Stormin' the Steel City

On the road again, this time back to one of my favorite, yet underappreciated beer towns. I use to spend a week at a time in Pittsburgh, and I do have my favorite beer spots that are a “must” for visiting when I travel there. And after all those visits, I do have my system. First off, my flight arrives around 5PM and since I hate fighting the traffic to get to the other side of Pittsburgh, I head over to Steubenville to the Sharp Edge Creekhouse for some Belgian beer. So I stopped for some delicious fish tacos, accompanied by a specialty beer; a Belgian ale on tap from Van Steenbergen called Over the Edge. It was excellent, and worth stopping for. Next it was off to Swissvale to stop in at D’s Six Packs and Dogs. They’ve expanded since the last time I was there, and still had a great bottle selection (I picked up Founder’s Breakfast Stout and Brew Dog Paradox Smokehead). I was surprised to find Unibroue’s Terrible on draft, a seasonal beer that I’ve never had at Mahar’s. After calling my brother Dave to brag, I headed over to the hotel.

Made it through a day of work, and I was really looking forward to going out and having dinner with Len at Fathead’s, on Carson St. in South Side. This is the place that I recommend to all my KAPL coworkers when they head to Pittsburgh, since it is close to the hotel, is easy to get to, the food is in large portions and there is a huge selection of beer. And as I found out on this trip, Fathead’s now brews its own beer, providing a variety of new choices for me to try. I had a Headwich (for the uninitiated, an oversized sandwich filled all the best artery clogging stuffings), and washed it down with several brews. I started off with an East End Big Hop Harvest on cask, a real nice IPA that was not overpowering in bitterness. Fathead’s offered their own Chocolate Pumpkin Stout, which was strong in the alcohol but not with the chocolate and pumpkin flavors. And to wrap it up, I tried a Bell’s Rye Stout from Kalamazoo Brewing (it was excellent, by the way). We had a good visit and good food.

It was a quick trip (traveling with connecting flights is a pain in the neck) and I made it home in one piece. I look forward to the opportunity to go back in a couple of months. – 5274

"Don’t cling to the cup but drink your share. Speak useful words or be silent. No one will blame you for your bad manners if you go to bed early." – Havamal, 800 AD