Jim's Beer in Pittsburgh
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While Jim Mann created and maintained this site for years, he decided to keep it on the Web as an archive site only. When we first created the site, it was hard to find good beer in Pittsburgh. It no longer is. However, this site still gets hundreds of visitors every month, so when there's good beer news to share, I (Laurie Mann) told Jim I'm going to do an occasional update to this site. And Jim now is also making occasional updates. Beer-loving non-smokers finally have a place to go for a drink! While the County Council continues to dither over the long-overdue smoking restaurant/bar smoking ban, a new bar in North Fayette Township called Bocktown Beer has opened. It's completely non-smoking, has a great beer selection and very good food. OK, so it's not quite the Sunset Grill and Tap in Boston, but given Pittsburgh's proclivity to be a little slow to follow national trends (like no smoking in restaurants by law), it's better a great step forward. Every Wednesday evening they have a beer tasting (at which you'll probably find Laurie and Jim). Some of the other beer bars in Pittsburgh have had the good sense to go smoke-free in 2007. These include Piper's Pub and Fat Head's. Check for a full list of smoke-free restaurants and bars in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We also try to go to the Selinsgrove Brewing in Selinsgrove once a year (take Route 15 off of Route 80; it's about four hours east of Pittsburgh). Excellent beer and a select menu of organic appetizers and sandwiches. Red Star Brewery in Greensburg is also worth the trip out of Pittsburgh. |
Nearly six years ago, when I started the beer in Pittsburgh page, Pittsburgh had one brewpub and few bars that had more than 20 beers or so. Today, we have many more of both. Good beer is easy to find. Moreover, I find that I don't explore looking for beer as much as I used to. I have found a half dozen or so bars I really like, and when I want to go to a bar I generally go to one of them. As a result, the page gets way out of date.
Thus, I'm trimming down the beer in Pittsburgh site. It will no longer try to list all the places that have good beer. Instead, it will just list my favorites, both old and new.
Jim also plans to add periodic tasting notes (though someday he should turn it into a blog, since he wants to hear feedback from others).
Where to Go for ...
- Breathable air and an excellent beer selection: Bocktown Beer
- Beer by the case, sold by someone who knows beer: Mellinger's Beer Distributors
- Geeks who love beer: Geek Night
- Great local microbrews: Penn Brewery
- Cask conditioned ale: The Sharp Edge, Fat Heads
- Oktoberfest: Penn Brewery
- A large selection of Belgian beer: The Sharp Edge
- A large selection of US microbrews: Fat Heads , Mad Mex, Kaya
- A large import list: The Sharp Edge, The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern
- Wings and a microbrew: Fat Heads
- Perogies and an import: The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern
- A quiet neighborhood bar with a great beer selection: The Sharp Edge
- A close-to-English-style pub: Piper's Pub
- Wood oven pizza and a beer: Fuel and Fuddle
- A burger and a beer: Fat Heads, Bocktown Beer
- Yards of Ale: Mario's
- Other good beer distributors: Vecenie's Distributing
- Pub crawls: Pittsburgh Pub Crawl International
- Amusing/informative beer-related Web sites: Beertown, Association of Brewers and Sam Adams' World Beer Styles and Family Tree.
- Post Gazette Beer News
- Iron City
Brewpubs
- Penn Brewery
- The Foundry [Deceased]
- Valhalla [Deceased]
- Three Rivers Brewing [Deceased]
- The Church Brew Works
- John Harvard's Brew House (Monroeville. This link points to the national John Harvard's page.)
Regional Beers
Great Lakes Brewing, creators of such award winning beers as Burning River Pale Ale and Edmund Fitzgeral Porter, is finally coming to the Pittsburgh area. The beers are brewed in Cleveland and are some of the best beers in the US. They are available at Mellinger's and a few other fine distributors. Bocktown Beer recently had a Great Lakes beer tasting, including their wonderful Blackout Stout (a very good imperial stout).