This all came
from my collection of notes taken over the years for the Three Rivers Alliance
of Serious Homebrewers. I wrote the newsletter, The TRASH Can for eleven years.
Looking back I wish I took more detailed notes. C'est la vie.
In olden times
(‘90’s) Kangaroo’s Outback Café was
in the North Hills and in Robinson I visited the North Hill pub and found it to
be a nice place with a good beer selection as well as good food. In September 1995 they did something no other
beer-serving restaurant in Pittsburgh thought to do; they purchased a beer
engine. I did not visit the Robinson location so I do not know if they had an
engine nor do I know how many they actually had. I can’t remember how I knew of
this but as others from the homebrew club was there I have to think it was from
the late Tony Knipling. Tony had his ear on all thing s beer in Pittsburgh. My
notes tell me that one engine went to the Fuel
& Fuddle and two went to the Fox
and Hounds.
Specifically I
can’t remember the day we went to
Kangaroo’s but Pittsburgh radio personality Jim Quinn was at there that
evening as well as a few TRASH members. I think Quinn was having one of his
think tanks. We older ‘burghers remember “the daddyo of the radio” when he was
a DJ on KQV-FM back in the ’60. I was there for the beer. I also remember
getting the swordfish and bursting out with !!!!’s on how good it was.
Nobody in
Pittsburgh had any knowledge on how to keep and serve beer with a hand pump
back then. Not too soon after its debut it was pulled from duty. It does take
dome tender loving care and some find it a tad warm.
The Sharp Edge was the second tavern in
Pittsburgh to sell Cask Conditioned Ale. They had one engine and served a new
keg every Wednesday at 6PM and ran it until it kicks. I don’t have the specific
date but I believe it was in 1996.The
first beer out of the swan neck was Rouge Red at $4.25. Eventually they
installed a second engine about March 1997. The Church Brew Works as well as Three
Rivers Brewing opened in 1996. I can’t find anything squirreled away in my
notes when they started pulling the pump but Seam Casey of the Church has pictures of me pulling the
first draft.
The third tavern
to sell cask ale was the Fuel &
Fuddle in Oakland. Fist pull was in June or July 1997. The only served
one keg of Pretzel City IPA and took the hand pump off. They wanted to continue with the cask
but they could not keep the keg at the proper temperature. The beer was on the
warm side and more than it should have been for cask ale. There was no room
under the bar and no place convenient under the floor. They purchased the one
hand pump from Kangaroo's. 1998.
John Harvard’s opened in 1997 and I have to believe they stated doing cask beer right from
the get-go. The Foundry Ale Works followed
that year but no cask until 1998.
The Carson Street Chop House had a beer
engine on the bar during my visit on February 10, 1998. The beer that day was Victory Briar Bitter. The House was a sister pub to Fat Heads South Shore Saloon across the
street. We know the House today as Pipers Pub (opened 1999). Fat Heads eventually put an engine on
for several years but after a remodeling it was taken out of service. Tony then
acquired it from Glenn and used it for TRASH meeting and other events around
town.
One engine was
installed at Strip Brewery on Penn
Avenue in the Strip District (of course) on March 1, 1998. After this visit I went out to the Foundry Ale Works on Smallman. They were closed every Sunday in
February for work and reopened today. It was nice to see 2 engines waiting for
me. We were blessed on Sunday, April 5, 1998 when the Foundry Ale Works installed three beer engines (at end of March).
This was a Pittsburgh first.
On my June 15,
1998 visit to John Harvard’s in
Wilkins Township I got nice treat. Today was the day they served their first
cask ale. I did not write the beer in my notes but I did take note that it was
$2.75. The next day I waddled into the Strip
Brewery on Penn Avenue and found one engine. As I recall the Strip and John Harvard’s were the only two breweries serving beer on gravity
from wood casks. Penn Brewery did
gravity during functions like Christmas and their birthday party but the cask
was plastic lined and with regular beer. I never complained. Gravity beer is not under pressure nor
is it pumped or forced from the cask. It just pours out on its own into your
mug.
The Sharp Edge Creek House (opened 1998) next
to the Thornburg Bridge on Rt. 60 stared cask beer in February 1999. Jeff Walewski was an early
supporter of cask beer. Jeffery traveled with me to Chicago for the first Real
Ale Festive in November 1997. It was fun for us, and a learning experience for
Jeff. A real treat for me was having drinks and breakfast with world famous
beer writer Rodger Protz. We stayed in contact ever since and that is something
I will always treasure.
The Fox & Hounds in the North Hills opened
in 1999 and the manager was formerly with Kangaroo's.
He had two cask pumps but had no plans to install them. I wish he did as that
would have been a perfect place for me to chill between London trips.
On the South
Side Pipers Pub (operating 4 engines
because I go there a lot) and Carson
Street Deli (one pump at my barstool). Smoken
Joes had one but I haven’t had a brew there in a while. Rock Bottom has two. East End Brewing has one that is at the
ready. The Map Room in Regent Square
had one doing Scot Smith’s brews. Now closed Rivertowne Brewery in Monroeville had one and North Country Brewing has one. Although not via an engine the Hofbräuhaus in the South Side Works
does a gravity keg every First Wednesday of the moth when they debut a beer of
the month. I don’t know the status of today. Over the years they have come and
gone. I know I probably missed some spots. Sorry, I need to get out more.
Brewery opening
dates not after 1999:
Penn Brewery
September 12, 1989 as Allegheny Brewery & Pub
Church Brew
Works August 1, 1996
Three Rivers
Brewery December 4, 1996
Valhalla Brewery
May 1997
Strip Brewery
June 1997
John Harvard’s
August 26, 1997
Foundry Ale
Works November 1997
If I get updates
I should repost this for the benefit of future parakeets.
(If you read my newsletters you would understand the parakeet reference)
I wanted to get
this out there as I was always in awe that Kangaroo’s had the first beer
engine. At that time there were no breweries other than Allegheny and they only
served draft and bottles. We had a good representation of imported beer but
American craft was nothing like it is today.
Cheers, Ed Vidunas
