For the 10 Percent

Dan Woodske runs his nano-brewery, Beaver Brewing Company, not for the masses, but for the 1 in 10 who wants the unusual brews. He keeps his brews small, just 1.5 barrels at a time, and his distribution mainly to his facility, the first Friday and Saturday of every month. The small sizes let's him brew beers you won' find anywhere else, his Saison de Lavender, Chamomile Wheat, Basil Beer, and Kvass. 

Brew History pt. I

My personal drinking history began somewhat late in my life compared to most.  Rather than getting wasted on whatever alcohol my friends and I could find in high school, I didn't start drinking until I was 21. (Yeah, I'm the one).  Because of that I don't have that one alcohol that I just can't drink because I drank an entire bottle of it when I was a Junior. The late start also means that I avoided the bad booze. With the exception of a drink of Natty Ice that I had by mistake, my first beer was one that a friend came back from Germany with a taste for, Erdinger's Hefeweizen. Following that I discovered Franziskaner, which is still my favorite beer.  I also started drinking things like martinis and throwing cocktail parties. 


In addition to drinking expensive stuff I started right in on making my own alcohol. My first attempts were at making mead. A friend and I split the expenses and went out to make 2 five gallon batches, 1 of regular mead, and the other a strawberry mead. Shockingly, with virtually no working knowledge of what we were doing these failed spectacularly, but what I had tasted during the process had hope. I had successfully made alcohol, it's just that the window of it being drinkable was about 2 days. These experiments my senior year at college, was the beginning of that period when homebrewing was just starting to become more mainstream. So for Christmas one year my father picked up a brew your own beer kit from a science themed gift store. 


Alas, this coincided with me beginning my wandering period of life where I had 7 different addresses over the course of 10 years. Also at no point then did I have a basement or an out of the way place to brew it. Finally after I had bought my current house (which has 2 basements!) I dug out the kit to see what I could brew up. This is when I learned that the expiration date of yeast is something to pay attention to. While this batch failed, it got me started back on the path of brewing that I'm currently on. 

Heavenly Drinking

By now everyone knows the story of Church Brew Works. Situated in the former St John the Baptist Church in Lawrenceville they have been crafting brews since 1996. Brewery Manager Steve Sloan has a long and impressive resume, taking him everywhere from The Saint Louis Brewery to New Zealand to Firestone Walker before bringing him to Pittsburgh and the Church Brew Works.

Growlin For You

 Scott Smith isn't your typical Brewer, if such a thing even exists, sure he makes good beer but that isn't the end of his efforts.  Scott seems to be everywhere these days either coming up with innovative funding methods like his Good Beer Investment Program or helping to raise funds for Aboard Autism Connection of PA and Bike PGH with the Keg Rides for the release of Pedal Pale Ale. East End Brewing Co's beers are at all the best tap spots in the City and will be at more once their planned expansion is completed. In the mean time, you can fill up one of their distinctive growlers at the Pittsburgh Public Market or at the brewery.

Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week

Pittsburgh's first annual Craft Beer Week was April 20-28. There were a 360 events ranging from tap take overs to a gaggle of 600 cyclists moving kegs of beer on on bike trailers. This is a brief summary of the events that I was able to attend.You can see more of my photos from Craft Beer Week on my 500px page. Be sure to keep your calendars clear for the last week of April 2013 for the second Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week.

Hough's Copper Kettle Brewing Company had Brew with the Brewers events. Saturday the 21st it was brewing with Steve Sloan from Church Brew Works.

One of the Premier events was the Beer vs Cocktails dinner featuring East End Brewing Beer vs Wigle Whiskey Coctails and featuring Dinner by Salt of the Earth.

There were many beer and food pairing events, shown here is The Beerhive's maple bacon wings.

Craft beer week brought out breweries from all around the country. Heavy Seas Brewery came up from Baltimore with a Firkin of their Loose Cannon Pale Ale to serve at the Wexford Ale House

Rock Bottom Brewery hosted a beer as cocktails event featuring the collaboration brews and local bartenders.

The yearly Keg Ride from East End Brewing to deliver their Pedal Pale Ale to a thirsty populace had 600 riders and a police escort to the secret destination of Station St Hot Dogs.