YOU FOUND US...Pittsburgh's MICRO-est microbrewery! If you're new around here, this site should get you up to speed in no time - and you can always come visit during our "Growler Hours", and we can pour you a taste to make up for some of that lost time. Hope to see you soon! Cheers, Scott

Hey, so we'll be open at the Brewery on SUNDAY from Noon until three, during Memorial Day Weekend... That's 5/27/12 from 12-3pm for the numerically minded.  Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Cheers - Scott

It's rare that we brew a Lager around here, mostly because they take more time to finish up in the tank, in spite of all the nagging and cajoling we direct toward the fermenter.  So when we do one, we like to do something extra special that's worth the wait.

The artwork was just approved by the Feds today (4/18/2012), so we're hoping to get labels from the printer and onto the bottles so we can release it during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week at the brewery and at the Growler Shop in the Strip.  But stay tuned for more on that as it takes shape.

Cheers - Scott

In case you haven't heard, the very first Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week is about to kick off. This massive undertaking is the result of countless hours of work, planning, collaboration, and coordination on the part of so many wonderful beer-loving people in this town, it really is an amazing thing. Stop what you're doing right now and take a look at the staggering number of events on the calendar. Whether you consider yourself a Craft Beer newbie, or a fully realized complete beer geek like me, you're sure to find something up your alley, and maybe even right down your street.

We've got a nice big block of fun events in the East End Brewing calendar too... A hike/brewery tour, a couple of beer fests, a Beer vs. Cocktails throwdown, a Vegetarian/Session Beer night (veggie haggis!), a full on beer dinner, and of course our annual Keg Ride to close down the week.  But there is one more thing we'll be doing, to encourage you to come out to see us at the brewery this week...

In the spirit of BUY A GOOD FRIEND A GOOD BEER (tm), we're going to help you accomplish this directive with some hardware: For every Growler fill of our Snow Melt Winter Ale that you pick up here at the Brewery Location during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week (or #pcbw as the cool kids say) we'll hand you a pair of East End Brewing Pint Glasses so that you can follow our advice, and share your Growler with that GOOD FRIEND.  Preferably someone who has managed to be a GOOD FRIEND but somehow hasn't discovered GOOD BEER just yet, because that's what this week is all about.

Of course our goal is a bit self-serving, as you may have already guessed.  You'll be helping us clear out our stock of Winter Ale to make way for our our next seasonal beer, Pedal Pale Ale which comes out on 4/28/12 this year.  But really, that's just a side benefit.  You'll be spreading the word about FRESH LOCAL BEER, and starting a conversation about Pittsburgh's very first Craft Beer Week.  At least I hope you will.

Thanks for the help!

Cheers - Scott

Editor's note: I started writing this update back in January but never managed to finish it and get it posted.  But I couldn't post Update #3 without #2 in place, so here you go... (today is 4/10/12) Also, you can click on some of these photos to see them enlarged.

Now that the big beer holidays are in the rear view here, we can get back to regular things.  Aside from keeping the beer flowing, that also means resuming our work down the street in our new brewery building... and posting another long overdue update.

Let's start from the bottom up...

• Pouring concrete to make a floor that slopes toward the drain in a brewery.  Sounds totally revolutionary, I know.  But for us, it really is.  This is where all the action is every day, so it’s an important but often overlooked part of the setup  because for many years to come it will actually be quite literally "set in stone".  Designing this took quite a while to get right, partly because I’ve never done this before.  We’ve still got a little more to do around the trench drain, but we’re holding off on pouring more concrete until the weather in here is consistently above freezing.

• Growler Room Floors: Our new next door neighbors Lloyd and Bobby at Direct Service did an awesome job on the floor in what will be our new Growler Room, pictured here.  A surface that is water-tight, washable, and looks great too.  Again, how novel!  If only the rest of the place was as finished as this floor.

Before...

After...

Of course, floors aren't generally considered to be the sexy parts of a brewery - generally that's the "Brewhouse".  This term usually does not refer to an actual building, but the set of tanks and associated equipment used to produce “wort” from the grain, and where the hop additions are made.  To further confuse things, the wort is transferred to "the cellar", which is not a cellar at all, but the name we use for a group of fermenters and kegging equipment.  And we just got BOTH of these delivered.

Fermenters:  This chilly day in November of 2011 was my very first day driving a fork lift – unloading three 40barrel fermenters from this container.  That’s our other neighbor, Craig Marcus (of Marcus Furniture Studio) driving the second fork lift.  These tanks are about 14 feet long (soon to be 14 feet high!), so they took some maneuvering to get out, down, and into the building without any mishaps.  It took about half a day, with the first one taking the longest as we learned how to pull it off.

Brewhouse: A few weeks later, the Brewhouse arrived.  Great news, because I needed another day of driving lessons.  This time, our concrete guys stepped in to lend a hand and help me "keep the shiny side up" on these most precious assets.  THIS is where your GOOD BEER Investor dollars have gone:

Here's what the Brewhouse will look like once we get it all put together - how it looked at the Premier Stainless factory in Escondido, CA:

No, they did not include the Hula Girl.  

That's it for now.  More when I know it... which is actually soon, given the date I'm getting this posted!

Cheers - Scott

About this time of year, we turn our sights to brewing something special for Spring, and that usually means something with a good bit of Wheat in the mash.  "Wheat Beer" is a pretty broad and misleading term. Nearly everything we brew has some amount of wheat in it, as it's an excellent way to increase head retention on a beer.  But foam aside, we generally don't refer to a beer as a "Wheat Beer" unless it's got about 50% Wheat in the Grain Bill. (That's the grain portion of the recipe.)

While some may say "I don't like Wheat Beer", what they probably mean is that they either don't like a poorly made wheat beer, or that they don't like a particular Style of Wheat Beer... like say, a Hefeweizen.  I say this because the flavor contribution of the actual wheat in a Wheat Beer is really pretty subtle, and often overshadowed by anything from the yeast strain that's used (as in a German Style Hefeweizen like our Monkey Boy), the spices that may be added (in the case of a Belgian Style Witte Beer like our East End Witte), or even the Hops that are selected (as in a Hoppy American Wheat Beer like our Wheat Hop).  The dominant flavor can even come from the massive quantity of malted wheat and barley that are used in a beer like our Weizenbock, Monkey's Uncle... which by the way, we sadly do not have the capacity to brew this time around.

Part of what we try to do each Spring by brewing a bunch of Wheat-based beers in a group like this is to hopefully break some of the pre-concieved notions of what Wheat Beer is, and offer a little bit of education about what Wheat Beer can be.

So starting on the weekend of April 13th, WELCOME TO WHEATFEST at the Brewery!  We'll have a total of 4 different wheat-based beers on tap for you to taste side-by-side-by-side, and of course take home in Growler form:

• Monkey Boy Hefeweizen
• Monkey Girl Dunkelweizen
• East End Witte
• Wheat Hop, our Hoppy American Wheat Beer 

Hope to see you here!  Cheers - Scott

While we work to build our new bigger, better brewery down the street, we find ourselves in a rather odd situation. Every new tap spot that opens up seems to be taking an interest in running Craft Beer, and Local Beers (ours and others) are an ever growing part of it. Great news, except when we consider that the reason we're expanding is that we don't have enough capacity to support our demand.

So rather than take on more draft accounts right now, and create more short shipments, frustration, and extra scrambling for everyone involved (especially here at the brewery), we're capping it. This means that if you don't have us on tap now, we have to turn your business away for the next several months until we can grow a bit more brewing capacity here.

A larger brewery would probably trim off some distribution area if they got in this spot, but given our rather modest footprint, this isn't really an option here.

So for now, run some beer from one of the other excellent local breweries we have in the area, and circle back to us later this calendar year when we can more properly keep you supplied with beer. And thanks for your patience!

And by the way, this change does not effect our supply of beer for Growlers, or your ability to pick up a keg for your house. We wouldn't do that to you.

Cheers - Scott

Grab a bike and a GOOD FRIEND for the running of the 8th Annual Keg Ride.  We're back at it again to raise money for ABOARD's Autism Connection and BikePGH this year!

UPDATE: As of today 4/27/12, the Keg Ride is SOLD OUT with all 600 spots filled, and we cannot accept any more riders.  See you in the Fall for our REVERSE KEG RIDE where we bring the empties back!

THE RIDE: To help spread the word about what it means to operate an environmentally sustainable brewery (more on that here), for the past seven years, we've been delivering the the very first PEDAL PALE ALE kegs of the season to a local tap-spot in a very unique way....BY BICYCLE.

On Saturday Morning, April 28th, 2012, a few of us will set off with kegs and 500  GOOD FRIENDS  in tow to a mystery destination some place in Pittsburgh that ordered some beer. The trip will be slow, meandering, and maybe a little surprising - especially the destination.  And of course, the beer will be cold, super-fresh, and especially tasty after the ride!

CAN I BUY YOU A BEER? For everyone that rides along, your first  beer is on me.  The more people that ride, the more beer we have to pull, but we'll worry about that.

WORTHY CAUSES: Like last year, instead of just riding for beer, we're riding for Charity, raising a bit of cash for a local organization doing great work on tiny budgets... ABOARD's Autism Connection and BikePGH !

What's New This Year:

• We're starting at the new home of the East End Brewing, 6580 Frankstown Ave. (at Julius Street).
• We're also limiting the number of riders to 500 and eliminating day-of registration.  This ride has been know to grow to gigantic proportions, doubling year after year.  The ride's legit now and we're trying to grow it sustainably.....just like the new brewery.  So, sign up early before all the spots are gone!
• BikePGH is organizing the event this year, so come out and see all your cycling pals and make some new ones.
• You'll get a souvenir EEB Pint Glass.  Oh yeah!  After enjoying a little Pedal Pale Ale you'll take the glass home with you.

WANT TO REALLY PARTICIPATE?  PULL A KEG!  Yes, you can have the honor of riding at the front of the pack, and scoring one of the very first glasses of PEDAL PALE ALE served this season.  Of course, you'll need to work for it - and pay for it too.  But again, it all goes to charity.  

For the tidy sum of $250, you can guarantee a slot at the head of the pack.  Just drop an email to seth@bike-pgh.org, and the first person to make payment - credit card, check, unmarked bills, gold bullion (Seth's words, not mine.  I'd also take beer.) - gets to pull a keg to our undisclosed location.  No, we still won't tell you where we're riding... but I can say that we will go near a body of water, but we will not cross one.

THE PARTICULARS:

• Date: Saturday, April 28th, 2012
• Time: 9:30-10:30am sign-in, 11am departure, arrival at Desination likely between 12 and 1pm
• Starting Point: East End Brewing Co. (new location at 6580 Frankstown Ave, Pgh, Pa 15206)
• Destination: You've gotta ride to find out!
• Distance: 6-10 miles
• Pace: Gentle.  Remember that part about people pulling a keg?
• Return trip: Sorry folks, you're on your own.
• Registration: Early Bird = $20, Regular = $25  (Remember, you get to keep the pint glass) Hmm.....when does Early Bird pricing end?  That's a mystery, so sign up now before the price goes up. 
• Ride is limited to 500 riders.
• Click here for info on last year's ride.

GOOD BEER Fans:

I want to make you aware of something that seems to be rearing its ugly head.  Now that the weather is getting a bit warmer, I've gotten a few reports from customers that their Illustration Ale bottles are bursting while sitting quietly, undisturbed in a kitchen or a basement.  Four reports in fact, as of today, 3/25/12.  I've also seen two broken bottles at the brewery that burst in the box after they were labeled.  This represents about 1% of the bottles we filled, so I think we may have a problem.

Granted, this beer is designed to be at the high end of the carbonation scale, and it certainly is, as we designed it to be.  But it appears we either overshot the priming sugar charge, or the Farmhouse yeast was able to continue to work on the sugars in the beer itself enough to exceed the pressure that the bottle is capable of supporting.  And because this is a reusable container, some of them may be weaker than others due to normal wear and tear.

I'm telling you this primarily so that you don't store these bottles in a place where, if it were to burst, it would be destructive or make a huge mess.

So, here's my advice on what to do:

1. Handle the bottle extra carefully.  Don't shake it or invert it. And be careful not to knock it into anything. Maybe wrap a dish towel around it when you handle it, in the unlikely event that it chooses this exact moment to break.
2. Get it very cold. Like 35-40 degrees if you can manage to do so without freezing it (freezing will most definitely break it).  Or just put it in the bottom of your fridge overnight.  In a ziplock bag if you want to be extra safe.
3. Hold the bottle over your sink, and pop it open. It may open LOUDLY and even "self pour" a bit, so have a glass handy just in case.
4. If you want to drink it, now is an excellent time to do so.  If you still want to save it for another day, just close the swingtop back up.  There will be plenty of carbonation left in the beer for the next time you open it, without all the risk of broken glass, now that the pressure has been relieved.

Of course, if none of this is appealing to you and you’d rather just bring it back in for a refund or a replacement, that’s fine too.  We’ll be happy to do that.

There's also a good chance your bottle is just fine as it is, but I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.  And based on the bottle I've got open right now in my kitchen, it's still a very tasty beer that’s in great shape... though the carbonation is definitely high on it.

I'm really sorry for the trouble on this.   We’ll be taking a long hard look at the way we are packaging our bottle conditioned beer in the future to make sure this kind of thing won’t happen again.  But please, let me know if there's any questions about these little trouble makers.

Cheers,  Scott

I have to admit, sometimes I am not drinking a beer.  Sometimes, I'll have a cocktail instead.  Making these kinds of important decisions can be difficult and complicated, especially when there's also some food involved.  But we must face them objectively, with determination and confidence...  Still, it's nice to get a little support once in a while.  And we're here to help with that.