Has There Ever Been a Better Time for Beer in Pittsburgh?

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

It’s a frigid January day and I’m at East End Brewing Co.’s Larimer taproom washing down a pizza with a pilsner. I’m alone, but not really — the employees are chatty and I hear buddies clinking glasses in the booth behind me.

In between sips it strikes me that I’ve been patronizing this place for more than 20 years. A tidal wave of memories floods my brainpan and I get a little misty.

Take that Dry January!

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

East End opened in 2004, when I was 26. At that point in my life, I was already a devout patron of Church Brew Works (which opened in 1996), a member of Fuel and Fuddle’s Beer Cult and a graduate of Penn Brewery University. Transfixed by the Zambelli-like explosion of barley, malt and hops happening in the city, I even dabbled in homebrewing for a bit. I enjoyed learning about the history of beer, even if I couldn’t master the science behind it.

ABJURATION BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

There are now nearly 50 breweries in Allegheny County and folks from around the nation are taking notice. USA Today named Pittsburgh’s beer scene one of the 20 best in the country. Through Feb. 23 at noon, yinz can vote online to bump us into the Top 10. Winners will be announced March 4.

In my career, I’ve interviewed many of the people behind the pints and shared their stories. It’s a tight-knit community.

East End’s motto, “Buy a Good Friend a Good Beer,” is something we take to heart in this city. The company has also brewed a different beer for each of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods. Mister Rogers was a teetotaler, but I think he would’ve appreciated the neighborliness of the You Are Here series.

A lot of breweries around the country are closing their doors for myriad reasons, including higher costs and fewer drinkers.

We’ve seen the closure of Insurrection Ale Works, Arboretum Trail, Mastic Trail and Spring Hill. Last summer, Voodoo shuttered its North Shore facility and, in January, Full Pint bid farewell to its Warrendale taproom and kitchen, but pledged to keep cranking out suds.

Despite some hardships, the glass is still half-full.

TWO FRAYS BREWERY. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

“I think the state of Pittsburgh beer is doing just fine,” says Melissa Larrick, executive director of the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild. “We are ahead of the curve as far as our region goes. Pittsburgh takes its beer very seriously. The Guild adds support and keeps everything moving.”

Formed in 2017 when there were 28 active breweries in Allegheny County, the nonprofit organization publishes the Pittsburgh Brewery Guide, a passport-style booklet that’s updated every two years. It features information on member breweries and designated beer trails throughout the city. Folks can win prizes for visiting a certain number of sites to have their guide stamped.

It’s fun! Just ask the 118 people who’ve filled their passports in the last year. Larrick says demographics of local beer lovers is a mixed bag; it includes a lot of women between the ages of 35 and 50 and 20-somethings just discovering the ancient beverage.

ALLUSION BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Two years ago, the Guild received a state grant to digitize the guide. The app went live last summer. Larrick, who also serves as marketing director for Strip District-based Cinderlands Beer Co., hopes locals and tourists download the app to optimize their beer experience. Between 500,000 and 700,000 football fans are expected to visit Pittsburgh April 23-25 for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Three Rivers Beer Week is set for April 8-12. The Guild has organized the bash — formerly known as Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week — since 2019. This year, commemorative pint glasses will be sold exclusively at member breweries. Local artists submitted designs for the drinkware and signage. In addition to earning beer nerd bragging rights, the winner will receive $500. That’ll buy a lot of beer!

FERMATA BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

If you missed the Jan. 26 submission deadline, there’s still time for you to achieve beer bash immortality; applications are open and tickets are on sale for Barrel & Flow Fest. America’s first Black-owned craft brews festival will hold its sixth annual event on Aug. 8 in the Strip District.

Founded by Day Bracey, Barrel & Flow has grown into an internationally recognized experience focused on Black artistry, entrepreneurship and community while redefining what a brews festival can be. More than 180 partners, including brewers, food vendors, artists, performers, makers and community partners, have applied.

Bracey calls the festival a “cultural moment” — one that will also take place in New Orleans for Barrels on the Bayou on April 18. (If you go to the Big Easy for the fest, stop at Yinzer’s Amazing Cheesesteaks for a pre-or-post-party bite and some hometown hospitality.)

Beer lovers can download The Barrels app, a new digital hub designed to keep the community connected year-round. Users will find upcoming events, schedules, maps, featured artists, musicians, performers, breweries, special offers, perks and exclusive discounts. Like the Guild’s app, it will be available on Google Play and the Apple App Store in March.

BURGHERS BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

On Feb. 10, I went to Burghers Brewing’s flagship location – which opened last year in Millvale — for the release of Roots & Resilience, a black IPA brewed in collaboration with the black brewers of Pittsburgh. I had to bring home a four-pack of my new favorite beer. (I still love you, I.C. Light Mango!)

Burghers’ Millvale neighbor, Grist House Craft Brewery, has also expanded to include a taproom in Saxonburg’s Sprankles Market (a small space they share with Best New Restaurant Pocha by Kye-Won) and a 55,000-square-foot former Nike Missile Command Center in Collier that offers some of the best brews and views in the region.

In the last two years, a lot of other local breweries have grown.

MONDAYS BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Vandergrift’s Allusion Brewing started a new chapter in the North Hills, McMurray’s Mondays Brewing took over the old Hough’s space in Greenfield, Bloomfield’s Trace Brewing opened Trace Echo in Uptown with their business partner Ghost Coffee Lab, Lawrenceville’s Lolev Brewing launched a second spot in Zelienople, and Abjuration Brewing, a McKees Rocks-based business, now has a space in a Dormont axe-throwing facility and at Hazelwood Brew House. Carnegie is all “fore” ale now that the golf-themed Links Brewing has teed up on Logan Street. If chess is your preferred game, the borough also boasts the new Zeitnot Brewing inside Apis Mead.

TRACE BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Sharpsburg’s Dancing Gnome boogied back to its roots by reopening its original Main Street headquarters as a cocktail and beer bar called Nine Two Five, while Brew Gentlemen took over the former Superior Motors building to create Braddock Public House.

COVEN BREWING. PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

After debuting its new Deutschtown taproom in 2024, Allegheny City Brewing is opening a second location in Brighton Heights in 2026. The North Side will soon be home to Golden Age Beer’s second site (which will be within walking distance of Late Addition Brewing + Blending and Four Points Brewing, both on Western Avenue). Lincoln Avenue Brewery’s new production facility – located a block away from its community-centered home base in Bellevue — will soon start cranking out more suds to keep up with demand.

Last fall, Pittsburgh Magazine’s Women in Business Awards honored Jenna McLaughlin, chief operating officer of Velum Fermentation, the microbrewery under the big Iron City Beer clock on the South Side.

I think it’s safe to say there’s never been a better time for a beer in Pittsburgh.