By Joel Rathgaber
Last June, I traveled to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for a conference and naturally scoped out as much good beer as I could in the area. I was staying at Carnegie Mellon University, in an area of Pittsburgh called Oakland. With CMU and University of Pittsburgh both situated in the area, I figured there must be somewhere to get good beer nearby. Although craft beer was not as available as I had hoped, I did manage to find a couple spots.
The only brewpub nearby was called Church Brew Works. Located in an amazing old church, this brewpub was quite a sight. The pews have been replaced with tables and a bar runs most of the way down one side of the church with serving tanks situated directly behind it. Up at the front on the altar is where the brewing system resides. Quite an ode to the beer gods!
I grabbed a seat up at bar and ordered a sampler of their 8 beers. Not surprisingly, most of their beers had names with some religious significance. My taster included the following:
- Celestial Gold: Nice golden ale, mellow with just a very subtle hop flavour.
- Pipe Organ Pale Ale: English pale ale with a caramel malt backbone balanced with a firm hop bitterness and flavour.
- Pious Monk Dunkel: Nicely crafted Munich Dunkel, clean, dry with just enough roast.
- Hefeweizen: Lots of banana esters with more subtle clove and bubblegum phenols.
- Pepper Pale Ale: a pale ale infused with black pepper. The aroma and flavour to me was stale ground black pepper - musty and dry. By far my least favourite beer of the tasting.
- Keystone Double IPA: A lot of malt that in my opinion should have been more dry especially as it did not have the hop bitterness to back the malt up. Tasted more like an IPA that a double to me.
- Millennium Tripel: Fruity and a touch too sweet to be a great tripel. I was looking for more spicy phenols and a nice dry finish that just wasn't there.
- Coconut Stout: This beer tasted just like a Bounty candy bar to me. Big coconut and chocolate notes made it a fantastic dessert beer.
The only other beer stop I managed to make in Pittsburgh was a pub called Fuel and Fuddle. The pub had a good selection of craft beer from around the states. Some of the highlights for me was the Anderson Valley IPA (one of the beers that was at the first Bushwakkers IPA tasting - however it was much, much better on tap), Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang (a Belgian Quadrupel) and Dogfish Head India Brown Ale (surprisingly not as bitter as I thought it would be). The pub was always busy, with good food and a very knowledgeable staff and a great selection of beer.
One more surprising beer note (at least to me) was that the beer served at Mellon Arena (home of the Pittsburgh Penguins) included Michelob Amber Bock, a nice alternative to Bud Lite - the other option.
While Pittsburgh isn't exactly a beer mecca, it was still possible to find good beer without much trouble. Amen.
