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 pisswaters, 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.

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Anyone else tried a Big Hop?

Reply to
markvanderv1
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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.

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

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Reply to
Lew Bryson

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.

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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.

Reply to
markvanderv1

Heh. Thanks for taking it well.

Well, then.

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.

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.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

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.

Reply to
dgs

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.

Reply to
Joel
Reply to
Brendan Halpin

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