For the third year running, chef and beer connoisseur Jackie Page tackles the enviable task of sampling the city’s finest craft breweries to determine her best ten beers of Pittsburgh.
10 Must-Try Beers From Pittsburgh’s Craft Breweries
Altered Genius
258 Main Street, Imperial
My number one beer this year is Altered Genius’s Peake Saison! I love this beer; it’s a refreshing farmhouse ale built for drinkability and complexity without heaviness. It features aromas of citrus and has a light peppery spice as well as soft floral notes layered over a delicate granny malt backbone; its ABV is 5.4%. Daelyn Schellhaas started at Altered as an employee — then became the owner, making hers the first African American woman-owned brewery in Pennsylvania.
Back Allery Brewing Company
2975 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont
Back Alley is known for its diverse beer menu, including unique stouts, sours, IPAs, and ciders. My pick is the Brewed Awakening Blonde Coffee Stout, which has hints of cacao nibs, fresh coffee, and vanilla beans, and clocks in at 6.9% ABV. The comfortable taproom, with its community-focused atmosphere, is housed in the former Dormont Police Station. You can even order a porter named for its home turf, the Dormonster.
Windy Bridges Brew
Windy Bridges Ale serves up a favorite of mine, a Cream Ale with a 4.5% ABV. Pittsburgh’s first Black-owned brewery, Windy Bridges was founded by master brewer Marcus Wyatt and operates as a boutique brewery focused on high-quality craft beers. Check Instagram for his pop-ups and special events.
Lolev Beer
Lawrenceville and Zelienople
Lolev Brewing makes absolutely delicious beer, with my favorite yet being Tides II, a hazy IPA with a zesty, bright citrus flavor and a 6.5% ABV. The brewery’s name, Lolev, references the basement where the founders started homebrewing, aka the Lower Level. If you’re not a fan of hazy IPAs, Lolev has a vast selection of what they call “modern ales, expressive lagers, and oak-aged beers.”
Jackworth Ginger Beer
6615 Hamilton Avenue, Larimer
A bit off the mainstream brewery list, Jackworth Ginger Beer is a worthy mention on a Best of Beer list. Their naturally fermented ginger beers are made with organic Peruvian ginger, cane sugar, and lime. So good! Options include their Original, with a sharp ginger kick, a lime finish, and made with half the sugar of most brands, and the Sorrel, a Jamaicaninspired brew that adds the complexity, color, as well as brightness of hibiscus. Both varieties are gluten free and 5% ABV. Take a ride to Larimer and check out Pennsylvania’s only ginger beer brewery.
Velum Fermentation
2120 Jane Street, South Side
Velum Fermentation does amazing things — like crafting top notch beer while also offering fun games for patrons. Their Mango Slider IPA, with its fruity tartness and an 5.8% ABV, is phenomenal. In Pittsburgh’s South Side, residents know Velum for its community focus, brewing craft beer alongside a wide range of activities like an arcade, indoor pickleball courts, and also event spaces.
East End Brewing
Larimer, Mt. Lebanon, Chateau (North Side)
East End Brewery, which first hooked up its taps in 2004, is an old standby for me, as it’s where I tasted my first craft beer. I have been hooked on their beer offerings ever since. With a rotating selection of 14 drafts, my recent fave is their 21st Anniversary Beer, a Belgian Golden Strong at 8.4% ABV. East End embraces its locality with beers named for neighborhoods — such as the Arlington YAB, a Polish-style Grodziskie, and the Mt. Lebanon, a hazy IPA made with cashmere hops — and Pittsburgh puns, like the Caution Slippy, a dank 8.2% ABV New England-style double IPA.
CoStar Brewing
323 Butler Street, Etna
Next, we move to CoStar Brewing and their Marzen, a traditional Bavarian-style lager. CoStar’s version has a medium body, a bready, biscuity aroma, as well as a malty sweetness balanced with a slight hop bitterness to finish. Two years ago, the owners made the jump from a garage in Highland Park to a 2,400-sqaure-foot new construction in Etna with a minimalist vibe and service station-style doors that open to patio seating.
Brew Gentlemen – Braddock Public House
1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock
Brew Gentlemen’s General Braddock’s IPA is to die for. Their year-round flagship American IPA, coming in at 6.8% ABV, is often described as a hazy East Coast-style IPA. It features tropical fruit notes, including mango, grapefruit, and pineapple. Brew Gentleman’s beer is on tap at Braddock Public House, a full-service restaurant.
Coven Brewing
4901 Butler Street, Lawrenceville
Coven Brewing produces some really great beer, especially hop-forward New England-style IPAs, but the one I chose for this top 10 is the Emerald Laced Catacombs. This 7% ABV West Coast IPA is hopped with Columbus, Simcoe, Citra, and also Chinook. Expect flavors of a trinity of ripe pineapple, pineapple rind, and wet pine needles. Coven is where hop lovers rejoice!
Story by Jackie Page
Photography by Laura Petrilla
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.
