.com – tell us a little bit about their own histories. I started Pub Network way back in June of 1997. Being born and raised in the South Side, I wanted to write about all the different bars I visited, both past and present, and be able to keep adding to what I published.That is the beauty of the internet. People always ask me if I plan on writing a book but I don’t see the point when just about everything I have written is viewable online. Plus it’s nice to be able to makes updates on the fly with the push of a button. Later on I started Pittsburgh Brewers after hearing Rick Sebak of WQED mention that the Strip had quite a few breweries on one of his

You frequently travel to London. What keeps you bouncing back and forth between there and Pittsburgh? My first trip to London was in 1975 and to date I have gone 24 times. I’ve always been a pub guy so naturally I took a liking to drinking in England. I can’t count how many times I’ve made friends simply over a chat about common beer interests. In terms of bars, I see a lot of similarities between Pittsburgh and London which is probably why I can’t get enough of both. I love good beer but what I like even better is the way it brings people together. I think it’s amazing how everything is connected in some way and to me beer connects everything.

CraftPittsburgh.com

Ed Vidunas is a local beer historian and lifelong resident of the South Side. A structural draftsman by trade, Vidunas has been chronicling Pittsburgh beer online since the 1990s. Follow him on Twitter: @PGHPUBS.

hand crafted

Holiday Gift Ideas Our readers appreciate good beer, that’s a given. A lot of you also buy locally and support local artists and small businesses whenever possible. Here at CraftPittsburgh, we searched the hills around the Three Rivers to bring you some innovative gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season. Your local brewery or bottle shop will of course stock top of the line seasonal brews and swag sporting their logo, but if you are looking for something different and brew-related, check out what we found around the ‘Burgh! By Beth Kurtz Taylor

East End Brewing in Larimer* has two ways to keep your beer extra cold! Their gorgeous insulated half-gallon growler will keep beer cold for hours. To shield your glass growler, they have a neoprene cozy that zips over the bottle and the look is completed with a shoulder strap. The brewery arguably has one of the best selections of logo apparel that goes beyond the basic t-shirt.Your favorite baby needs a “Little Hop” onesie, plus you can pick up a shirt for your avid biking friend. You will even find soap made with Blackstrap Stout on their shelves.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

East End Brewing 147 Julius Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206 * Most items also available at the brewery’s growler shop in the Pittsburgh Public Market

Eliza Bowman concocts a wide variety of baked goods and other sweets year-round using local beer and other spirits. But for the holidays, Eliza’s Oven, located in the Pittsburgh Public Market, will offer baking gift baskets containing mixes for scones and other treats. All you have to do is add your own beer! She will also whip up truffles in December with Blackstrap Stout, a perfect hostess gift. Another fun alternative for a serious lover of baked goods or boozy breads is the CSB, or Community Supported Bakery share. From six weeks to a full year, you can purchase a gift of a bakery share that includes baked goods and other local food products. More detailed information is available on her website, elizasoven.com. Eliza’s Oven, Pittsburgh Public Market 2401 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Like every December for the past 12 years, craft enthusiasts look forward to the Handmade Arcade, the city’s largest independent craft fair. Last year’s event welcomed 157 vendors from all over the country.You’re sure to find a few that offer gifts for the beer nut! Reuse First makes candles from recycled beer bottles as well as other spirit and wine vessels. PuzzlePax has also been selected as a vendor for the fair. How about handmade lip balms and soaps with flavors and scents inspired by classic cocktails, modern mixed drinks, and craft beers? Visit the Aromaholic booth! December 5, 2015 David Lawrence Convention Center 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Step inside Wildcard in Lawrenceville to find more unique beer items. They have a great assortment of titles for your spiritrelated bookshelf including standouts The Comic Book Story of Beer and the Images of America book, Brewing in Greater Pittsburgh. Pint glasses and can cozies from Pittsburgh print shop Everyday Balloons make great stocking stuffers as well as tea towels, magnets and even a felt pennant for lovers of brewed beverages. Pumpkin Porter Candles from 1820 House Candle Company in East Palestine, Ohio are offered along with other scents in their Rust Belt Collective line. Always scrambling for that bottle opener? Choose one of the inspired works from Sweet Art Attack, a small business in Connecticut. Wildcard 4209 Butler Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Looking for a gift you can share with a friend, family member, or even something a group of friends can do together? PA Brew Tours, a Division of Pittsburgh Transportation Group, has holiday themed beer tours coming up in December and an overnight trip to Ligonier in January that includes a beer pairing dinner. A beer tour is fun at any time of the year, so contact them to purchase a gift certificate or book a group tour!

Atlas Bottle Works regularly stocks quirky pen and ink drawings of beer bottles by local artist Kirsten LoweRebel. Beer bottle candles? Upcycle Pittsburgh cuts and polishes bottles and then fills them with wax, a perfect accent for a beer lover’s home. Atlas regularly offers four-pack gift sets with a theme! They may contain three beers with a t-shirt or pint glass from a particular brewery. Keeping with tradition, soon they’ll be assembling beer themed gift baskets during the holiday season. The store also carries growler cozies and PuzzlePax reusable wooden six-pack holders. They look forward to stocking new logo coasters from the same company with a built-in bottle opener. Atlas Bottle Works 4115 Butler Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Don’t forget that most local breweries offer some type of gift certificate or card, which will be surely appreciated by any lover of local brews. Happy Holidays!

CraftPittsburgh.com

pghtoursandmore.net

craft cocktails

Hi there. I’m Will Groves. I make drinks.

For about ten years I’ve been working in restaurants and bars, making drinks, managing the staff, and helping to make Pittsburgh a great food and drink town. Lately, I’ve been working as a freelance bar and hospitality consultant. What that means is that I help bars and restaurants with their beverage situation. I provide an outside eye to help them cut costs, prevent waste and make sure everything is the right price. What it boils down to is I make a lot of spreadsheets.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

I also get to make cocktail menus. I get to help train the awesome people who make drinks in this town. Sometimes I get to drink wine at 10am. It makes up for all the spreadsheets.

Lately, I’ve been working with a new food and beverage concept in Pittsburgh called Smallman Galley who is bringing an idea from the tech world to the food service industry. Smallman Galley will be a restaurant incubator that will help talented chefs to open their own restaurants and give them the business tools to do it right. Four chefs at a time will come in, test out their menu, get weekly business training from industry leaders and, in the meantime, you get to try food from four different chefs in one spot. Smallman Galley will feature a full bar at its heart with a program of locally made beers and ciders, an approachable (and approachably priced) wine list, and a small menu of ten to twelve seasonal cocktails. As a preview of what we’re going to have happening, let me walk you through how to make a couple of the drinks that you’ll find on the menu when Smallman Galley opens.These drinks are both simple, seasonal and can also be made in larger batches for a crowd.

Written by Will Groves, photos by Jeff Zoet

First, let’s start off with a drink I’m calling Strictly Business. “Will,” you say, “is that named after the classic debut album by hip-hop duo EPMD?” Yeah. Sure is. It’s a take on the extremely popular Moscow Mule, but filled out a little with cinnamon syrup and broiled citrus juice. Broiling citrus fruit before juicing it rounds off some of the sharp edges of the flavor and adds a gentle, toasty sweetness. This drink is super approachable and good for parties with a wide variety of people. Non-cocktail people can dig it because it’s a little sweet, a little tart and feels fancy. Cocktail people will like it because it’s got some culinary technique and homemade ingredients.

Strictly Business

1½ oz. Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka ¾ oz. broiled grapefruit juice (recipe follows) ½ oz. broiled lemon juice (recipe follows) ½ oz. brown sugar-cinnamon syrup (recipe follows) 2 oz. Jamaica’s Finest Ginger Beer, to top Combine all ingredients except for ginger beer in a cocktail shaker. Add ice. Lots of ice. More than you think you need. No such thing as too much here. Shake hard for about 10 seconds. Strain into a Collins or other tall glass over fresh ice. Pour the ginger beer into the drink and stir a couple times VERY gently so you don’t mess up the bubbles. Garnish with a cinnamon stick, grapefruit peel and rosemary sprig.

To make this drink in bigger quantities, just multiply all the amounts by the number of people you want to serve. Add all the ingredients to a punch bowl or other large vessel. Add ice and stir VERY gently. Float slices of lemon and sprigs of rosemary in the punch.

Broiled Citrus Juice 1 grapefruit, cut in half 1 lemon, cut in half

Place citrus halves under a broiler set on high until they are thoroughly brown at the edges, and beginning to brown all over. Squeeze the juice. If you’re feeling fancy, strain the juice through a fine mesh strainer.

Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Syrup 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup water 4 cinnamon sticks Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over very low heat. Stir to combine. Let heat very gently for 30 minutes, at least. Allow to cool to room temperature. By then, it should smell pretty intensely of cinnamon. One of the ingredients that this drink hinges on is Boyd & Blair, which is a vodka made in Glenshaw from locally-grown potatoes. You’ve probably passed the distillery on Route 8 and never even knew it. Being distilled in small batches from good ingredients gives Boyd & Blair a full body and a natural sweetness. It makes excellent cocktails and plays well with almost any ingredient you can think of. The distillers of Boyd & Blair also make a rum called Stonewall. This rum is starting to appear in bars and restaurants around Pittsburgh, but is not listed with the state for sale in PLCB stores. Still, it’s great. It’s dry and rich, with a woodsy, earthy backbone. It makes a great Old Fashioned. Yeah, a rum Old Fashioned. It’s not just a whiskey drink anymore.With rum the drink has more of a bass note, and a little more bite. It also just feels like fall to me, more than any whiskey drink.This would also be a great place to use any leftover brown sugar-cinnamon syrup for that added little bit of autumn. On the cocktail menu at Smallman Galley, this drink will appear with homemade maple-walnut bitters, sweetened with maple syrup. 2 oz. aged rum, such as Stonewall 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters 1 tsp. brown sugar-cinnamon syrup, maple syrup or brown sugar Add all ingredients to an Old Fashioned glass and stir briefly. Add plenty of ice and stir until the drink is well-chilled. Garnish with a wide strip of orange peel. This style of Old Fashioned Cocktail is lean and serious. The way they should be.

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Rum Old Fashioned

the

PINK BOOTS SOCIETY Written by Devon Murdoch

As the modern craft brewing revolution continues to take root here in Pittsburgh, it’s no surprise that several local women are stepping up to shape its future. Many of these female “movers and shakers” in Pittsburgh’s beer industry gather once a month to attend a local Pink Boots Society (PBS) meeting where they can network, support, and share their specialized beer skills with one another.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

PBS is the product of a cross-country road trip that brewer and eventual PBS founder, Teri Fahrendorf, took in 2007. She set off on a five month quest to brew with the brewmasters she had met at festivals and conferences over the years. One of the brewers she met was Laura Ulrich, of Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California. The two women soon wondered how many other females brewers were out there.

Fahrendorf and Ulrich ran with their curiosity and started to compile a list of women they had met in the beer industry. Their growing list gradually turned into a public blog. Eventually, they found enough women to transform their inquisitiveness into a full-blown international non-profit business for women in the beer industry. The name, Pink Boots Society, was inspired by the pink boots Fahrendorf always wore while brewing with the brewmasters she had met on her epic journey across the States.

of Western Pennsylvania

The qualifications to become a PBS member are minimal: the applicant must be a female and earn at least some of her income from the beer industry. Members can range from lab techs, brewers, bloggers, distributors, Cicerones, and even jewelers that make beer-inspired pieces. PBS currently has close to 2,000 active members worldwide and continues to grow at a dizzying rate of 150 members per month. This past June, PBS welcomed its newest group, the PBS of Western Pennsylvania chapter. The mission of this local PBS chapter is to create a concrete coalition of female beer professionals here in Pittsburgh. They also want to provide guidance and support to women in our city who would like to enter the beer industry. Providing a strong foundation for female beer professionals is essential, as the beer industry is often perceived to be an industry that’s largely dominated by males. Luckily, you don’t need to look very far for active female leaders in Pittsburgh’s growing beer scene. There are women in this city who own breweries, brew, serve, package, sell, and write about beer. With such an array of talent and industry expertise, the monthly meetings are full of rich discussions and content.The group often takes its learning on the road to see and experience firsthand the many unique facets of Pittsburgh’s booming beer industry. In July, the group enjoyed an exclusive tour of Grist House Brewing Co. and learned about the brewing process from Krystle Eaton, co-owner of Grist House Brewing Co. In August, PBS took a PA Brew Tours shuttle to Keystone Hop Farm to learn about hops and the growing process from local Hop Farmer, Noah Petronic. This past month, PBS met at Hitchhiker Brewing Co. to learn about the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) from Three Rivers Alliance for Serious Home Brewers president, Jack Smith, and head brewer for Hitchhiker Brewing Co., Andy Kwiatkowski. Rock Bottom head brewer Meg Evans is the driving force behind this local PBS chapter. The idea came about last year while Evans was applying for one of the 12 PBS scholarships that are offered to its members who want to further their knowledge and expertise in the beer industry. PBS partners with various establishments such as Oregon State University, Siebel Institute, and Cicerone Organization to provide its members unique scholarship opportunities. In exchange for the scholarship, recipients are asked to “pay it forward.” They are commissioned to share their newfound knowledge and personal experiences with their female colleagues by speaking at conferences or writing articles. The scholarship funds are generated by donations, chapter dues, and funds raised from International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, “Unite.” While applying, Evans was asked to answer several questions including what actions she takes to support women in her local beer industry and her involvement with PBS. These questions ultimately prompted her to start thinking about starting a local PBS chapter here in Pittsburgh.

The idea turned into a reality when Evans assembled a group of local women to brew a beer for the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day “Unite Red” event. On March 8th, more than 80 groups of women across the globe brewed their own unique versions of a “Unite Red” themed red ale. Under the supervision of Evans, Pittsburgh women gathered at the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery in the Waterfront to brew up a delicious Scottish Red Ale. But this wasn’t any old Scottish Red Ale. This brew included unique ingredients, like local Sangiovese Dorsata mead from Apis Meadery and spirals of American oak for the character of being aged in wine barrels. By including these special ingredients, Evans took the classic Scottish Red Ale style and gave it a punchy, yet refined twist.

PBS scholarship recipients about their experience attending a hop harvesting school. “One of the best things about this national PBS meeting was meeting so many women who are really active in the beer industry and PBS. We were able put faces to names and ask questions about the future of our chapter,” said Evans. The future of PBS Western PA looks bright as ever. The group is planning events focused on sensory analysis, including detecting malt and hop flavors with Whitney Thompson from Malteurop and Missy Egan from Victory Brewing Company. They also will be continuing Beer Judge Certification Program education so PBS members will have the skills necessary to become beer judges at local and national competitions. The members of the PBS Western PA chapter look forward to growing with our region’s craft beer industry as well as shaping its promising future. For more information, contact the chapter at PBSWesternPA@gmail.com and follow them on Twitter and Instagram @PinkBootsWPA.

The team of women took part in all the aspects of this event, from brewing the beer to planning its release party. Evans was so impressed by the effort put forth for this event that she decided to move forward with starting the chapter. She emailed the women she brewed with to gauge their interest. Within 24 hours, she had more than enough local women interested in making this group a reality. The PBS Western PA chapter currently has 15 active members, and continues to grow as local female beer industry professionals learn more about the benefits of the group. Currently, the PBS of Western PA leadership committee includes Chairlady Meg Evans, Krystle Eaton as the group’s treasurer, and public relations/ communications headed by Devon Murdoch, blogger for PenniesPintsPittsburgh.com.

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This past month, Evans and Eaton attended the national PBS meeting at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado. The keynote speaker, Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing Company, spoke about the progression of her career. She told the women that “just do it” has been her guiding mantra since the beginning. Evans and Eaton also heard from two

Story & Photos by Ian Mikrut

Trying something new or unfamiliar can be intimidating. Looking up and down the beer list at Draai Laag Brewing Company in Millvale, it may be hard to pinpoint exactly what it is you’ll be drinking. Since 2009 Draai Laag has focused on creating Belgian inspired ales using old-world methods combined with very new-world creativity resulting in some of the most unique sour-beer flavors in the region. “We’re always making something really different, something really interesting,” Dennis R. Hock, founder of Draai Laag, said. “It’s what we always try to do. We don’t let anything get in the way of creativity.” Hock’s passion for the beer he makes is only matched by his passion for the creative process as a whole. And when Caliente Pizza & Draft House owner Nick Bogacz approached him about a collaboration project, Hock didn’t think twice about it. “Honestly a lot of times I’m more ready to work with people that aren’t professional brewers before I am to work with people who are professional brewers,” Hock said. “Because they bring nothing but creativity to the table. So now it’s a challenge for me to sit down and figure out the science, the chemistry and everything behind it to make it work and fit it into what we’re doing.”

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Collaborations between local establishments in Pittsburgh are a pretty common occurrence. Especially between breweries and restaurants. So when Draai Laag and Caliente announced their fall release of The Plague, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, it was clear that something bigger than a “pizza and beer” event was happening with the announcement of the limited-release event that introduced The Plague.

It helps that Caliente has already established itself as a brand that can run right alongside breweries in the creative process of a collaboration brew. Their ace in the hole? Former head brewer at Church Brew Works, Matt Moninger. “We’ve collabed with Church when Matt was the head brewer there and that was kind of like our first relationship,” Bogacz said. Bogacz and his wife, Angie, and a small group of Caliente employees were hands on in the brewing process of their first collaboration beer. When Moninger joined the staff at Caliente, it opened the doors for even more opportunity. “We’re able to use Matt almost as an ‘in’ with his skills,” Bogacz said. “It helps having Matt here to set us apart from a place that just wants to brew beer.” Initiating the conversation would be the easy part.

Hock already knew Moninger and trusted the beer knowledge and experience of Bogacz and his staff. Caliente has sold Draai Laag beer and hosts Sour Saturdays every other month, helping to be at the forefront of sour beer distribution in Pittsburgh. From there it was just figuring out what kind of beer this particular union could cook up. The initial meeting led to discussions about Duchesse de Bourgogne, a Belgium Flanders red ale-style that blends an eight month-old beer with an 18 month-old beer. “How they do that beer, it’s actually a technique in normal wild beer worlds that’s actually a flaw,” Hock said.“It’s a really bad flaw too. It’s too much acetic acid is what it is, which makes it taste like vinegar. Well that, if you can do it the right way and you can add those slight tones to it, it can actually compliment some beers.” With the influence of Duchesse and the idea of starting with a stout base, The Plague was conceived. But in true Draai Laag fashion, Hock didn’t want it to be recognized as a stout by the end product. True to its name, the Plague is dark. But there’s no roasty quality to it that would be consistent with a stout. “What we did was we took the unaged portion of it and we just brewed that as is, the aged batch portion we put it in petite sirah, French oak casks specifically and we just let the organisms go nuts,” Hock said. The aged batch stayed in those barrels for roughly six to eight months. Hock then developed a technique to produce the same vinegar-like byproduct in a controlled environment. Hock explained, “I don’t know what you’d call it necessarily but what we do is we pull in a low-level vessel and then we allow oxygen to expose to it. Because what happens is anytime you use neutral French casks, specifically bred, they go through a process called malolactic fermentation, more than likely you’re going to find malolactic critters in there.”

As planned, the malolactic critters did begin to pop up, and acidobacteria followed it. Acidobacteria needs oxygen to develop its byproduct: acetic acid (the vinegar taste).Without oxygen, it lies dormant until being exposed again. “So if you take a beer that could be sitting there for a year, two years and it tastes perfectly fine right? It tastes wild, tastes the lactic acid in it from all the other critters, and you pour it in a low-level vessel and expose it (low-level, there’s more exposure, more surface area for oxygen) the acetic acid takes hold and it starts growing its population again, regardless of the alcohol content,” he said.

For Hock, it’s difficult to describe to patrons what they’ll be tasting with The Plague, or any of Draai Laag’s beers for that matter. “What we do we take a general style, and we’ll bend it, pull it, and we’ll add things to it and now it’s really unrecognizable to the style anymore, but it starts with that intricate base,” he said. “So when anybody comes in I don’t ever try to tell them what style it is. My thought is: drink it. If you like it, great. If you don’t, try something else. That’s the point.” Don’t think too hard about it. Try something new, something different. Oddly enough, The Plague might be just what the doctor ordered.

If your head is spinning, technically it is the beer. The chemistry lesson behind it is just as interesting (and intoxicating) as consuming it. “What we learned is that you can control the acetic acid level in a beer by actually time lining it. And that’s what we did, that’s the technique that we developed,” Hock said. At this point there are three elements coming together. The unaged batch, the aged batch sitting in the petite sirah French oak casks for six to eight months with a portion of that undergoing the technique described above. Now all three must be blended together, a skill Hock said can’t be taught. Once the blending was complete, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries were added and the fermentation process was finished out. The end result was bottled and aged another four months. 300 of those bottles were sold at Draai Laag the Friday evening of its release, with 300 more the following evening at Caliente. The Plague is only available on site at either location and will continue to be a seasonal release.

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“The best part out of everything was the relationship we made out of it,” Bogacz said. “We have a great relationship moving forward and it may have been the first beer we brewed together but I don’t think it’ll be the last.”

Art by Sarah M. Cunniff

On the best of rainy afternoons, Frankie’s Extra Long is like cutting your last class to sneak into a cafeteria back room for a beer and sandwich with awesome Pittsburgh lunch ladies. Lunch ladies who are so cool, they’re installing a two-line draft system almost like a secret kegerator. When I asked if she knew what they’d be running on tap, bartender/ cook Mary Martin explained, “We wanted to support someone local,” and pulled a hidden handle from underneath the bar, unwrapping it from a plush cloth to reveal the emerald glow of Big Hop. The anticipation wasn’t making me enjoy my can of Old German Festival Lager any less.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

Owned by the Zenk family since two brothers purchased Frankie’s from former owner Louis “Gigi” Nese in 1989, the hotdog shop serves hot sausage, kielbasa, footlong hotdogs, and meatball subs alongside bags of small market brand chips and five and ten cent candy. If we were outside, a Little League game could break out at any moment.

As I ordered at the register on my first fact-finding lunch, I paused to glimpse through the arch separating the bar side of the building. Men with sweatshirts without hoods, non-artisanal mustaches, and pre-Von Dutch trucker hats watched a Pirates game. These mid-40s dads, their combination of age and appearance only rationally explained by accidental time travel from the early 1980s, quietly leaned on their elbows and enjoyed Iron City’s new light beer in a rare refuge from the 21st century. I started interviewing one of the women behind the counter. Maybe suspicious of my plastic binder (usually a giveaway for an impending sales pitch), she advised me to come back at 5:30 to interview her nephew.The dads that time forgot were gone by the time I returned to the bar. Instead, it was closer to a sit-down between the ruling families of contemporary Lawrenceville. Guys with well-barbered undercuts or crisp Members Only

jackets drinking Dale’s Pale Ale after work at a neighborhood nonprofit, Frank the plumber in the middle eating a hot dog before he goes home for dinner, and finally a small, nervous, and uniquely local confluence of urban culture and Appalachian drawl drinking Keystone Ice on the end-it’s possible a clandestine branch of the census department lost track of this bizarre focus group with an overcoat-covered barstool left between them. When undercut flannel guy noticed me and invited me to grab the last seat, I realized I was sitting in Frankie’s, next to a Frank who told stories about eating there since he was a kid, and Pope Francis was on the only TV. I could feel this article coming together. It’s a solid name, Franks usually get along. Then, her nephew never showed up. He’s probably not a Frank. I could see the bartender felt a little bad-- I think it was a surprise I came back at all-- but she was busy chatting up twitchy Keystone on the end to divert his relatively good-natured attention from other paying customers for the last 20 minutes Frankie’s was open. Personally, I found the repartee a treat to watch. After working there 25 years, as I found out because twitchy and I had a lot of the same questions, her kung fu was good. As I filled in the gaps, there wasn’t much to find when I researched Frankie’s. There were no local newspaper retrospectives, just a handful of divided reviews, but more than a few of the scattered photos-- that weren’t Instagrammed sandwich porn-- showed generations of relatives out for lunches together. Everyone is making a mess over plastic lunch trays, having a beer, and grinning under a soft halo of halogen tube lighting and hazy Polaroid film. That Saturday, I met veteran bartenders Mary Martin and Chrissy Ortwig as they fed and charmed the late day rush on both sides of the building. The only time they passed each other without an order in their hands, Chrissy threw an arm over Mary and thanked her for being their “restaurant mom.” The story was in the hug: where high-profile, chestthumping, tattooed chefs have cracked under less pressure, restaurant moms prevail. Like plenty of the institutions that make Pittsburgh great, or at least Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, it’s their confidence in family and city that drives the atmosphere worth coming back for at Frankie’s. It’s why they’ve lasted 75 years, it’s why the line for their hotdog counter has more diversity than the average progressive restaurant with upscale food, and it’s why their brick bunker and red neon sign will survive the rollercoaster of a neighborhood becoming fashionable. Pittsburgh loves rollercoasters.

! R E HE

info@craftpittsburgh.com

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e s i t r adve

cooking with beer

Maggies Farm Spiced Rum Apple Cake By Mindy Heisler-Johnson

he days get shorter and the wind takes on a bite, next thing you know it’s the very bestest eating time of the year ~ COLD! Our appetites change with the season; grills are put away for the winter; stews, braises and roasts warm the house and make it smell amazing! Start talking cold weather desserts and the first place most people go is pumpkin. I like pumpkin, but the apple is where it’s at in my house. While doing recipe development for Sticky Toffee Pudding for The Pub the idea was planted for this cake. I love any cake that has ‘pour toffee over the whole thing’ as part of its instructions, who wouldn’t, but the date puree was a sticky mess and not my most favorite thing ever. And I like whisky, a key component of the recipe I was working on, but I LOVE rum. So I paid Tim down at Maggie’s Farm Distillery in The Strip a visit and over a warm cider cocktail at the bar and a chat about rum cake I had ALL OF THE INSPIRATION. A moist, brown sugar and spice apple cake soaked in a spiced rum toffee sauce. Bottle of Maggie’s Farm spiced rum in hand I hit the kitchen. I used my homemade applesauce for the cake - I am a smoosher not a puree-er so any chunky store bought should substitute perfectly fine - or if you want to make just enough 4 or 5 medium apples cooked to mush will give you what you need.The cake is baked in a bundt pan, I have also used a 10” round, if you use anything smaller divide the batter between the 2 pans. It also makes DIVINE cupcakes. The toffee recipe makes enough to have a cup or so more for additional saucing. Cover anything you think needs rum toffee sauce. Which is everything. Just so you know.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

As for the rum- I wouldn’t substitute if you have the option. There is a vanilla and clove to Maggie’s Farm Spiced Rum that is unique to any that I have tried and you can taste that boldness in the cake and the toffee sauce. This ain’t one for the kiddies, the sauce is a little boozy by design and there is a hefty pour in the cake, too. I guess you could make it without all the rum, but why?

Spiced Rum Toffee Sauce

Make the sauce while you are mixing up the cake batter and heating the oven, that will allow it some time to cool before you pour it over hot cake, helping with the absorption process. Can also be made a day or two ahead… or just to be eaten whenever. 8 oz butter, salted 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup heavy cream ⅓ cup Maggie’s Farm Spiced Rum

Put the butter, sugar and cream in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring until everything is melted together. Bring to a hard boil, stirring periodically. Boil to 225 F, check your temp with a thermometer. When the toffee reaches the right temp turn off the heat and whisk in the rum. It will boil hard but cool quickly. Set aside to cool.

Spiced Rum Apple Pecan Cake 6 oz butter, softened 1 ½ cups light brown sugar 3 Eggs ½ tsp salt 2 cups chunky apple sauce ½ cup Maggie’s Farm Spiced Rum 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground mace (or ½ tsp nutmeg) ¼ cup chopped pecan pieces (optional)

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray and dust inside with flour. Sprinkle the chopped pecans around the bottom of the pan if you are using them. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to make the cake batter. I always fold the dry ingredients in by hand, though. Cream together the butter and brown sugar until they are fluffy, between three and four minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions- mix until the butter mixture is light. Add the salt, applesauce, and rum and mix together until everything is evenly combined. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, powder and spices. Use a spatula to gently fold the dry into the wet until it comes together as a stiff batter. Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top with a spoon or spatula. Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes- the cake is done when the center springs back to your touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and use a chopstick to poke a bunch of holes in the bottom of the cake. Pour 6 oz of toffee sauce slowly over the top, letting it soak down in through all those holes you poked and into the cake. Let it sit for 15 minutes to soak in, then flip onto a plate to finish cooling. When cooled slowly drizzle the toffee sauce over the top of the cake to glaze it. Serve it with vanilla ice cream, more toffee sauce, whipped cream, and more toffee sauce. More toffee sauce. This is a show stopper, drenched in rum toffee. Go. Get rum! Bake a cake!

VECENIE D

MPANY CO

TRIBUTING ISSINCE 1933

2015

VECENIE DISTRIBUTING CO. 140 North Avenue, Millvale, PA 15209

412.821.4618  beersince1933.com

Western Pennsylvania’s Premier Wholesaler of Regional, Craft, Imported Beers and Specialty Sodas

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HOPPY HOLIDAYS

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

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

1. Finch’s | Chimera 6% - IPA - finchbeer.com

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

Stop. I feel about 75 hardcore beer people correcting that lack of “Hardcore” and mansplaining the 6% ABV up there. Stop. Shoooooosh. This is a new beer. This isn’t Hardcore Chimera IIPA. This is Chimera IPA. Look, I’m just as confused as you all are, but here, the HARDCORE IIPA is in a yellow can, this is in a blue can. There. Clears up any and all confusion about that, right? Whatever, I’m not the ad-man, I’m just the review dude. So, we have an IIPA scaled down to IPA, is that what the goal is here? Pours like a rich IIPA, deep golden amber, thick fluffy foam, caramel coated citrus rinds on the aroma. Delicately bitter on the palate for an IPA, but still has lots of nice juicy citrus and tropical fruit hop flavor. A rather enjoyable IPA that fits into the “IPA for people who don’t like IPA” category.

Recommended if you like: Bell’s - Two Hearted Ale, Founders Centennial IPA, 21st Amendment - Live Free or Die IPA, Great Divide Titan IPA, Roundabout - Hyer-PA

2. Sierra Nevada | Narwhal 10.2% - Imperial Stout - sierranevada.com There are those in this world who immediately dismiss any brewings of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, swift to admonish them for being

too big to make good beer anymore. I guess many people have the classic Pale Ale early in their beer explorations, way back when they’re transitioning from living the High Life, and file it as just that, a forgotten stepping stone between 30 packs and bombers. I’m firmly on the other side of that viewpoint, I think Pale Ale is a damn national treasure, their Harvest series is magical, and hey look they even make a damn Imperial Stout. Is there anything they can’t do? Anyway, Narwhal is a beast of a beer, not some decadent vanilla and sugar bomb like some other Imperial Stouts. This thing is deep. Deep black in color, deep tan head, deep bittersweet chocolate and black licorice on the nose. There is a touch of caramel sweetness mid-palate, but that’s quickly swept aside with earthy bitterness and lingering notions of sweetened black coffee. Best when served at cellar temperature (around 50F) if you ask this guy Recommended if you like: Bell’s - Expedition Stout, Founders - Imperial Stout, Green Flash - Double Stout, North Coast - Old Rasputin

3. Stone | 08.08.08 Encore 8.9% - Belgian Style Golden Ale - stonebrewing.com Everything old will be new again, right? Today we have Stone Brewing slapping up, flipping, and rubbing down their 2008 Vertical Epic release. OH NO! A lot of Amarillo, Simcoe, and Ahtanum hop piled onto a Belgian Golden Ale.Well, at least that was their story in 2008 and they’re sticking to it. Pours a clear pale orange, thick fluffy white head. Showing my age

here, but baseball card bubble gum is so present on the nose, ripe papaya, pineapple, white pepper and cotton candy are there too, but maybe only late 80s-early 90s kids know my stale bubblegum feels. Juicy and dry on the palate, banana esters, citrus pith and all the flavor you ever wanted out of Juicy Fruit Gum before that stuff went stale in three bites. Give me more encores/reboots of beer, give me less waiting in a line for a beer. Recommended if you like: Brooklyn - Local #1, Church Brew Works Millenium Triple, Fat Heads - Head Trip, Thirsty Dog - Cerberus, Voodoo - Gran Met

4. Hop Farm | Cherry Bomb 8.5% - Cherry Sour Ale - hopfarmbrewingco.com Here are the many things I know about this here beverage. It was brewed in the illustrious Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. I needed a wine key to remove the champagne style cork. Lita Ford & Joan Jett were both in The Runaways when they recorded the hit song Cherry Bomb. I still owe Matt an email about buying some Hop Farm beer. I have a 50% chance of running into Pittsburgh Legend Rick Sebak whilst having a beer at Hop Farm, results may vary. Anyway, Hop Farm is a cool little spot and I’ve literally never walked in and not known half the people there. And they make delicious beer. Like this sour cherry ale. That’s strong! 8.5%! Hazy pink in color, tart cherry skins are the most present aroma, with some soft leather, lemon zest and freshly cut hay rounding things out. Considerably dry for the ABV, vanilla-ish cherry stone with some barley sweetness and swift sour finish. Support your local brewery, because holy shit there are so many of them in Pittsburgh right now.

with bits of crunchy caramelized sugar sprinkled around. Then pureed, and added to bourbon aged grapa. Then lightly carbonated. Then put into your mouth hole. Recommended if you like: Chimay - Premiere, Affligem - Double, Dogfish Head - Raison D’Etre, McChouffe, Grist House - Double Gun Dubbel, Bornem - Doubley

7. Brouwerij Van Steenberge | Piraat 10.5% - Belgian Strong Golden Ale - vansteenberge.com Nothing makes me sound and feel like a grumpy old beer dude like talking about Piraat. I’m years removed from having a serious problem with Piraat, like would’ve huffed it in a stuffy office closet if huffing beer worked, but man-o-man every whiff of that wonderful stuff takes me back to sooo many forgotten memories of 2007. Pro-tip kids, I don’t care how good the first Piraat tasted after that 14-hour work shift from hell, don’t go for number two. Number two always leads to three Piraats. And three Piraats leads to divorce. Or so I’m told. Anyway, that smell. A bold mix of candied apricot, ripe peaches, wild flower honey and a hint of the booziness that will be clouding your senses for the next hour. Flavor is dry-ish for the strength with notes of apricot jam, toasted bread drizzled with honey, a slightly minty and herbal hop bite and sweet booziness. Thanks for joining me on this trip down hazy memory lane. Recommended if you like: Duvel,Victory - Golden Monkey, Sly Fox - Incubus, Triple Karmeliet, Scaldis. Follow Hart on Twitter, not Twiiter. @MoarHops

Recommended if you like: Rodenbach - Grand Cru, Full Pint - Cherry Berliner Weisse, Petrus - Aged Red Ale, Anderson Valley - Blood Orange Gose

5. Goose Island | Bourbon County Brand Stout 15% - Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout - gooseisland.com You want to start an all out beer nerd brawl? State whatever your opinion is on Goose Island’s ownership. Guarantee no matter what side of the twelve sided die you’re on, there’s someone ready to throw a barstool at you for that opinion. Since I’m neither employed by Goose Island, nor like having barstools tossed at my person, I don’t give a rat’s patootie about who owns who, just make the beer taste good. And Bourbon County Brand Stout? This shit tastes good. It’s like a cake pop if a cake pop had been soaking in bourbon for a day. Then puree that, add some more bourbon, pile that all into a super soaker and just smother yourself in it’s goodness. Hello, my name is Hart Johnson and I want to wallow in Bourbon County Brand Stout. Recommended if you like: Bell’s - Black Note, Grist House - Barrel Aged Black in the USSR, Full Pint - Rye Rebellion, Green Flash - Silva Stout, Deschutes - Abyss

6. Unibroue | Maudite Once again, everything old, is new again. Cool, so my early 2000s obsession with Belgian Brown Ales should be coming right back around again with... well everything else about that time period sucked so let’s just focus on the positives, right? We really don’t want nu-metal coming back again. Big rich brown ales though, they were a building block of flavor in the bridge crossing over from frat lager. Unibroue has been kicking out Maudite for 23 damn years and well, they’re not doing too bad for Canadians. Pours a deep orange color with a hint of haze, very highly carbonated with impressive rocky white foam. Very aromatic, crushed sweet cherries and toasted pralines on the nose. Rich on the palate without being sweet or heavy, Raisin Bran cereal and fresh strawberries, sans milk of course,

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8% - Belgian Style Dark Strong Ale - unibroue.com

home brewing Written by Jack Smith

BEERBECUE SMOKING MALT AT HOME

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

like smoked beer. A lot. I brew several batches each year. But I’m never completely satisfied with the smoke character I get from store-bought smoked malt. German Rauchmalz is the real deal - beechwood smoked pilsner malt used by the best breweries in Bamberg, the home of classic Rauchbier. Its smoke character is sweet, smooth, and pleasant. It’s just not strong enough for me- likely because of the time that passes between when it’s smoked in Germany and when it makes it to store shelves in America. Plus it doesn’t fly off the shelf like Crystal 60 or US 2-row, meaning it could be the better part of a year old by the time I brew with it.American maltsters produce a nice cherrywood-smoked product that works well if used as an accent, but its flavor is too rough, too acrid to use in a heavily smoked beer. There’s peat smoked malt as well. I suppose it’s worth a mention. Don’t brew with it. It’s grossacrid and ashy, anything but clean-tasting.

If you want real control over the smoke character of your malt, the solution, obviously, is to smoke your own! There are lots of ways to smoke malt (or smoke anything), but smoked malt is less forgiving than, say, pork shoulder or sausages. It needs to be smoked in a way to ensure clean, smooth, smoky flavor is absorbed by the grain without picking up any acrid, ashy, harsh character. If you throw some malt on a BBQ and smoke it “low & slow” at 225 like

you’re making pulled pork, you’ll end up with a pretty nasty, ashy beer. No, it needs to be cold smoked like salmon or bacon or cheese. Ideally one could construct a rig that allows for good seasoned hardwood to be burned hot, producing clean blue smoke with no nasty creosote or other dirty combustion products, then cool the smoke down before passing it over the malt. But such a rig would be unwieldy and a pain to set-up and tear down.What I have found works surprisingly well for cold smoking is one of the many hardwood pellet smoker trays available. You load it up with hardwood pellets, light one end with a blowtorch, and set it in your BBQ smoker. It will smoulder for hours producing clean, smooth smoke while generating negligible heat. Hardwood pellets are made in the same way using the same machinery as hop pellets. Hardwood sawdustand nothing else- is run through a pelletizer that compresses them into the exact same shape and consistency as hop pellets. With the smoke source worked out, you need something to hold the malt. It needs to allow as much contact as possible between the malt and the smoke. Some sort of mesh basket that allows the smoke to get in from all sides is perfect. It shouldn’t be very deep, or else the malt in the middle won’t receive much smoke. So instead of one big mesh basket, think several

Malt is very dry. Dry malt won’t absorb smoke very well, so you need to wet it first. Lightly. Put all the malt you’re going to smoke into a bucket, mist it with chlorine-free water, stir it, mist some more, and stir again until all the kernels have been lightly moistened. You do not want to soak the malt, just moisten it. Be sure to use chlorine-free water such as distilled, RO, or charcoal-filtered because the chlorine will react with the smoke to produce some nasty flavors. The malt is now ready to smoke. Light your pellet smoker and put it in your smoking vessel, be it a BBQ, a large clay pot turned upside-down, or even a large cardboard box (make sure the pellet tray doesn’t touch the cardboard, obviously). Divide your malt evenly among the trays you built to hold it, stack them up, and let it smoke for 2-3 hours. After that amount of time, check the malt to make sure it’s still damp. If not, spritz it with water, stir it in, and put it back on the smoker for 2-3 more hours. I’ve found 8-10 hours adds the proper level of smoke to the malt. Do not re-moisten during the last 4-5 hours to allow it to dry out. If it comes off the smoker damp, you can dry it in your oven at the lowest setting (150F is good) until it’s dry. Stir often and avoid toasting the malt. The smoking process actually produces acetic acid (vinegar) on the surface of the malt, and drying volatizes it off. If it’s not dry, the acid will carry over to the beer. When it’s done smoking and thoroughly dry, put the malt in paper grocery bags and store it for a week to allow the smoke to mellow. After a week, brew some smoked beer! There are lots of beer styles that take smoke well- porter, amber lager, hefeweizen- just about anything without a strong hop character works well. You can play around using different types of wood with each style. Alderwood is traditional for porter (because of one famous commercial smoked porter), beechwood for German rauchbier, oak for Grodziskie, and on and on. But you can have fun with it. Perhaps a malty maple brown ale with pecan, or a chili pepper porter with hickory. Below, however, is a recipe for a traditional rauchbier made with beechwoodsmoked malt. This recipe has done very well in competitions, scoring around 40 out of 50 each time it was entered. Judges typically say the

smoke level is a bit too high, which is OK for me because I like it really smoky. But if you want a bit less smoke character (or plan to compete with this beer), consider smoking only the pilsner malt and leave the munich malt unsmoked.

RAUCH OVER LONDON. RAUCH ON, CHICAGO Classic Rauchbier Batch Size: 5.25 gal. Boil Time: 90 minutes OG: 1.055 FG: 1.015 ABV: 5.3% IBU: 24 SRM: 18 Difficulty: A dvanced - smoking malt, step mash, fermentation temperature control required *Assuming 70% brew house efficiency

Grainbill 6.5 lbs G erman Pilsner Malt, beechwood-smoked 4 lbs G erman Munich Malt, (beechwoodsmoked if you want a very strong smoke character, otherwise just smoke the Pilsner malt and leave the Munich unsmoked)

6 oz Dehusked Carafa II 4 oz Carared (20L) 2 oz Victory (25L) *Unfortunately there is no extract version of this recipe, as it required the mashing of home-smoked barley malt.

Hops 40 g H allertau Mittelfrueh (4.1% AA) @ 60 minutes for roughly 24 IBUs

Mash Multiple-step temperature mash with rests at 131F for 10 minutes, 145F for 35 minutes, and 158F for 45 minutes, then ramp to 168F for a mash-out before sparging. If you do not have the ability to perform a multi-step mash, go with as single Infusion @ 154 degrees for 60 min. You won’t quite get the same malty-yet-attenuated character that the step mash provides, but you’ll get a similarly dextrinous beer without requiring quite as much work and equipment.

Yeast/Fermentation White Labs WLP838 Southern German Lager or WYeast 2308 Munich Lager. Make an appropriately-sized starter to get to ~400Bn yeast cells. Oxygenate well (I like 2 minutes of pure O2 for lagers of this size). Pitch at 46F, allow to ferment at 48F until about 2/3 of the way to expected final gravity, then start ramping one degree every 12 hours until you hit 60F. Let it sit there for a week, then begin chilling about 5F per day until it gets down to 32F. Move to a lagering vessel (keg or smaller carboy flushed with CO2), and store at 32F for two months. Package as you normally do, serve, enjoy!

Suggested Pairings Smoked beer pairs with just about anything. Seriously.There’s the obvious such as traditional Bavarian dishes or BBQ pork shoulder smoked low and slow all day. Or at brunch with a BLT. Bonus points if the bacon was home-cured and came off the same smoker you used to smoke the malt for this beer. Don’t be afraid to try smoked beer with non-smoked foods. Pizza brushed with garlic & olive oil, topped with prosciutto, asparagus, and goat cheese- perfect. Go multicultural and have it with a Szechuan dish such as mapo doufu. The fermented black bean sauce plays well off the smoky malt character. Have it with dessert, even. The English favorite apple pie with a slice of cheddar practically begs to be paired with rauchbier. A homebrewer since 2002, Jack Smith is a Certified BJCP Judge, president of TRASH, and an active member of TRUB.

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racks to hold the malt and allow the smoke to flow between. I constructed trays from cheap finish pine lined with food dehydrator netting (see photo). They’re about 14” square and 2.5” tall. They’re sized to fit within the barrel of my smoker, and they’re meant to be stacked offset 45 degrees from each other to allow the smoke to flow in between each tray and make good contact with the malt. Each tray holds about 2.5 lbs of malt. My smoker fits seven trays. I can smoke 1718 lbs of malt in one session, which is enough to make ten gallons of seriously smoky rauchbier.

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brewer sit-down

Jake Kristophel Full Pint Brewing 1963 Lincoln Hwy, North Versailles, PA 15137

Each issue we sit down with a local professional brewer and ask them the same eleven questions. Our goal is to have an interesting mix of characters with varying backgrounds and experience. This issue we talked to Jake Kristophel; Partner and Head Brewer at Full Pint Brewing. AGE? 28 HOMETOWN? Harmony, PA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BREWING? I started right after I turned 21, so about seven years now. BACKGROUND? I spent years at North Country, first in the kitchen, then as sous chef, then serving and eventually went into brewing. I was the assistant brewer under Sean McIntyre for a few years and then eventually came down here to Full Pint when we opened in 2009.

CraftPittsburgh | Issue 22

FIRST CRAFT BEER YOU DRANK? That’s a tough question, definitely a North Country because I turned 21 while workings there. It was probably a Paleo IPA

IF YOU WERE TO BUY A CASE OF BEER RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Usually my go-to is a session IPA. I would have to say a fresh case of Founders All Day IPA cans. GUILTY BEER PLEASURE? Labatt Blue Light Lime, 30 pack. I fucking love it. FAVORITE MUSIC TO BREW TO? I have my headphones on all the time. I listen to a lot Hank Williams III, faster stuff mostly, but I’m all over the place. I got Spotify so it can go from John Prine and Hank III to electronic.

FAVORITE PITTSBURGH BAR? That’s a tough one. I used to go to Salt of the Earth a lot. That was probably my favorite place. IF YOU WEREN’T BREWING? Farming or woodworking, basically all the shit I currently do in my spare time. WHAT’S YOUR DAILY CARRY?