Allegheny West to Troy Hill, Five Microbeweries
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October 2017 The Northside Chronicle Page 13 From Microbrews, Page 1 Allegheny West to Troy Hill, five microbeweries separate microbrewery and brewpub for custom- Imperial Stout, but these “small batches” allow intimate, something hospitable, something that ers in specific locations with this notion in mind. the brewing team to create what Harries refers separates them from the wonted hoppy herd. “Down here on the North Shore people can to as “limited releases” for private parties and “I’m still working through a lot of my beers come down here for the day and hit four, five, six events, specific to the North Shore location only. to find exactly what I want. Which is kind breweries,” said Southern Tier brewmaster, David “[We’re] looking forward to getting more cre- of a cool thing to sell the public in that this Harries. “[To] see that kind of density in Pittsburgh ative with the small batches and forming inspi- beer is never going to be exactly the same,” where people can really make a day of it is cool.” ration off the city here,” said Schau in response said War Streets Brewery owner, Jake Bier. Harries joined the Southern Tier Brewing Co., to the customer and cultural feedback they have He shares his thoughts on his brewery team in 2011 and after a brief stint as a production received thus far on their specialized releases. and the craft scene with a nonchalant, laissez- manager at Wigle Whiskey in 2013, his affinity for According to Harries, the North Shore loca- craft beer led him back to Southern Tier in 2016. tion uses a 10-hectoliter system (1000 liters), However, he will be leaving his current role at which works out to about 8.5 barrels per batch, Southern Tier’s North Shore location next month to compared to a 110BBL system utilized in South- take on a similar role in one of the brewery’s North ern Tier’s Lakewood headquarters. The brew Carolina facilities. Manchester resident, Justin team splits their significantly smaller system into Schau, will be replacing him as head brewmaster. two parts: half for serving and half for fermenting. According to Harries, the North Shore location “The feeling here is kind of a hybrid approach works separately from the parent brewery in Lake- of Lakewood,” said Harries. “Being down here, Jake Bier of Bier’s Pub & War Streets Brewery wood, NY. They offer guests a selection of over thir- having that freedom to do things that are more faire ‘matter-of-factness’ tone in his voice. ty taps, four of which are brewed right on premise. creative or just less efficient, that take longer than It is laced with confidence as he jokes, “Be- “We send it right from the serving tank to the something we can do [in Lakewood] that’s kind fore I could buy beer legally, I made it.” draft tower. So when you order a pub-brewed here, of a liberating thing. And it pushes us out of our Bier started War Streets Brewery in 2015 they pull on the handle and the beer falls out of the comfort zones to do something a little whacky.” and will be exclusively selling the prod- facet, it is coming out of one of those tanks direct. That “whacky” take Harries speaks of might ucts at his new brewpub, affectionately So it is really as fresh as it gets,” said Harries. very well be the charm craft breweries have. called Bier’s Pub on Western Ave., the for- Both Harries and Schau have been keen on They offer an escape from the routine. They ske- mer site of the local burger joint, Benjamin’s. utilizing their unique brewing system to experi- daddle away from the comforting pints of Mill- And while he admits that “repeatability” is the ment with what they call “small batches.” South- er High Life, Coors, and Budweiser that many goal of any brewery and finding that consistency ern Tier is well known for their 2XIPA and season- beer drinkers first grew up with; instead offer- Cont. Microbrews, Page 14 als like the Pumpking Imperial Ale and Warlock ing them something not just new, but something From Microbrews, Page 13 David Harries and Justin Schau of Southern Tier Photo by Neil Strebig may be key, to him it is unique to be the road where Allegheny City Brew- able to offer guests “a one-off beer that ing in Deutschtown and Penn Brew- is never going to be created again.” ery in Troy Hill are bringing in a sense This notion of “one-off” beers of community with each frothy pint. is partially due to the size of War “Honestly, the reason we want- Streets Brewery, which like Spring ed to open the brewery was to be Hill Brewery is also a nanobrewery. a neighborhood spot,” said ACB “We’re very small scale. owner and brewer Al Grasso. “We I’m only making about 50 gal- have always focused on and feel lons at a time,” said Bier. like we’ve been pretty success- Similar to Harries and Schau’s ful at being a place for the North- small batch system at Southern Tier side in general and Deutschtown.” that modest yield is something that al- ACB is owned and operated lows him to experiment with numerous by Grasso and siblings, Amy and recipes, creating a “low-risk” which is Matt Yurkovich. The trio focuses on something Bier cherishes because it al- bringing variety with their beers, of- lows him to have “a diverse set of beer.” fering a few “flagships” as Gras- Currently, Bier has two War so describes like the Deutschtown Streets beers on tap, the Sherman Brown and Morning Dew IPA. Avenue Stout and Brighton Road Yet, for Grasso, the success of Black IPA. He plans to add four ACB is about connecting with cus- more on by the end of October. tomers, something that has been made Each of the small operation’s bever- easier with the proximity to multiple ages is named after streets located in bars within the area and the sup- the Mexican War Streets neighbor- port of local brewers and breweries. hood where Bier currently resides. “I can’t say I have run into a fel- For Bier, the goal was to always low, local brewer who hasn’t been remain small and produce a sun- very supportive,” said Grasso. dry, local product. He speaks with “Locally it is a huge fam- great pride and conviction about the ily. It is really awesome how ev- Northside, the craft beer scene and erybody knows everybody,” said the privilege to not only represent his Penn Brewery brewer, Steve Central Northside neighborhood with Crist. “We all feed off each other.” WSB but also to now have a busi- A Pittsburgh native, Crist first ness in the heart of Allegheny West. began making beer with his broth- “I’m just happy to be part of a er in North Carolina. After mov- community that cares so much about ing back to Pittsburgh he landed at their neighborhood and to have such Penn Brewery, where he has been a local crowd that supports local,” for the last 8 years and attests, “Most Bier said. “I think it is great that of my knowledge [with brewing] these many people are interested and comes from what I’ve learned here.” there are that many beer drinkers in A large portion of that he accred- the city supporting these places in- its to how close-knit the local craft stead of buying generic macro beers.” scene is. Even as a large-scale pro- That concept of supporting local duction brewery like Penn –which is evident just a mile and half down houses a 6-person brew team, a daily production of 1,000 gallons, and lieves that the perfection each bottling and keg production twice brewery seeks for singular products a week – still values the comrad- is a valuable commodity for the ery of their team in addition to the maturity of the scene as a whole. input from neighboring brewers. As Grasso mentions, there is He cites a number of collabo- “plenty of room for growth” but the rations over the years with fellow question is now migrating towards brewers and the recalls an invita- how can the breweries collectively tion from Southern Tier, where Bier, work together to bring more visi- Crist, Grasso, and others were in- tors into the city, into their brew- vited to the Lakewood headquarters eries – into their neighborhoods. for a team-building exercise of sorts. “How can we market ourselves “How do you make the beer collectively as a place that people scene a better place? There is a lot will take trips too like Asheville, of opportunity for collaborations Portland, San Diego, Denver, and and inner play between the brew- Austin? We feel like we’re get- eries [here],” said Harries about ting to that critical mass with high- the Lakewood trip and its purpose. ly regarded breweries in the area, Crist mentions a recent brew but how can we pull our concepts, team partnership with Penn and ACB ideas, and resources to drop people for ACB’s seasonal ‘O-Fest’ brew. It in Pittsburgh to be a destination?” is a two-fold situation; Crist can dial While Grasso, still considers this up the phone, ask any of his fellow to be the “explorative” stage of the brewers on the Northside for ingredi- city’s brewery scene, he believes the ents or feedback and expect an hon- right steps are currently being taken.