Pittsburgh Area Breweries-in-Planning

48pt font + misquoting Ben Franklin = a brewery website rivaling that of Voodoo's original one

 

I know taste is subjective and all, but I've personally never had anything from tired hands that I thought was average. In fact I think their IPAs rival what hill farmstead cranks out - first level and second level were almost as good as the single hopped varieties Shaun hill brewed (Nelson sauvin and galaxy, respectably). Did you have cosmic sea when you were there? I haven't orated such passion yet but I do have a growler of it and today's weather beckons for it to be opened. I've heard it's awesome.

As far as Pittsburgh goes I'll echo what others have said - helltown, draai laag, and roundabout certainly have potential, but the output is just so low at this point. Roundabout did just purchase a fermenter from rivertowne so that should help raise production.

I'm interested in the number of breweries opening in the area as it just seems unsustainable.

 

No Cosmic Sea. Such Passion is really good. Second Level was pretty ordinary. There was no really strong flavor to it. Hop Hands was good for a pale ale but again, ordinary. I wasn't impressed.

 

Looks like Hitchhiker Brewing Co. will have a soft opening this Saturday, May 10th.

http://lebomag.com/17558/first-draft-of-hitchhiker/

 

Just saw that Brew Gentlemen are opening 5/21 4-10 I believe.

 

I agree with the unsustainable comment. The Pittsburgh area has a lot of very average breweries. Some good (Helltown, Roundabout) and a lot that aren't very special. What surprises me is how Pittsburgh doesn't have a great brewery for being such a beer city. The closest we have to great is Voodoo and they are a good hour and a half away. Either way something tells me a lot of these breweries won't last too long unless they find a way to stand out from the sea of mediocrity.

 

All the more reason I better get all the ticks while I can!

 

I think folks might be under the false impression that you have to be great as a brewery to be sustainable.

Just because they aren't the next coming of hill farmstead doesn't mean they're going to just disappear. I've come to the conclusion that crazy ass beer geeks like myself are in the minority of those that drink craft beer in this town. And the majority are just the people who think it's cool that there's a brewery in their neighborhood or that a beer has some iteration of "yinz" in the name of a beer. The fact that I would much rather drink roundabout than Penn doesn't mean shit in the grand scheme of things...nor does it mean shit to the compared success of those two breweries.

These breweries could all very well survive and even do well despite mediocre beer. How long has Church been around now?

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There are more important things going on in people's lives than the quality of beer they are drinking.

I am lucky. I get to live free of major responsibility, travel the world to ridiculously unique places, try thousands of beers and jump out of planes whenever I want (weather permitting). People have a lot more going on that they have to worry about in life than I do. After a shitty day, week, month, year or life, some people are probably just glad to sit down, relax and have an adult beverage for a moment before returning to their realities.

 

Instead of them falling off one by one, my hope is that they will start to push each other to up their game. The attention that Hop Farm's bottle release got should hopefully open the eyes of some of the others to hold similar events instead of just resting on their laurels...hopefully.

 

I think if any of the places around here were capable of making anything that they aren't now they would be. East end isn't going to start doing Brett farmhouse ales now. It's going to take a new brewery who wants to do that stuff. I don't think every new brewery that's opening or open will close but I do think the pittsburgh market is a bit saturated with the same exact stuff over and over.

 

Maybe that's true for the likes of East End, Church, etc...

But there are other factors to keep in mind for the newer kids on the block:

- Maybe they are still dialing in on their equipment? It's another popular Pittsburgh BA sentiment to rag on the "homebrewer-gone-pro" and that they don't know what they're doing on bigger equipment. Well if that's true (and I'm not saying I agree that it is), then give them some time to figure it out.

- Most new breweries tend to establish a flagship lineup before venturing into more experimental brews.

- Lastly, if any of these breweries are successful brewing "less than interesting" stuff and it becomes feasible to do so, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of one or more of them eventually hiring a head brewer/assistant brewer with an outside the box mentality and/or more experience.

I think we've all been groomed for so long to expect more of the same, so it's really hard to have patience. But I think good things are coming.

 

Well I need all whales, all the time, sooo......keep this nonsense to yourself.

 

I don't feel bad at all about our local scene. Sure there are better, but i think kbuzz made some great points here too. I am more than happy with Draai Laag and would love to start checking out Roundabout and Hop Farm. If we have just those 3 as premier local breweries, then that's more than enough for me! Many out there don't have shit where they live

 

I do agree with the majority of what you're saying, Kevin. My sustainability comment was made purely as an economic argument. The margins have to be pretty low, and even if they aren't, some type of distribution is necessary to sustain a brewery. I'm a big roundabout fan and I think pacific ring is the best IPA brewed in the city. However, how long can Steve rely purely on growler fills? It's probably wishful thinking since I like his beer but I'm hoping he cranks out more kegs for local establishments and/or starts to bottle or can. Capital can run short in a industry that has high up front costs. I hope those that jumped in and just do growlers without distribution have the liquidity and/or credit to invest in equipment to increase production or bottle/ can.

I think where you're right is that a brewery certainly doesn't have to crank out HF style brews to be successful. Look at rivertowne - I would think most would agree that their product is mostly mediocre. However they already had the pubs to serve it, and now they can. Awesome for them! I wish I liked their beer. Church probably benefits from the location and brewpub shtick, it can't be the beer, can it?

 

Agree...more of them do need to start showing up on shelves at some point. But margins are actually best on growler fills, even though volume sales are lowest through that vehicle. More exposure and more production via shelf sales is definitely necessary to be sustainable. But I think most have plans to get there sooner than later. I'd love to see Pacific Ring or even Hy-PA (or Hyer-PA) in cans on shelves.

I can say this with certainty...once they do manage to bottle/can (with regularity anyway, since Hop Farm has been sporadically selling cans), there will undoubtedly be shelf space available for them, right @randylangford?

 

Let me ask you all this. One of my biggest gripes with the local stuff is the price point. I was always under the assumption the once you started distributing, obviously your cost and therefore your price would increase. If that logic stands true then all of this local beer should get great exposure once its kegged and out to retail because it would be a cheaper option. Unfortunately what I see is these newbies end up the same price point as the well established, and sometimes far superior beers. This makes entry into the market difficult in this industry especially. I understand that across the country there is an emphasis on buying local, but quality is also a big determining factor in that. Im sure if you polled everyone in the city they would love to support a local brewery, and if they were strategically placed throughout the city, Pittsburgh could probably support close to the number of breweries up and running or close to it anyways. The consumer today is well educated and informed and will mostly swap quality for price. When your a local product trying to gain traction you have to have an appeal. While geography will win you favors in the short run if quality does not keep up with your competition then you will end up being overlooked/passed over. So when all these new beers start showing up in local bars where will they be priced at? History tells me the same as everyone else, so why should I buy X beer over Y beer? Also, if the local options were priced lower than anything else would you show loyalty towards it and then in turn push out some of the others that are already established here?