Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

Just saw on FB that Helltown is now in Youngstown and surrounding areas. I seldom see it in their home market but they are sending to other markets......

 

Funny that you mention this because I recently was thinking about how I rarely see their product anymore around Pittsburgh. I haven't been to Blue Dust lately though, which I know used to carry their beer pretty frequently.

 

I had a barleywine of theirs not too long ago that was decent and people had good things to say about their IPA that they released not too long ago...but yeah, this one doesn't sound all that promising.

 

Idle Hands in cans would get me to drive to Mt. Pleasant.

 

Really?? When there is Fat Heads all over the city? Why bother?

I'm over Helltown. They just don't seem to be a very "active" brewery in general. And I've never been impressed by anything I've ever had of theirs. For me, they are WAAAAAAY in the back of my beer consciousness.

 

Do you guys feel like the craft beer scene is pushing forward in Pittsburgh? Part of me thinks it is still in a bit of a rut. I think BG and Draai Laag are starting to hit their stride but on the other hand several others have become a little "meh" and are starting to fall off my radar.

The tasting at Allegheny last weekend didn't energize my taste buds and hearing the talk of Helltown etc. doesn't give me a lot of hope.

 

Idle Hands is legitimately excellent when it's fresh. Not JuJu good but definitely Head Hunter good. Their pale is one of the better ones I've had. Rapture is really solid as well. I do agree though that he needs to get his shit together a little more at this point. When you can't service your home market, why bother expanding distro? I don't think there is much of a business plan in there at this juncture.

 

Seems like a lot of the older guard local crafts are content to just keep making the same things over and over again.

 

New beer from Voodoo it seems? or an old favorite?

 

I actually went to Penn for the first time ever a little while ago, though wasn't impressed by the beers, per say, I was surprised they had a decent variety on tap and the place was cool. I would go back again.

 

Agree that Helltown does good stuff, and, while I really dig fresh Idle Hands, I don't feel it's as good as Head Hunter--which I think is better than JuJu, though the latter I momentarily believe to be superior each year until I realize I'm artificially inflating mostly due to it's spotty availability (same with IBUsive). Totally agree about Helltown distro. Why we don't see it in and around the 'burgh more is beyond me. In the South Hills, our only real hope to see their stuff is at Mad Mex.

 

Which is fine, if you ask me. Not everyone can have portfolios of 50+ different recipes in a year. There are plenty of old world breweries that survive on a handful of different beers that they make well & consistently. I've said before - East End could brew nothing but Snow Melt & I'd be happy & buy it. Helltown could stick to making 100% Idle Hands & Mischievous & I wouldn't complain.

 

Agreed.

Look at where most of the discussion in this forum revolves around: Two breweries that don't even brew here and BG.

 

Why can a balance not be struck?

 

FIFY

 

A balance between what & what?

 

Between continuing to make the old favorites that people love and still trying new things. That comment isn't exclusive to EE, just in general.

 

Pushing forward? I think a few are trying to push. Collectively, we're definitely still firmly teetering on the edge of a scene breakthrough in my view. But even with that said, we're light years ahead of where we were even just a year ago. So maybe that means we are pushing forward...I don't know. Tough to quantify.

But I think it's a good scene overall. I really do. As a dude who has pretty much given up on shipping trades, I find myself content with the local options. There is enough variety and folks trying new styles and such to keep me interested.

Way more to talk about now there was not too long ago...I mean we have a damn thread now.

 

Look at a 10" cube. Surface area is 10" x 10" x 6 sides = 600 in^2. Volume is 10" x 10" x 10" = 1000 in^3. Surface area to volume ratio is 0.6.

Now look at a 12" cube. Surface area is 12" x 12" x 6 sides = 864 in^2. Volume is 12" x 12" x 12" = 1728 in^3. Surface area to volume ratio is 0.5.

So they're not lying about the ratio increasing with the smaller vessel. That said, I don't believe 2 weeks is worth the hassle regardless.

 

Nerd alert!