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A new craft brewer in Pittsburgh

I'm a Pittsburgh transplant to the Pacific Northwest. On my bi-annual
holiday visits home I've always been stunned at the paucity of good
craft beers in Pittsburgh. The Penn beers are just a half-step above
the commercial ****waters, and any time I've found anything decent on
tap it has been an out-of-town beer.

This time around, however, I discovered a brand new local brewery
featured in a local alternative newspaper. East End Brewing makes a
really tasty IPA, Big Hop, now on tap at several venues. It's not as
bitter or hoppy as my favorites in Washington or Oregon, but I
understand the need to tone it down a bit for the Pittsburgh palate.

http://eastendbrewing.com/products.htm
Anyone else tried a Big Hop?

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> I'm a Pittsburgh transplant to the Pacific Northwest. On my bi-annual
> holiday visits home I've always been stunned at the paucity of good
> craft beers in Pittsburgh. The Penn beers are just a half-step above
> the commercial ****waters, and any time I've found anything decent on
> tap it has been an out-of-town beer.

Well, you seem like a nice enough guy, but your evaluation of the Penn beers
indicates that you've got some learning to do when it comes to tasting beer.
Jesus, you've been out in the Pacific HopWest too long. Penn's lagers are
terrific. Just because something isn't stuffed and rustling with hops
doesn't mean it sucks. I'm sorry to jump your ass, but God damn it, Penn's
beers deserve one hell of a lot better than you're giving them. Get over to
Troy Hill and Vinial, and don't come back till you've had about five gallons
of their finest.

> This time around, however, I discovered a brand new local brewery
> featured in a local alternative newspaper. East End Brewing makes a
> really tasty IPA, Big Hop, now on tap at several venues. It's not as
> bitter or hoppy as my favorites in Washington or Oregon, but I
> understand the need to tone it down a bit for the Pittsburgh palate.
>
> http://eastendbrewing.com/products.htm
> Anyone else tried a Big Hop?

Yeah, and I had the Black Strap Stout, too. The Big Hop isn't real bitter,
but it's pretty damned hoppy in flavor, a fine feature. Here's a tip of the
ol' beer map: different parts of the country have different tastes. Big hops
often mask poorly made beer. Not everyone likes mouth-ripping bitterness. A
well-made lager can be considered better than a mediocre ale that some
Neanderthal stuffed half a bale of hops into. As for toning it down a bit
for the Pittsburgh palate, Pittsburgh could teach the PNW a thing or two
about appreciating "hefeweizen." In Da Burgh, hefeweizen means funky-assed
German-style wheat beer; out on the Left Coast, it means cloudy tasteless
bottle-squeezings. As my old grand-dad used to say, you need your tongue
scraped.

Arrrghghghgh, snarl, bitch. Sorry, Mark. About once every four months I put
aside the sweetness and light and lash out at someone. You caught the ration
this time. East End is promising. But Penn's awesome, and more people than
you know recognize that.

--
Lew Bryson

Their clothes are weird, their music sucks and they drink
malternatives. And now you tell me they probably don't think Sierra
Nevada is cool? This is what the passage of years does to you: It
makes everyone around you more stupid. -- Michael Stewart 6/24/02

www.lewbryson.com

Lew,

Thanks for the informative rebuttal.

No hard feelings. I guess that was a rather harsh indictment of Penn.
Shucks, every time I sip a craft or micro out here, I should reflect on
where it all started for me back up on Troy Hill. Back in my days at
Pitt there was no better treat for me than a Penn Pilsener.

I'm not a huge fan of either Northwest or Pittsburgh Hefeweizens,
honestly. German's the way to go for me, though I acknowledge you can't
find it on any old street corner. I zip down to Prost's in Seattle if
I want a good Hefe.

http://www.nwbrewpage.com/wapubs/Prost.html

By the way.... I think that you've provided the address for East End
Brewery instead of Kelly's on your website. Though there is likely
plenty of beer on tap at the Susquehanna Street, you'd probably need a
battering ram to get at it! Nice site, otherwise. I'll be sure to pay a
visit before my next trip home.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Lew,
>
> Thanks for the informative rebuttal.

Heh. Thanks for taking it well.

> No hard feelings. I guess that was a rather harsh indictment of Penn.
> Shucks, every time I sip a craft or micro out here, I should reflect on
> where it all started for me back up on Troy Hill. Back in my days at
> Pitt there was no better treat for me than a Penn Pilsener.

Well, then.

> I'm not a huge fan of either Northwest or Pittsburgh Hefeweizens,
> honestly. German's the way to go for me, though I acknowledge you can't
> find it on any old street corner. I zip down to Prost's in Seattle if
> I want a good Hefe.

Penn's Weizen is a pretty damned good example of the style, though. And I
was actually talking about German hefes, which have become real popular in
Pittsburgh, at least during the warmer months. Both of them.

> By the way.... I think that you've provided the address for East End
> Brewery instead of Kelly's on your website. Though there is likely
> plenty of beer on tap at the Susquehanna Street, you'd probably need a
> battering ram to get at it! Nice site, otherwise. I'll be sure to pay a
> visit before my next trip home.

Thanks. But I did mean to put the East End address there; the site -- at
least, that page of it -- is meant to supplement my "Pennsylvania Breweries"
book, which covers the breweries AND the bars.

Cheers, Mark. Well-spoken.
--
Lew Bryson

www.LewBryson.com
Author of "New York Breweries" and "Pennsylvania Breweries," 2nd ed., both
available at <www.amazon.com>
The Hotmail address on this post is for newsgroups only: I don't check it,
or respond to it. Spam away.

wrote:

> [...]
> I'm not a huge fan of either Northwest or Pittsburgh Hefeweizens,
> honestly. German's the way to go for me, though I acknowledge you can't
> find it on any old street corner. I zip down to Prost's in Seattle if
> I want a good Hefe.
>
> http://www.nwbrewpage.com/wapubs/Prost.html

Driftin' off the 'Burgh topic ... the guy who owns Prost has opened up a
second place, Die Bierstube, that is well worth a visit too. Everything
Prost has, Die Bierstube has, except that there's a bit more of it:
space, taps, that kinda thing.

As far as Hefeweizens go, though, we do get a few in the PNW that are
more true to style. Baron Brewing does a Dunkelweizen in the Bavarian
(or is that 'Barvarian'?) style. The local Gordon-Biersch outlet does
a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen as their summer seasonal. Diamond Knot has
been known to do a Bavarian-style wheat on occasion. It's not all
PNW-style bland unfiltered American wheats out here.

About the only thing in which I'll fault Prost and Die Bierstube is the
owner's insistence on pouring exclusively imported German beers, except
for one tap dedicated to Baron Brewing. Washington's Alpine Brewing
(yes, there's more than one Alpine Brewing in the USA) does some
excellent German-style lagers, and deserves a handle there too, but as
I've said elsewhere, it's the owner's prerogative to choose what he
sells at his own joints. So mote it be. Fortunately, my local brew-
pub often has Alpine's Pilsner on as a guest handle.
--
dgs

> wrote:
>No hard feelings. I guess that was a rather harsh indictment of Penn.
>Shucks, every time I sip a craft or micro out here, I should reflect on
>where it all started for me back up on Troy Hill. Back in my days at
>Pitt there was no better treat for me than a Penn Pilsener.

One of the steps to true beer nirvana is getting
beyond the strong, hoppy, and just plain weird and
getting to the poitn where oine can appreciate the
more subtle styles. Recognizing that is a half-step
on the way.
--
Joel Plutchak "People who drink wine with barbecue deserve to be
plutchak@[...] jeered at and socially ostracized." - Mike Stewart

Joel wrote:
> > wrote:
>
>>No hard feelings. I guess that was a rather harsh indictment of Penn.
>>Shucks, every time I sip a craft or micro out here, I should reflect on
>>where it all started for me back up on Troy Hill. Back in my days at
>>Pitt there was no better treat for me than a Penn Pilsener.

Tangential.

I used to live in da burgh. I worked in the strip and lived in
Shadyside. I walked to and from work every day. Half way home, in
Bloomfield, was (is) the Church brew works. After I stopped at "church"
the rest of the walk was pretty easy!

Good brew, at the Church.

-Homer