Brewing Master

Question:

While it’s not a brewpub or in Pittsburgh, I’d advise you to drink all the Victory Brewing beer you can get your hands on…Hop Devil, Prima Pils, Golden Mokey, lots of others.  Fantastic beers, just voted world’s best brewery by Malt Advocate magazine.  I get assorted cases shipped out to Oregon twice a year and I _still_ horde it!

My sister lives about a fifteen-minute drive away from Victory. During our visit at Christmastime, we had lunch there, and the three beers I tried were good to excellent (the bitter and the pale ale were excellent; the barleywine was good). I can also recommend their root beer as excellent. Doug

Response:

Denny, we need to get a local distributor to get some of the Victory beers out here.  While Oregon is Beer Nirvana, we are definitely short on good lagers. They can throw in some Hop Devil while they’re at it. What’s a good day next week to venture down your way Denny? I need to start making my schedule up. Hopefully, not too early in the week. Burp, -Dan

Response:

RE: Pittsburgh Brewpubs Penn Brewing – nice German restaurant and German-style beers. Casual atmosphere Church Brew Works – eclectic menu (buffalo meatloaf, ostrich perogies, etc.) and decent beers. Ya gotta go at least once for the atmosphere. Usually have something on cask and a special/seasonal brew or two. Valhalla – my favorite of the brewpubs for food, artsy/jazzy atmosphere, decent beers, occasionally most excellent. Foundry Ale Works – only ate there once. It was OK. Nice range of beers with something on cask all the time (IPA or ESB it seems). Mad Mex (near Pitt campus) – good Mexican, with a nice range of imports and micros on tap/bottle. Sharp Edge Beer Emporium – great selection of Belgian beers, with good bar food (pizza, burgers, etc.). Fancier stuff on the menu, but never had it. It’s an aging neighborhood bar with a killer beer selection. John Harvards (Monroeville, east of Pgh) – nice enough menu with a very nice range of beers. I’m pretty impressed with the brewer. The specialties/seasonals are always worth the trip. Always something on cask too. Red Star (Greensburg, one hour east of Pgh on Rt. 30) – converted train station. Recently changed chef’s. I liked the old guy and his menu better. Decent beers. If you go to a show at the Palace theatre, this is the spot to have dinner before the show… D’s Six Packs and Dogs (Regent Square) – great dogs and hot sausage, cheese steaks and kielbasa. 6 usually nice beers on tap (rotates constantly) with 500+ more in the "beer cave" (warm) and several dozen good micros in the coolers. They even have good Belgians (including Westvletern 12) sitting around. There are some other good beer bars (Harris Grill, Fatheads, Kiotos come to mind), but not sure what their dining options are…. Hope this helps… Garry

Response:

While it’s not a brewpub or in Pittsburgh, I’d advise you to drink all the Victory Brewing beer you can get your hands on…Hop Devil, Prima Pils, Golden Mokey, lots of others.  Fantastic beers, just voted world’s best brewery by Malt Advocate magazine.  I get assorted cases shipped out to Oregon twice a year and I _still_ horde it! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all. Sometime in the coming months I’ll be visiting  afriend in Pittsburgh. Since I"ll only be there four days, I don’t think I can expect her to want to go to a different brewery for dinner every day So I’m looking to find the best one…maybe two There were somewheres around 6 I found on the web in and immediately around Pit. Thanks! Erik "There is an ancient Celtic axiom that says, Good people drink good beer. Which is true, then as now. Just look around you in any public barroom and you will quickly see: Bad people drink bad beer. Think about it."

Response:

Hey all. Sometime in the coming months I’ll be visiting  afriend in Pittsburgh. Since I"ll only be there four days, I don’t think I can expect her to want to go to a different brewery for dinner every day So I’m looking to find the best one…maybe two There were somewheres around 6 I found on the web in and immediately around Pit. Thanks! Erik

A friend of mine who lives in Pittsburgh took me to Church Brew Works. Good food, good beer, and a rather unique atmosphere (as the name implies, it’s a church converted to a brew pub). http://www.churchbrew.com/ Steve

Response:

In article – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all. Sometime in the coming months I’ll be visiting  afriend in Pittsburgh. Since I"ll only be there four days, I don’t think I can expect her to want to go to a different brewery for dinner every day So I’m looking to find the best one…maybe two There were somewheres around 6 I found on the web in and immediately around Pit. Thanks! Erik A friend of mine who lives in Pittsburgh took me to Church Brew Works. Good food, good beer, and a rather unique atmosphere (as the name implies, it’s a church converted to a brew pub). http://www.churchbrew.com/

I second the Church Brew Works. I moved from the ‘burgh in ‘98, but it was always one of my favorite brewpubs. Great beer and the food is fabulous (the pierogie pizza is to die for). I’d say the must see is Penn Brewing. They won a gold at last year’s Great American Beer Festical. A very ‘German’ feeling to the place; I think they even follow the German beer purity laws. http://www.pennbrew.com/ There was a place (not sure if it’s still there) in the Strip District called Valhala; the decor and atmosphere was very cutting edge and well done, but I found the beer underwhelming. Things may have changed since then.

Response:

Thanks for the tip. I actually saw Church Brewing on the net, and it looks like a really cool atmosphere. I’ll add that and Penn to my list! Erik

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all. Sometime in the coming months I’ll be visiting  afriend in Pittsburgh. Since I"ll only be there four days, I don’t think I can expect her to want to go to a different brewery for dinner every day So I’m looking to find the best one…maybe two There were somewheres around 6 I found on the web in and immediately around Pit. Thanks! Erik A friend of mine who lives in Pittsburgh took me to Church Brew Works. Good food, good beer, and a rather unique atmosphere (as the name implies, it’s a church converted to a brew pub). http://www.churchbrew.com/ Steve

Response:

Hey all. Sometime in the coming months I’ll be visiting  afriend in Pittsburgh. Since I"ll only be there four days, I don’t think I can expect her to want to go to a different brewery for dinner every day So I’m looking to find the best one…maybe two There were somewheres around 6 I found on the web in and immediately around Pit. Thanks! Erik "There is an ancient Celtic axiom that says, Good people drink good beer. Which is true, then as now. Just look around you in any public barroom and you will quickly see: Bad people drink bad beer. Think about it."

Response: