Craft Beer Week 2013

Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week has rolled through once again. Like last year there were a ton of possible events, too many to make it to all of them. I managed to make it out to a few events myself.  As always click on the pics to see them embiggened.

Like last year there were collaboration brews from the local breweries working together. I went out to Penn Brewery for their Collaboration Celebration to try and sample all of the brews.

Unfortunately I underestimated the attendance and overestimated the volume of the beers and by the time I showed up 3 out of 5 were tapped out.

One of the unique events was a chocolate and beer pairing. That by itself isn't that unusual, however the chocolates, made by Sinful Sweets actually featured Brooklyn Brewery beers as ingredients.

Tapping into my geek nature a little bit more I trekked out to Rivertowne Brewing to meet up with Pittsburgh's own superhero, Steelman. Thanks to the collaboration of Rivertowne and New Dimension Comics Steelman not only has his own comic book but his own beer, a smoked stout.

Of course East End Brewing once again announced that their Pedal Pale Ale was available by holding their Keg ride event. (As a side note, this may be the best group to ask for energy bar/beer pairing recommendations.)

This year the destination was Schenley Park, taking over the circle and partnering with the Porch. 

Once again the costumes were creative and plentiful as hundreds of bikers showed up to accompany the first  kegs of spring. 

This year they even had a portable soundtrack courtesy of DJ Zombo and Green Gears Pedicabs.

Once again if you couldn't find an event that caught your interest during Craft Beer Week you had to have been willfully ignoring it. 

Event: Tapped Braddock

  Epic Developments Pittsburgh helped organize Tapped, a series of pop up beer gardens, this summer culminating in Tapped Braddock. These beer gardens featured local breweries, restaurants, food trucks and entertainment.  These included DrinksBurgh participants East End Brewing, Wigle Whiskey and some that I hope to get on DrinksBurgh, Full Pint Brewing and The Brew Gentlemen.
 Here are a selection of photos from Tapped Braddock. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Full Pint brought a nice selection of their fine brews.

The Brew Gentlemen lived up their name by looking quite dapper while sampling their brews. (Support their Kickstarter as well)

Kevin Sousa Took over Mayor John Fetterman's back yard for pig roast and Boyd and Blair cocktails. 

A local Reggae Band provided the sound track.

Local food trucks Franktuary and PGH Pierogi Truck rolled in with some goodies

Braddock lucked out with a beautiful fall day and the attendance showed it. 

Look for more Tapped Beer Gardens around Pittsburgh next summer.

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.