Pittsburgh Breweries - 2018

Voodoo has their Good Vibes fest this weekend, and on Sunday Roundabout in Lawrenceville is having a 5 year anniversary celebration with a raspberry Berliner weisse release, a bunch of food trucks, and I think a new Leona's ice cream sandwich flavor.

 

Deutschtown music fest is going on and between Friday and Saturday Allegheny City Brewing is hosting like a dozen bands. So there's that.

 

Coming from a local who doesn't know the Air BNB market around here, I'd personally try and get one in Lawrenceville since that is a trendy walkable area that is close to a ton of breweries / bars / eateries. Would be an easy ride/uber over to Sharpsburg to hit up Dancing Gnome and Hitchhiker as well as to Millvale for Grist House and Strange Roots. Lawrenceville itself has its share of breweries too, including Cinderlands (plus the food), Eleventh Hour, Roundabout, Hop Farm, Full Pint, East End (down in the strip), and the Church Brew Works (in an old church, more for a tourist). If you can take a trip down to Brew Gentlemen (Braddock) and Voodoo (Homestead), I'd do that too, although you can catch Voodoo in Erie/Meadville on your trip too. Bierport in Lawrenceville is probably the best "beer bar" in that area as well. Tons of food options in Lawrenceville and the adjacing neighborhoods as well.

I would say the "must-do" breweries are Dancing Gnome and Brew Gentlemen, if I have to name two, but plenty of others are getting solid recognition too (Grist House / Hitchhiker / Voodoo - especially for their barrel aged stuff), the best underrated award seems to go to Roundabout, and I'd say the "up and comer" is Cinderlands.

 

Perfect thanks so much!

 

3 hours was more than enough.

 

Heck of a day you had. I love that you love Insurrection. I'm pretty excited about their canning ramp up since it's much more feasible for me rather than trucking over to Sharpsburg or wherever. I'm not sure I would go back to Mindful - too loud and my wife and I got sick from their food. I love Spoonwood's venue and their food is solid, but yeah, their beers are generally just OK to me, more or less.

 

I hit all of my top tier must try beers, not a short list, within an hour. That left me two hours to casually try them all again, and mix in a bunch of other secondary wants. It was a killer festival. We actually left a little early as there was just nothing left we wanted to try or drink again.

Glad you hit insurrection. It's the hidden gem of the city. Let others go to crappy neighborhoods for beer that is all hype.

 

I just wish they had their sours on tap; I've tried two so far (bottled,) and would like to try them more but I don't drink many styles. I really liked the two I had, though. It's also right near my office which is nice.

 

They had been struggling to keep enough beer on tap, and selling bottles was a way to supplement the draft. I assume this could change now that they’ve expanded.

 

I took a nap in the beach area and still only missed one Bokke beer of the ones I was dead set on trying. Hell, most every beer lasted the entire event.

If you needed more than 3 hours, you were either REALLY pacing yourself or had no initiative.

 

I live in down in Canonsburg, about 20 minutes south of Pittsburgh. There are also a decent selection of places around that aren't "in the city". I consider all of these in the "Pittsburgh area"...

Four Points Brewing in Charleroi just opened last Thursday (7.12.18). I went Friday evening and got there at 5:30 and there were only 2 people in the joint. I sampled all their beers and they were decent but unremarkable. They had a few I liked and a few I disliked (personal preference).

The Washington Brewing Company in Washington, PA has a decent selection but hasn't generated much buzz yet.

Rusty Gold in Canonsburg has been open for just over a year. The selection is pretty limited - they usually only have about 6 or 8 beers on tap - but it is another opportunity if you find yourself in the area. I am on the fence - if it weren't in my hometown, I'd not likely stop nearly as often as I do.

Coal Tipple Brewing out in Burgettstown is very small and almost boutique-esque. When I was there, they had only about 6 beers on tap. They were good but due to the limited selection and the remote location, it would only be worth revisiting if I were headed right by it.

Down near the Meadows Casino, Whitehorse Brewing has a tap room - the brewery is in Berlin, PA, near Somerset, PA - that offers about 10-12 beers. If you find yourself in that area, it's worth a try.

Hellicon (Oakdale) is very good. I've not been back since my first visit but have been saying for some time that I need to go back.

Cobblehaus in Coraopolis isn't bad. It's been a few months since I've been there but the beers are decent and there is a good selection of styles.

A little further afield - out in Greensburg - is All Saints Brewing that I really liked. Good selection and some solid beers. Worth the drive. No food, but they have food trucks quite frequently.

Another slightly further afield brewery is Four Seasons Brewing (Latrobe) that is one of my favorite breweries.

 

Greetings,

I'm going to be in the Millvale area 7/26-30 for a music fest. I saw that Grist House is in the neighborhood and it looked like Hitchhiker and Dancing Gnome were a fairly quick drive away. Probably will not have much time to explore, but I would like to hit a few places for some pours and cans to go.

Do any of those places have cans available regularly or just on release days? I was going to try to get down to DN on 7/28 for their collab can release with Narrow Gauge. What's the normal vibe for releases at DN? Hoping I can get there an hour or so early and grab cans and get back to the venue before the show starts.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Are you flying in? Voodoo has an airport location and insurrection is on the way into town from the airport.

Millvale also has strange roots, but you’re better off going to grist house. There are a ton of mediocre breweries in lawrenceville you could hit, with cinderlands being the best. Stop by church brew works, but don’t have any beer as it’s terrible, it’s a cool building. Arsenal cider house is cool if you like cider. If you even remotely like rum, make Maggie’s farm a must stop!