Allusion - The Beer Thrillers

Allusion Brewing is Opening a Second Spot in McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park

B. Kline — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 12:45:00 +0000

Allusion Brewing is Opening a Second Spot in McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park in Early 2024

Allusion Brewing Company is expanding and opening a second location in Allison Park – Duncan Manor – McCandless Township; in the Greater Pittsburgh Area in early 2024.

As we reported back in July of 2023 – Allusion Brewing Expanding into Allison Park – North Hills – Allusion Brewing Company is growing and expanding, adding a second location in the North Hills. We were told about this while we were there for their Great Appreciation Party.

Their announcement on Facebook reads:

As we near the end of 2023, we are thankful for all of the support from our local community of Vandergrift. We look forward to another great year in this amazing historic town!

We have big plans for 2024!

Construction has been going strong for a couple months now, and early in 2024, we are going to open our second location in the North Hills. McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park to be exact!

With the addition of a second location, we are making a few adjustments to our hours of operation, which will apply to both locations:

Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 pm -10 pm
Thursday, 12 pm – 10 pm
Friday and Saturday, 12 pm – 11 pm
Sunday, 12pm – 6pm

*Kitchen closes 1 hour before taproom*

These hours will go into effect in Vandergrift starting January 2nd
Allusion Brewing Company – Facebook Post

For a relative idea of where at – check out this map: Allison Park, North Hills.

Be sure to check out our travelogue of going out to celebrate their winning our Battle of the Breweries (2023): An Alluring Trip to Vandergrift.

This will mark their second location. Their first location is in Vandergrift, PA. You can find them at: Allusion Brewing Company – Brewery (Vandergrift) [Google Maps].

This map will give you a general idea of distance to their new spot: Allusion Brewing Company to Possible Future Home of Allusion Brewing Company.

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

For more information about Allusion Brewing Company you can visit their very well designed website here: Allusion Brewing Company – Official Website.

The following comes from Untappd: Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. They have 63 unique beers and over 5,900 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.83 (as of 12.29.23). Their Untappd description reads: Vandergrift’s hometown brewery, offering a consistent library of approachable beers taking the tradition of each style seriously. Craft beer is about bringing people together – come join our story.

For more information, you can find them at their social media pages here:

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company

AmyMWolfe — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 03:03:09 +0000

Allusion Brewing Company – Baker Street Brown and the Cheeseburger Skillet by Perfect Portions

A Perfect Meal

We can’t be gluttons all the time, right? One evening a little while ago I decided to pair the Cheeseburger Skillet from the Perfect Portion and the Baker Street Brown Ale from Allusion Brewing Company. I’m not pretending to be any sort of expert on pairing food with which type of beverage. I am just gonna go with the motto of “I’ll try anything once”. But this combo was pretty darn good!

I’ve been trying to lose a little of this pregnancy weight and drinking beer as a hobby doesn’t really help with the loose weight part. So, I decided to pair my beer for the evening with a healthy meal from The Perfect Portion. When I first started going to The Perfect Portion (TPP for short) back in 2018 the cheeseburger skillet was one of the first meals that I tried. It’s still one of my favorite meals.

The two things I was hoping to find from a meal prep service was: 1. Flavorful meals and 2. That they didn’t leave me feeling unsatisfied. TPP nails both of these items. I should have known I’d be obsessed when the owner, Kristin Brunner, states right on her website “I LOVE to eat!”. She also states on her website “Our meals are made with fresh, whole, minimally processed ingredients and range between 300 – 600 calories depending on whether you order breakfast, lunch or dinner.”

The cheeseburger skillet reminds me of the creamy and cheesiness from the Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger skillet meal. TPP also pairs it with Zucchini fries. They are topped with Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese. I was hoping for that to pair nicely with the Baker Street Brown Ale from Allusion Brewing Company.

A Perfect Beer

Baker Street Brown by Allusion Brewing Company (background) with the Cheeseburger Skillet (foreground) by The Perfect Portion

(Fun trivia: Baker Street is the home of Sherlock Holmes, and as you can see from the beer can label it has his address – 221B on the can. For some reason, I feel like a Brown Ale is the perfect beer for Sherlock Holmes. Watson would probably be a Witbier.)

Beer: Baker St. Brown
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – English
ABV: 5%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: Traditional Mild English Brown Ale brewed with English floor malted maris otter, English chocolate malts, and English Fuggle hops for a light drinking sessionable ale with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Sit back and enjoy one while you solve your latest mystery.
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 7.30.23)

This tasty brown ale is described on the Allusion website as “Traditional Mild English Brown Ale brewed with English floor malted Maris Otter malt, English chocolate malts, and English Fuggle hops for a light drinking sessionable ale with hints of caramel and toasted bread.” For me it was definitely that maltiness that hits your taste buds first and then finishes with a sweet caramel taste. Allusion Brewing Company has quickly ranked in my top breweries I need to revisit very soon. Being there you felt like you were on an episode of Cheers. Other patrons of the brewery knew each other just from visiting the same brewery. Each time someone walked up to the brewery everyone was saying hello and greeting them by their name. It’s the sense of community for me I keep hearing the OG Karen saying while we were all sipping some brews outside a few weeks ago.

Karen with the title belt (see our Instagram for more pictures)

I had a rough time deciding which 4 pack we were taking home after visiting Allusion to celebrate the March Tournament Win. The fact that I have 3 more of this tasty brown ale in my fridge makes me very happy and I think I’ll go crack one open now.

— Drink More Beer!

-Amy

Allusion Brewing Company’s title belt for winning The Battle of the Breweries 2023 Tournament

Amy’s Back

Amy with the title belt (check out our Instagram to see more pictures)

This is Amy’s first column back after two weeks. We’ve certainly had a busy few days and weeks. Real life and family stuff, trips out to Vandergrift, myself getting to go to two soccer (futbol) games at the Lincoln Field last Sunday, going out to Sworn Brewing Company and checking out their soon to be opening brewery, and much more.

So I’ll take the blame for Amy not having time to write. But she is back, and she has told me she actually has a few ideas of what she wants to write about. (She’ll also be part of the Sworn Brewing Company article alongside myself and Josh Doncevic returning to write as well.) So have no fear, Amy is back and will be continuing to write for us. Sorry for keeping her away from all of you the past two weeks and sorry to Amy for keeping her so busy.

-B. Kline

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

For more information about Allusion Brewing Company you can visit their very well designed website here: Allusion Brewing Company – Official Website.

The following comes from Untappd: Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. They have 57 unique beers and just over 5,200 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.84 (as of 7.30.23). Their Untappd description reads: Vandergrift’s hometown brewery, offering a consistent library of approachable beers taking the tradition of each style seriously. Craft beer is about bringing people together – come join our story.

For more information, you can find them at their social media pages here:

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
Amy’s Day Off
It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
Ready to Kick of the Summer
Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
World MS Day
Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
Happy Father’s Day
What is Your Summer Time Go To Beer?
Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles
Baby’s First Ffej
We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company
You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

(And please take a moment to fill out Amy’s survey on her ‘Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles‘ column.)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

MAPS OF BREWERIES

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

Allusion Brewing Company Appreciation Party

B. Kline — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 16:29:00 +0000

The Battle of the Breweries Winning Championship Belt. The 2023 Champion – Allusion Brewing Company.

Battle of the Breweries – 2023 Champions

The Winner of the 2023 Battle of the Breweries, and your champion – Allusion Brewing Company; will be hosting a celebratory party to show their appreciation on July 22nd at their brewery in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.

They outlasted 159 other breweries from several states to become The Battle of the Breweries 2023 Winner. This year’s tournament done in the style of the World Cup with an opening group stage then turned into the knock out tournament. In the knock out tournament they defeated Chatty Monks Brewing, Victory Brewing, Bunnyman Brewing, and Von C Brewing. In the finals they defeated Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery, AleCraft Brewing Company, and Mad Chef Brewing in a fatal four – way.

Battle of the Breweries 2023 Winner

They have won several awards over the years, primarily from the CBMAs. They won both in 2022 and in 2023 at the CBMAs.

So in honor of all the support they receive from their fans and followers – Allusion Brewing Company is throwing an appreciation party.

Appreciation Party – July 22nd, 2023

This week at Allusion Brewing Company – Saturday: Customer Thank You Party and The Beer Thrillers Award Party

Tomorrow – Saturday July 22nd, 2023 – Allusion Brewing Company is hosting a celebratory appreciation party to thank all of their loyal guests, customers, and followers.

Today is your last chance to get “Blue Lion,” strawberry rhubarb sour and our “SMASH IPA.”

Open tonight until 11:00pm.

Tomorrow is our Appreciation Party!

Come join us as a “thank you for your support” and the awards you help us win!

#thebeerthrillers are joining us tomorrow from 12:30-3:30 to celebrate our 2023 Battle of the Breweries Championship!

*Come down and meet TheBeerThrillers and get your picture with the Championship Belt!

*Door prizes – winner every 15 minutes

*Vanilla Mocha White Stout “First Day” back on tap!

*Robert will be cooking complimentary food for you from 12-5pm.
Allusion Brewing Company – Facebook Post

So please come out tomorrow and meet Amy and I from 12:30ish to 3:30ish. We are coming from the Harrisburg area, so its (checks Google Maps again) a 3 hour and 47 minute drive. We are hoping to be on the road no later then 8:30 and hoping to be in Vandergrift by noon.

The party sounds like its going to be a blast, and it was so cool to get on social media today to find out they went and made their own championship belt for the appreciation party. A great piece of hardware to add to their growing pile of CBMA awards.

Can’t wait to get to see many of you tomorrow, and get to see the Allusion Brewing crew again. Last time I was there was in 2020 on a trip out to Indianapolis and stopped in. So glad I did! The beer was fantastic.

Hope to see you all tomorrow at the Appreciation Party! Cheers!

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

For more information about Allusion Brewing Company you can visit their very well designed website here: Allusion Brewing Company – Official Website.

The following comes from Untappd: Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. They have 56 unique beers and just over 5,200 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.84 (as of 7.21.23). Their Untappd description reads: Vandergrift’s hometown brewery, offering a consistent library of approachable beers taking the tradition of each style seriously. Craft beer is about bringing people together – come join our story.

For more information, you can find them at their social media pags here:

For More of our Award Articles

Looking for more articles about breweries and brewers winning awards? Check these out:

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

MAPS OF BREWERIES

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

Allusion Brewing Company

B. Kline — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 02:12:00 +0000

Allusion Brewing Company logo.

Allusion Brewing Company is in The Battle of the Breweries Finals

Congratulations to Allusion Brewing Company for making it to the Finals of The Battle of the Breweries (2023). They are currently competing against Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery, AleCraft Brewing Company, and Mad Chef Brewing in The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way.

I am taking a deep dive into all four of the breweries that are competing in the finals, devoting an article a day to each of the breweries. Yesterday we covered – Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery. Today we are now looking at Allusion Brewing Company, and tomorrow we will be looking at AleCraft Brewing Company, and then finally (but not least) we will be looking at Mad Chef Brewing.

This is the final week (the last few days) of voting for The Battle of the Breweries (2023). You can vote in the tournament here: The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way.

Voting ends on Sunday, April 16th, 2023, at 11:59:59 PM EST.

Allusion Brewing Company

Allusion Brewing Company iconic logo

You can visit Allusion Brewing Company in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania at 143 Grant Ave, Vandergrift, PA 15690, just like I did back in November 2020. They have a beautiful little tap room, with a very cool flight system. Their flights are in old book catalogue (from a near by Library that sold their Book Catalogue desk / table / system), and the tasters fit into it perfectly, and all the bartender has to do is pull them out of the card catalogue cabinet / table / desk system thing.

I had an absolute wonderful time when visiting the brewery, and cannot wait to come back out to Vandergrift to get check them out again.

Grand Opening

Allusion Brewing Company celebrated their Grand Opening in October of 2020 (so shortly before I ended up visiting them in early November of 2020).

They opened their doors on October 10th, 2020 at 11:00 AM. They promoted through YouTube and Twitter at the start, with this YouTube video and Twitter post:

We are excited to announce our Grand Opening will be October 10, 2020 at 11:00 AM!

We will debut with eight of ourbeers plus Blueberry, a seasonal hard cider by Knocking Noggin. #grandopening #allusionbrewing pic.twitter.com/zfJMxjQB7V
— Allusion Brewing Company (@AllusionBrews) October 2, 2020

From their Facebook and Twitter accounts back in 2020, they gave a detailed discussion of how they were started, founded, and their opening:

“Allusion Brewing Company was started in 2013. When John Bieranoski and Robert Buchanan started experimenting with home brewing, the resulting beers they created were of surprisingly good quality. As more and more friends and family tried the beers they were creating, the demand for the beers continued to grow. Within a very short time, there were continuous suggestions that a microbrewery should be considered.

While discussing the potential for a microbrewery in 2013, John and Robert were brainstorming ideas for the name of the brewery. Both being advocates of classical literature and history, the names of the beers were always being created with an obvious or sometimes subtle reference to a figure or item from history or literature. When it was apparent that all of our beers names were alluding to literature, film, and pop culture, Allusion Brewing Company seemed a perfect fit!

Nick Bieranoski joined the team early in stages of development. He shares Robert and John’s passion for craft beer and his enthusiasm for the business has expedited the expansion of our brewing capacity and our search for a flagship location.

A suitable location was the next step for the business. Smaller communities surrounding Pittsburgh were the focus of the search. We wanted a smaller community that could support our brewery, but also would benefit from our original goal of giving back to the community. We have toured breweries where a beer is created and proceeds of the beer sales go back to an organization in the community. Our original thought being Allusion Brewing was to donate proceeds to a local library. During our search, a family member of John and Nick suggested we look into a location in Vandergrift, Pa. The building was a fantastic fit for what we wanted our brewery to offer. We learned the building was owned by a non-profit organization in Vandergrift formed to work towards revitalization of the town. The Vandergrift Improvement Program (VIP) has embraced our idea for a brewery and is working with us to get the location up and running.”
Allusion Brewing Company – Facebook

It couldn’t have been easy opening amidst the pandemic and the craziness that was 2020 (and even subsequently the years after). I know locally in October Howling Henry’s and Rubber Soul’s openings didn’t go as planned due to the COVID-19 and coronavirus pandemic. (Rubber Soul was originally planned to open earlier in March – May of 2020… but well… obviously that couldn’t happen at that time.)

(Read: Allusion Brewing Company Opens This Saturday in Vandergrift.)

After months of delays, Vandergrift’s Allusion Brewing Co. will officially open Saturday.

Robert Buchanan and John Bieranoski had planned to open their craft brewery in the spring. They were ready to make Vandergrift a new destination for craft beer enthusiasts. In February, Buchanan said everything was on track for a smooth and successful opening in the spring.

Then the covid-19 pandemic hit the region.

With businesses closed, Buchanan said the final preparations for the brewery were subsequently delayed. They could continue working on improving the building — which required renovations — but they weren’t able to have as many contractors working at once. They couldn’t have inspections performed on plumbing, electricity and other utilities or receive certain equipment on time. Buchanan said it took an extra three months for the brewery to receive a new transformer for their extensive equipment. Without it, they couldn’t even turn on the machinery.

“With everybody being shut down, we had to wait unusually long times for inspections on utilities,” Buchanan said. “(We had) delays, delays, delays, delays getting the power for the equipment. We couldn’t even start brewing in the spring.”

“But we’ve soldiered on and we’re here,” he added.
Allusion Brewing Co. to open Saturday in Vandergrift

COVID-19 certainly hampered a lot of things in 2020, especially from March through August. But thankfully Allusion Brewing Company was able to push through, and open, and boost the small town of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.

“We have a 10-tap system,” Bieranoski said, gesturing to the ornate line of taps behind the brewery’s newly-finished bar. “That’s five staples and that gives me five to play with and have fun.”

Both natives of Western Pennsylvania, they decided to locate their shop in Vandergrift as a way to boost the small community.

“We knew we always wanted to go to a small town that we felt we could help to bring back the vitality to,” Bieranoski said. “We look at Vandergrift as one of those towns that has a lot of potential to become a great small destination town for folks around the Pittsburgh area.”
Allusion Brewing Co. to open Saturday in Vandergrift

Allusion Brewing Company Pushed On

In 2021 Allusion Brewing Company was able to celebrate their 1st Anniversary. In 2022 they celebrated their second, and this fall (October) they will be celebrating their third anniversary.

The following is from a news article celebrating their 1st anniversary:

Friends John Bieranoski and Robert Buchanan never planned to open a business during a pandemic.

But the new business owners did, and they not only have survived, they have thrived.

Allusion Brewing Co., the only in-house brewery in Vandergrift, recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

For Bieranoski, 46, and Buchanan, 44, the milestone has left them feeling grateful and hopeful.

“There’s so many silver linings,” Buchanan said.
Building the Valley: Allusion Brewing celebrates 1st anniversary, expansion plans in Vandergrift

It so great to see this brewery to keep growing and expanding, and making such good quality beers, so happy for them to be celebrating their 3rd anniversary this year.

The duo said opening during covid had them “hoping it could only get better.” They announced expansion plans last week.

Buchanan, of Ross, said they’re in the process of purchasing the building next to Allusion, 143 Grant Ave.

The men said the expansion will grow the seating of 70 to about 140.

“We want to have an open area to accommodate live music. That’s a huge ‘ask’ around here,” Buchanan said.

“We got the brewing equipment in February 2020, and we were super excited, and then March happened, so, yeah, it was a little stressful,” said Buchanan of the decision to open during the covid pandemic.

The two friends began brewing beer themselves in 2013. Their friends and family encouraged them to open a microbrewery someday.

Bieranoski, who serves as head brewer, is studying to earn his master brewer certification.

“The best part has been the support we’ve received throughout the pandemic from the town itself and our customers. A lot of great feedback and a lot of customers that continue to grow with us and enjoy it,” Bieranoski said.

Bieranoski, 46, is a Kiski Area High School alumnus from Allegheny Township. He left his job in the higher education sector to pursue his beer brewing hobby.

“This is confirmation for me,” said Bieranoski of Allusion’s early success.
Building the Valley: Allusion Brewing celebrates 1st anniversary, expansion plans in Vandergrift

My Trip to Vandergrift in 2020

Back in 2020 I did a full trip all the way out to Indianapolis by myself to visit the Kurt Vonnegut Library. It was a wonderful trip, I stopped at a lot of breweries through Western PA, Ohio, Indianapolis, even hitting a few in Kentucky and West Virginia. I did a lot of hiking too.

For the quick recap of of the day I visited Allusion Brewing Company, you can find that here:

The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap: Landfall in Pittsburgh and Shenanigans (Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Hop Farm Brewing Company)

For the complete, seven day trip recap, you can find that here:

The Complete Seven Day Trip to Indianapolis and Back Trip – Recap, Breweries, Hikes, and Stats

Rock Furnace and Vandergrift

The Kiskiminetas River along Roaring Run Trail

From the article I wrote about my trip to Vandergrift and Allusion Brewing Company:

…[But], there was a nearby hiking trail that went along the creek called Rock Furnace Trail, and I did hike that, and it led out by the river and was a bike / walk path called Roaring Run Trail, and I walked some of that as well. The trails were located in Apollo Pennsylvania, and the river that ran alongside Roaring Run Trail is called Kiskiminetas River. It was a beautiful path (both the Rock Furnace Trail and the Roaring Run Trail), the creek alongside Rock Furnace Trail was pretty, low, meandering, and the Kiskiminetas River was big and roaring with lots of rapids. Unfortunately, no real waterfalls or cascades to see, I assume all of those were at the Jackson Falls that were now on the private property.

After hiking and walking the two trails / paths, it was about 11AM when I left Apollo and made my way to Vandergrift Pennsylvania, for my first brewery stop of day two. Vandergrift was a small, quaint, old time town, that reminded me of the town from Back to the Future. Not sure why, but it just did. I walked a few blocks of it before / after drinking and eating at Allusion Brewing Company.
The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack.

The bar at Allusion Brewing Company

Then, after getting to Vandergrift, and getting to Allusion Brewing Company:

Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery located in Vandergrift Pennsylvania; just outside of Pittsburgh. According to Untappd it has 18 unique beers, with 542 ratings and has an average rating of 3.8. The Untappd description simply reads: “Vandergrift’s hometown brewery.” The oldest created unique beer was on 12.26.13, but then the next wasn’t until 5.24.14. It certainly seems like it’s a relatively new and small brewery, but the beers were great, the building was beautiful, and the staff – Jim – was wonderful. If you get a chance to go by Vandergrift, make sure to stop in, visit Allusion Brewing, and see Jim as bartender, wonderful guy, very nice, informative and talkative.
The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack.

To read more about the trip to Vandergrift and Allusion Brewing Company, you can read the full day trip travelogue here:

The Trip to Indianapolis: Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, and The Meadows Casino and Racetrack.

More Information About Allusion Brewing Company

For more information about Allusion Brewing Company you can visit their very well designed website here: Allusion Brewing Company – Official Website.

The following comes from Untappd: Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. They have 53 unique beers and just over 4,600 ratings, with a global average rating of 3.84 (as of 4.13.23). Their Untappd description reads: Vandergrift’s hometown brewery, offering a consistent library of approachable beers taking the tradition of each style seriously. Craft beer is about bringing people together – come join our story.

For more information, you can find them at their social media pags here:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023)

Here is a look at how Allusion Brewing Company made it to the Finals Fatal Four Way:

In the Group Stage, they were in Group G of the Nugget Conference. Allusion Brewing Company and Elder Pine Brewing and Blending emerged victorious from Group G with 36 and 32 votes respectively.

In the Nugget Conference Round of 16, Allusion Brewing Company (149 votes) defeated Chatty Monks Brewing (99 votes)

In the Nugget Conference Round of 8, Allusion Brewing Company (161 votes) defeated Victory Brewing Company (66 votes).

In the Nugget Conference Final Four, Allusion Brewing Company defeated Bunnyman Brewing. In the second battle we had six seed Allusion Brewing Company defeat the 15 seed Bunnyman Brewing with a total of 283 votes to 169 votes.

In the Nugget Conference Finals we had 6 seed Allusion Brewing Company battling the defending champions (coming in at the 8 seed) Von C Brewing Company. This was another hotly contested battle. This time Allusion Brewing Company emerged victorious with 2255 votes to 1128 votes. Thats a 1127 voter difference.

It was a battle of East Pennsylvania vs. West Pennsylvania (Norristown vs Vandergrift), and this time West Pennsylvania emerged victorious. (Much like the Penquins beat the Flyers last night – as much as that pains me to admit.)

Allusion Brewing Company will be a strong competitor in the Finals Fatal Four Way.

(See end of article for all of The Battle of the Breweries voting and results pages.)

Past Results:

Group Stage Voting Pages

Group Stage Results Pages

Round of 16 Voting Pages

Round of 16 Results Pages

Round of 8 Voting Pages

Round of 8 Results Pages

Conference Final Four Voting Pages

Conference Final Four Results Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Final Four Results

Conference Finals Voting Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals

Conference Finals Results Page

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals Results

Voting Rules

First, before we get to the voting, we have to go over the rules. Unlike all of the previous rounds, the Finals Fatal Four Way is a two week round. Voting will end Sunday, April 16th, at 11:59:59 PM EST.

You can vote once per day for your favorite brewery in the finals. The voting block will list all four breweries, but you can only select one. You can share this page on your social media to help your favorite brewery win the tournament.

Vote Here

Vote. Vote here. Get your voting here! Click below to vote:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way

[perfect_survey id=”10950″]

Remember to vote daily, starting today and ending on April 16th at 11:59:59 PM EST.

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Voting and Results Pages

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way (Voting Page)

Thank You for Reading

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the four remaining breweries and wish them all the best of luck. I have enjoyed visiting all four of them, and they certainly all rank very highly in my opinion. (Amy has been to three of them with me, and has loved the three she visited as well.)

It is a tremendous honor to get to this point in the competition – out of 160 breweries, we are down to just 4 remaining. Thats amazing to think about, and shows the love and support these breweries have.

Even the conference runner ups put in a tremendous effort and deserve some recognition too. Cox Brewing Company, Von C Breiwng Company, RAR Brewing, and Boneshire Brew Works are all amazing breweries and have loved my (and Amy as well) visits to their breweries.

As well as I want to take the moment to thank all of the 160 breweries that shared, linked, pushed, and helped make this tournament a rousing success. You all blow me away with the love, support, and energy you pour into this – as well as what you pour into your breweries (and, by relation – what you pour into my glass). Thank you all for everything you’ve done!

This tournament has been a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. So thank you to everyone for your patience.

We have also completed the first two Maps of Breweries – Maine and New Hampshire. You can see those here:

We are currently starting to work on creating maps of all the breweries in each state, starting geographically with Maine. So be on the lookout for these great resources to soon be popping up on the blog. Hoping to get a state done every 2 – 4 days. (Some will be quicker and easier than others, but 50 states, plus Washington D.C., will certainly take some time!)

Thank you everyone for reading and please like, share, follow, subscribe, all that good stuff you see at the end of every YouTube video.

You can check out the final four breweries left in the Finals Fatal Four Way here and vote:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way (Voting Page)
The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Conference Finals (Results Page)

Check out some recent articles:

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

Allusion - The Beer Thrillers

Allusion Brewing is Opening a Second Spot in McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park

Allusion Brewing is Opening a Second Spot in McCandless Township, Duncan Manor in Allison Park in Early 2024

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

More of Our Articles About Allusion Brewing Company

Brewery News

Thank You For Reading

We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company

A Perfect Meal

A Perfect Beer

Amy’s Back

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

More of Our Articles About Allusion Brewing Company

Amy’s Column Series

Thank You For Reading

Allusion Brewing Company Appreciation Party

Battle of the Breweries – 2023 Champions

Appreciation Party – July 22nd, 2023

For More Information on Allusion Brewing Company

More of Our Articles About Allusion Brewing Company

For More of our Award Articles

Brewery News

Thank You For Reading

Allusion Brewing Company

Allusion Brewing Company is in The Battle of the Breweries Finals

Allusion Brewing Company

Grand Opening

Allusion Brewing Company Pushed On

My Trip to Vandergrift in 2020

Rock Furnace and Vandergrift

More Information About Allusion Brewing Company

More of Our Articles About Allusion Brewing Company

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way

The Battle of the Breweries (2023)

Past Results:

Group Stage Voting Pages

Group Stage Results Pages

Round of 16 Voting Pages

Round of 16 Results Pages

Round of 8 Voting Pages

Round of 8 Results Pages

Conference Final Four Voting Pages

Conference Final Four Results Page

Conference Finals Voting Page

Conference Finals Results Page

Voting Rules

Vote Here

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Finals Fatal Four Way

The Battle of the Breweries (2023) – Voting and Results Pages

Thank You for Reading