I'm thrilled to announce that we've reached another milestone in our Brewery Expansion, and it's time to put our new Growler Room into service!  Starting Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 , we'll be filling Growlers at 147 Julius St. <- Click for a map.

Eventually we will have a REAL SIGN at the new brewery, but for now you'll have to look for a banner tacked on the wall, set back in a lot from the street.  We'll have the keg out there too of course, just to help.

We're also extending our Growler Hours in the new space (effective Nov 6th) to...

• Tuesday thru Friday 4-8pm
• Saturday 12-5pm
• Sunday 10-2pm 

This means the LAST CALL for Growler Hours on Susquehanna Street will be this Saturday, November 3rd at 5pm.  So feel free to stop in and say goodbye to the wobbly bar, the chilly room, and the cramped quarters.  Because we're definitely not moving that stuff over.

Thanks, and see you here soon!

Cheers - Scott

Now don't give me any of that "I just don't like Wheat Beers" nonsense.  Because in reality, the flavor of wheat is really pretty subtle, and hard to pick out.  And besides, a typical wheat beer... does not exist.

Yes, I said it.  There is really no such thing as a TYPICAL wheat beer!  Any more than there is a typical barley beer.  The way it works is like this: We brewers use different varieties of Malted Wheat much the same way we use different varieties of Malted Barley - and we use them both to make a wide variety of beers spanning a broad range of flavors.

Some are fruity, some are spicy, some are sweet, some are dry, some are hoppy, some are tart, some are light, some are dark, some are low in alcohol, and some are strong...and some probably fit into another 10 or 20 categories that I haven't mentioned here.  And we're about to help you find a bunch of these types of Wheat Beer flavors all in one place, during something we've been calling Wheat Fest.

Some of these 5 beers are new, some are old standbys, some are already on tap now, and some will make their way to the taps before June 8th.  But they'll ALL be on tap at once for WheatFest, and staying on until they run out!  Here's the lineup at the brewery (Growler Shop will have a slightly shorter list):

East End Witte - Our Spring Seasonal, brewed with a bit more oats this year.  We've also made the spicing more delicate, and included some fresh lemongrass to our standard corriander and orange peel spice additions.  I've personally been all over this one now that the warmer weather is here.

Wheat Hop - One of our Session Beer Series that we like to revisit around this time of year...  Think IPA, but with a wheat beer base, and at Session Beer strength.  Fruity, but it's all about the hops as there's no fruit added.  Just 4.3%, and built just perfectly for lawnmowing.

Monkey Boy - Our German-style Hefeweizen, with a distinctive banana aroma that comes from the hefe yeast we use to ferment it.  Year round availability, and a mainstay of our GOOD BEER Fans.

Monkey Girl - Our sister beer to Monkey Boy, also fermented with the same hefe yeast, this is a Dunkelweizen.  So it's got a little more malt sweetness, a hint of roast, and a bit more color.  It also has a little less alcohol than it's brother.

Monkey's Uncle - The third beer in what I suppose is turning out to be our Monkey Beer Series.  It's got all the ester characteristics of the "Boy" and the "Girl" stuffed into a great big 10.5% ABV package.  If you're a barleywine fan, you'll love this one.  And in fact, some might call it a Wheatwine (As it drinks like a Barleywine) but technically it's a Weizenbock since it's fermented with this same hefeweizen yeast strain.  In bottled form, it ages well.  So you can cellar this beer for a while, given its higher abv.  But I've never managed to keep mine for more than a year or so.

A note on this last beer: We will have draft Monkey'sUncle available at WheatFest, and HOPEFULLY bottles as well.  But this all depends on how the bottle conditioning goes.  More as the date approaches!

If after reading this, you're still sticking to your "I'm not a fan of Wheat Beer" guns, I'd love to get you a taste of ALL of these to see if you still feel the same way by the end.  Worst case, you'll have sampled some new beers - and that's always a plus.

Cheers - Scott

This kind of snuck up on us, as we've still been resting up after that EPIC Pgh Craft Beer Week...  (More reflections on that later.)

Tomorrow, March 5th is the Pittsburgh Marathon, and as I discovered earlier today, our Brewery is ON THE MARATHON ROUTE.  Yes, it comes right down Frankstown Ave - not at our front door on Julius St, but on the shipping and recieving side.  Because of the street closures in our neighborhood, it's looking like access to the brewery will be tricky before 1pm tomorrow.

So for this day only, we'll be holding Growler Hours at the Brewery from 1pm until 3pm.

And unfortunately we'll not be passing out cups of beer to passing runners... Maybe next year, now that we know that it just might be rolling down our street!

Safe running everyone, and best of luck tomorrow!  Cheers - Scott

One of the best things about Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week (aka #PCBW), is the chance for all the local brewers to get out of the brewery - and into a DIFFERENT brewery, to work with some new people and some new equipment on a Collaboration Beer.  Or as is the case this year, work on one of the FIVE DIFFERENT COLLABORATION BEERS being brewed at five area breweries.

I personally missed out on all of this stuff last year, as we were in the throes of brewery buildout. But this time around, Brendan got to work on the beer brewed at the Church Brew Works, and I got to work on the one we brewed here at East End Brewing.

Our group consisted of...

• Steve Crist, Penn Brewery 
• Ryan Bove and Dave Lishego, Aurochs Brewing (a new startup, brewing 100% Gluten Free)
• Steve Sloan, Roundabout Brewing (also a startup. But you may know Steve from his magazine cover modeling work here.)
• Me. (aka, Scott from East End Brewing)

After a quick huddle over a couple tasty pints at Penn, we determined that we'd brew something with regional ties, possibly a sour beer using a kettle-souring method, an something relatively low in alcohol 4.5-5.5% abv.  Then, with a few rounds of not-as-tasty-as-beer emails, and some reference to a few pages in Randy Mosher's excellent book, we refined our plan to be the beer we have in the tank now...

"Pennsyl-tucky Uncommon" is a bastardized hybrid of a "PA Swankey" and a "Kentucky Common", probably more sour than either.

Or, said another way, it's a kettle-soured brown ale (from the KY Common) of 5.4%, very lightly spiced with Star Anise (from the Swankey), negligibly hopped with Cluster (the most common hop grown in this region at the time), and brewed from Pilsner, Brown, Chocolate, Cara, and Wheat malts... along with a good bit of corn.

Corn is historically appropriate for BOTH of these styles, and is also a nod to our gluten-free co-conspirator, Ryan. Though this is by no means a GF beer.  Steve Sloan provided the kettle-souring know how, Steve from Penn brought the ale yeast, and East End brought the brewery.

Above photo courtesy of Zavo Gabriel, who was in this day shooting for Craft Pgh Magazine. (Don't blame him for the other photos though.)

Also, I'd like to make a special thanks and shout-out to both Judy at Brewer's Supply Group, and Bryan at the Brewing Science Institute for sponsoring ingredients in this brew!  Check them out if you're in the market!

We'll release this beer at the brewery, and keep about half of our 20bbl batch for Growler Service at the Brewery and at the Shop in the Strip.  The other half will be distributed in sixtels and halves through our Master Distributor, Vecenie Distributing in Millvale.  Maybe in about a week or two?  (It's 4/11/2013 today.) 

You're also likely to see this beer at a few PCBW Events that we're doing here and around town, as well as some of the BIG PCBW events.  So come check it out.  We ALL hope you'll like it, and hope to pour you one soon!

Cheers - Scott

Updated 4/16/13...

In case you hadn't heard, the entire Pittsburgh GOOD BEER community is in the final planning stages of our second annual, even bigger, even better, 2013 Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week...aka #PCBW.  And we're proud to be a sponsor!  (Maybe you'd like to be a sponsor too?)

I figured I'd better compile a list of what we've got planned before it gets any closer so here is what we have so far, with a few more events firming up and appearing in the days to come... THIS IS A PARTIAL LIST:

• Fri 4/19 Brewer's Ball benefitting Cystic Fibrosis
• Sat 4/20 Gardeners (and non-Gardeners alike): Come get your hands dirty at the HopFarm!
• Sat 4/20 Tapping: Taste all 5 PCBW Collaborative Brews at the Brewery during Growler Hours!  Regular hours, 12-5pm, while supplies last.  We'll also have you PCBW tshirts in stock, so buy one to support Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week!
• Sat 4/20 Hops for Hearth Beer Tasting and Benefit
• Sat 4/20 Release the Firkins! - Pittsburgh's first Cask Ale Fest
• Sun 4/21 Pig Roast Brunch at Hough's with our Head Brewer, Brendan
• Mon 4/22 Meet-the-Brewer at the S. Hills Giant Eagle (details to follow)
• Tue 4/23 LOCAL Foods, LOCAL Brews at Wild Purveyors
• Wed 4/24 Beer vs. Cocktails Dinner at East End Brewing (No Growler Hours this day)
• Thu 4/25 Beer+Food Pairings at Whole Foods Market in East Liberty (details to follow)
• Fri 4/26 Brew Day with East End Brewing at The Copper Kettle
• Sat 4/27 Pedal Pale Ale KEG RIDE!
• Sun 4/28 TBD

More like Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week and a Half!

...And then of course, there's all the Collaboration Beers we need to tell you about.  More about the one we brewed here at East End Brewing is coming soon...

Cheers - Scott

A bit of history: the Repeal of Prohibition didn't happen all at once.  There was a "Little Repeal Day" where lower alcohol beer was first made legal in late March of 1933.  This was eventually followed by the Full Repeal of the 18th Amendment late that year, which made all forms of drink legal again.  Apparently as a nation, we needed to ease back into the pool since no one in the country had consumed a drink for roughly 13 years.  Sure, let's go with that.

To celebrate this pre-victory against such absurdity, and to further the cause of treating GOOD BEER like the excellent social lubricant that we all know it to be, we're doing our part for Session Beer Day here in the US.  (To further develop your thirst, you can read more about Session Beer Day, the Session Ale Project, and other stuff Lew Bryson is cooking up here: http://sessionbeerproject.blogspot.com)

And since we happen to have 3 Session Ales in our lineup right now (and we pretty much ALWAYS have 3 Session Ales in our lineup), we're running the following Growler special at both our locations on Sunday, on fillups of these three beers:

Fat Gary Nut Brown Ale (3.8%), Honey Heather Ale (4.0%), and The Bitter End (4.2%)

• A buck off the fill up of a single Growler of any of these beers.
• Two bucks off of EACH Growler when you fill two of them. ($4 total)
• Three bucks off of EACH Growler when you fill three of them ($9 total)

And yes, this still works if you want to double/triple up on one beer.  So stop in and see us on Sunday.  Between tipping back a couple lower gravity beers on a school night and the 60 degree temps, it's going to be a great finish to the weekend!

Cheers - Scott

Quick!  Grab a bike and a GOOD FRIEND and get ready for the running of the 9th Annual Keg Ride. We're back at it again to raise money for In Stride Therapeutic Riding and BikePGH this year, and we need your help!

THE RIDE: To spread the word about what it means to operate an environmentally sustainable brewery, since our very first year, 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 27th, 2013, we'll set off with a few kegs and about 650 of our 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 secret destination.

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

NEW/NOT SO NEW THIS YEAR:

• We're starting at our new, fully operational brewing home, 147 Julius St. in Larimer.
• Ridership is capped at 650 and we're eliminating day-of registration and waiver-signing as much as possible to keep the lines short!
• When you register, you'll see an option to buy a limited run, KegRide tshirt, designed and printed by our long-time pals at CommonwealthPress. 100% of the proceeds go to our charities as well... so BUY ONE!  Deadline for adding a t-shirt to your registration is April 12, 2013.
• Didn't get a t-shirt? Our GOOD FRIENDS at Commonwealth Press will also be on site, LIVE SCREENING shirts for your wearing pleasure!
• You'll get to enjoy that first taste of Pedal Pale Ale in a souvenir East End Brewing Pint Glass that you can take home.
• Plan on doing the Reverse Keg Ride on Novermer 2nd as well?  Shortly, we'll have a "Round Trip Keg Ride" registration option in place so you can sign up for both, and save a few bucks too!
• 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, and the first person to make payment - credit card, check, unmarked bills, gold bullion (Seth's words, not mine.) - gets to pull a keg to our undisclosed location. No, we still won't tell you where we're riding, but at least you'll learn first!

MORE NEW STUFF:

• Zombo goes MOBILE! Yes, we're bringing him and the tunes with us this year, all pulled by bicycle of course!!!
• The Pgh Taco Truck will be joining us at the Brewery before we leave, so COME HUNGRY!

It's finally time for us to add the last beer to this year's Festival of Darkness releases:  For the 4th year in a row, we've managed to cover a whole bunch of cherries with 44lbs of Belgian Dark Chocolate and 15lbs of American Cocoa Powder, to brew our Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout.

We're tapping it just as soon as it's ready, so that means...

• Noon at the Brewery this Saturday, February 9th.  
• NEXT Friday in The Strip, February 15th. (We're going to try to get some there for THIS Saturday. Just don't count on it - or better still, check the Twitters for updates.)

As the name suggests, the fruit is in the background on this one.  And in keeping with our general practice for balancing specialty ingredient additions, we've managed to make this one still taste like a Stout... in spite of all that wonderful chocolate-ey goodness.  

In fact, if you're a dark beer fan, we've got 3 other stouts, a porter, and few more dark beers to pick from that will help you through these last long cold weeks winter... so get in here!

Beer..It's not just for Valentines Day anymore.

Cheers - Scott

It only took us 8 years of brewing to get around to offering regular tours here at the brewery... and now they'll be happening every other Saturday at 1pm.  We may change the frequency once we see what the interest level is like, but for now, this is our plan...

So if you've not been out to our Brand New Brewery yet, or if you've been out for beer but never got a look behind the red doors, well now's your chance!  Plus, included with every Brewery Tour Ticket is a Growler of GOOD BEER to take home with you.

Read more, pick a date, and get yourself signed up for a Tour HERE.

See you soon!

Cheers - Scott