Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Retirement

Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Retirement

Penn Brewery’s Owners – Sandy Cindrich, Corey Little, and Linda Nyman announce their sale and retirement. (Photo courtesy: Penn Brewery’s Facebook page)

Penn Brewery’s Sale

Today on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media, the owners of Penn Brewery (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) – Sandy Cindrich, Corey Little, and Linda Nyman; announced their sale and upcoming retirement. They announced the sale was to Stefan Nitsch. Stephan Nitsch is described in their post as a Pittsburgh based businessman and owner of Arkham Realty. Their post on their social media also announces their retirement after thirteen years of running the brewery.

Their post reads:

Big news! Penn Brewery’s owners – Sandy Cindrich, Corey Little, and Linda Nyman – are pleased to announce the sale of the company to Stefan Nitsch, Pittsburgh-based businessman and owner of Arkham Realty. After thirteen years helming the Brewery, Sandy, Linda, and Corey plan to retire.

Sandy noted, “In an era when so many small and mid-sized breweries are being bought up by large corporate entities, it was critical that as a ‘quintessentially Pittsburgh’ institution, Penn Brewery remain locally based and independently owned.”

Having spent his childhood in Austria and Switzerland, and his adulthood in Pittsburgh, Stefan says, “I’m a huge fan of Penn’s “Euro-Pittsburgh” branding and look forward to bringing it to the next generation of Penn consumers.”

Let’s raise a glass to Stefan! Stefan Wolfgang NitschArkham Realty and Property Management

Penn Brewery – Facebook Post

Penn Brewery

(The following statistics comes from the Penn Brewery Untappd Page.) Penn Brewery is a micro brewery from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has 163 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.48 and over 178 thousand ratings. Their Untappd description reads: Pittsburgh’s oldest and largest brewery, Penn is housed in the mid nineteenth-century landmark E&O Brewery Building in the North Side’s Deutschtown neighborhood, which was settled by German immigrants. Penn has been producing high-end craft beers since 1986, specializing in authentic, award-winning German-style beers brewed in the tradition of these immigrants, according to the strict quality standards of Reinheitsgebot. Our beers’ great taste comes from real German hops and two-row barley, with no added corn or rice fillers. Penn Brewery is proudly independently owned and operated.

Penn Brewery (Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia)

From Wikipedia: Penn Brewery, also known as the Pennsylvania Brewing Company, is a brewery and restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Tom Pastorius in 1986, and is located at 800 Vinial Street in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on the site of the former Eberhardt and Ober Brewery (founded in 1848).

2009 Closure

“On January 2, 2009, Birchmere ended beer production at the Vinial Street location and laid off 8 of the 10 brewery employees. All production was outsourced to the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The restaurant was scheduled to close February 28, 2009, but a last-minute agreement allowed it to remain at its current location for the next five years.

On August 19, 2009, Birchmere announced the indefinite closing of the Penn Brewery Restaurant.

Penn Brewery – Wikipedia

Subsequent Re – Opening

On November 23, 2009, Penn Brewery issued a press announcement indicating that a small group of local investors, had acquired Penn Brewery from Birchmere Capital, under undisclosed terms, and that the original owner would be returning to lead a restart of brewing at the Vinial Street location, as well as an eventual reopening of the restaurant.[2]

On December 8, 2009, brewing officially resumed at the E & O facility, with the first mashing occurring at 10:20 AM. December 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM marked the first beer tasting of the new era of Penn Brewery.

On December 30, 2009 the Penn Brewery Restaurant opened for a “sneak peek” preview of the beers. Festivities were open to the public and the response was incredible.[3]

In February 2010 a new kegging line was installed, and on February 17, 2010, the first kegs of locally brewed Penn Brewery beer were released to wholesalers.

Penn Brewery – Wikipedia

Pittsburgh

It’s good to see the brewery taking on new ownership and continuing to live on. With more and more breweries closing due to COVID and other issues (like the recently announced Newfangled Brew Works closing) its good to see older staples like Penn Brewery continuing to live on.

Amy and myself just came back from a trip that included Pittsburgh, but sadly we didn’t stop at Penn Brewery. In 2019 my daughters and I also had a road trip which included Pittsburgh, and we went by Penn Brewery but they were closed. Pittsburgh is a great city with a lot (read: a ton) of breweries, so if you are ever able to – make sure to get out there and check out the city and all the great breweries! You won’t be disappointed.

Articles about those trips:

Also check out:

For More Information on Penn Brewery

Other News and Closings

We have covered many brewery openings, expansions, closings, and other news here on the blog. Be sure to check out all the various articles we’ve written below.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out other brewery openings and other brewery news recently:

Thanks For Reading

Thank you all for reading. As I said in the article its great to see this long living brewery continue on. The building is a beautiful building and its a wonderful brewery with some fantastic beers, and is a staple of Troy Hill in Pittsburgh. So its so good to see them continue on and prosper. Likewise, hope the owners of Penn Brewery – Sandy Cindrich, Corey Little, and Linda Nyman – enjoy their retirement.

We have lots of articles popping up about our trip out to Cleveland, Canton, and Pittsburgh, so be sure to check those out. As well as lots of other things going on, like our ad agreement with MICET Group and lots of other fun beer reviews, brewery reviews, book reviews, and more. So please subscribe and follow.

Cheers and thanks all!

-B. Kline

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