Good day fellow BAs. I am moving to Pittsburgh next month and wanted to get an idea of: 1) Beer accumulation expectations 2) Adaptation to weird laws 3) Bottle shares I appreciate any and all info. Thanks in advance!
Start here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-local-breweries.306421/page-328#post-4792675 If you've specific questions and can't find them with a quick thread search, post away in there. Welcome!
Thank you sir. I did glance through that thread for places to check out when I move to Pitt, hence why I focused my query to the 3 topics in the original post
1) Various. 2) PA laws continue to expand/relax--just this past week to allow select gas stations to carry beer. You can always sneak over the state line into Ohio and grab out of distro beers--they are trying to overcome their own insipid laws (capping ABV) at the moment. Not sure of SC laws but some of our grocery stores starting carrying beer recently and this has helped (for the larger chains that carry). Think disto and taxing are bigger issues than many of the laws. My biggest complaint would be access to good/great bottle shops. 3) Those usually evolve in the dedicated thread and/or organically among groups at local breweries. Best bet is to find a favorite bottle shop--where in Pittsburgh?
I'll be in the Highland Park area. Thanks especially for your answer to #2. I was aware thinks were pretty wonky with regards to the laws, just not sure of the details of said wonk. I would be interested in knowing great places just across the border as well!
In Ohio, one of the better places within reach is Vintage Wine and Estates, a little over an hour away in Boardman, OH. They often have Jackie O's beers, but, as of late, their tap selection has become better than their bottle selection--hopefully this is a phase. Highland Park is very near the best local grocery store with a bottle shop, the Giant Eagle in Shadyside. Dude who runs the ship there is on BA and in the Pittsburgh thread. You'll be about three miles from Roundabout Brewing in Lawrenceville, five miles from Fat Heads, Pipers and Carson Street Deli--three great bars on the Southside, and only sevenish miles from Brew Gentlemen and Voodoo in Braddock/Homestead, both outstanding breweries. The silly law most often cited is the 192 ounces cap for purchasing alcohol at some establishments with I believe bar and restaurant licenses, but you can often just exit and come back in, or have a second person, etc.; this has honestly never been a hangup for me, but it's low hanging fruit when complaining about anachronisms in our liquor laws.
Thank you very much for the info. When I was in town last month hunting for a place to live, I stopped in at Brew Gentlemen and also stopped in at D's 6 packs and dogz. I'll make sure to check out that Giant Eagle in shadyside.
D's runs a bit expensive--they were early to the bottle shop scene, but recent experience might indicate that they have not adjusted their markup multiplier since other shops entered the market. For grey market beers, people tend to favor House of 1000 Beers and Atlas--there are others, but I can't recall names at the moment.
