Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

Eh, some of their beers are better than others. Out of the flight I had the one time I was there, half were good, the others were decent if a little "green". That plus good food, service, & atmosphere makes it worthwhile to head back. If beer is 100% the reason why you pick or pass on a place, there are better options, but I tend not to be aspy about things like that.

 

I was there just to try the beer. They have nice space there and if the food is good they will probably do ok. Just seems like the beer is an afterthought. I would prefer a brewery focus on brewing good beer first, worry about food and such later.

 

I wish that was the case but better profit on food then beer. and if they place does mixed drinks then beer would be in third place when it comes to profit.

 

I'll choose to keep this rebuttal friendly, informative, and on point. My beer project is a work of passion and commitment. And frankly it's a hell of a lot of fun. It's also a project that is young and evolving. Please don't take this as an apology or an excuse, but rather as a jumping-off point. Clearly, there are few things as subjective as the beer experience. And as I explore and modify styles, it's reasonable to expect that some will appeal to you and some will not. But the overall quality of product, however you care to objectively measure it, is consistently sound. And this is why I refuse to tacitly condone any broad-brush dismissal of my beer. I sincerely hope that everyone here, whether active or lurking, will resist the draw of group-think. And with that said, allow me to shamelessly plug the rye barrel-aged Rye IPA that I'm tapping next week. -Steve

 

Not trying to be sycophantic just 'cause Steve's here, but as a business they need to focus on all aspects at all times - food, service, atmosphere, etc. AND beer are all equally important when you're running a legit brewpub (vs. "just" making beer & selling it in a tap room). And I don't see how you can say that the beer is an "afterthought" given the capital (& not just $) they've obviously invested in their site & system. Why would a restaurant put the words "Brewing Company" in their name if they weren't serious about making good beer?

 

The beer was a lot better the last time I went and the food is really good imo.

 

Bjs brewhouse and rock bottom come to mind. i dont think their goal is making good beer. Thats what spoonwood reminds me of, a restaurant that also brews beer. Not a brewery that happens to have food for those that come to drink beer. Maybe theyll take the food profit and put it into making better beer.

 

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

 

Welp, nice knowing you thread 2.0

 

I'm at Spoonwood now. I think you should give them another try.

 

i most likely will try again at some point. Ill give them time to tweak some recipes. i believe my visit was in may.



Anyone else go to the Allegheny City Brewing tasting this afternoon? they may have some potential. The vanilla stout and grapefruit ipa were pretty decent. im not into sours, but they had a few sour offerings. there was a mixed berry one that was drinkable.

 

I hear you've been killing it again with the new beers! Definitely need something of your caliber up in the finger lakes. ISO: canning line for Brew Gentlemen.

 

Already waiting in line.

 

Just FYI, some of us have Green Cards and need to say married to our current American. Home breakers and their fitness damn. good night!!

 

I went. Not terribly impressed. I only had 4 or so in the 40 or so minutes I was there because I couldn't stay. The red had a nice nose but the taste fell short. That was the best of the ones I had. The Hop Tart needed more hop and tart. The Grapefruit IPA seemed to be all grapefruit and no hops. The vanilla stout was a nice drinker but I didn't get much vanilla. Had a nice roast to it. The raspberry sour was just very mild all around. Was decent.

 

Just realized the Coffee Milk Stout at Brew Gentlemen is only 3.6% abv according to untappd. Had a nice body for such a low abv. Also, the sunshine elixir is really good as Greg said above.

 

Really liked sunshine elixir very easy drinking low abv beer.

 

Beer quality aside, I like that a new brewer is taking the old school approach of naming their business after its locale.

 

Pretty much hits the nail on the head with what I thought, especially regarding the Grapefruit IPA and Vanilla Stout. The sours had a really harsh bite to it while vanilla stout tasted like roasted coffee.

I didn't know I would be at the tasting, as going here and to the VegFest in the park down the street was kind of a last minute thing. If I would have known it would have been cool to meet up and put some faces to screen names.

They had an Allegheny County census hanging up on the wall too.