The Best Brunch Ever

Think about the perfect brunch… picture it in your head. Do you have it? Well, you’re wrong. Because THIS…. THIS here, is the Best Brunch Ever. From the brainchild of Fueled by Hops that brought you the beer festival all about cookies, comes the beer festival all about brunch. Ryan Galiotto is the head of Fueled by Hops a Pittsburgh based (online) beer community. If you love brunch, and brunch themed beers, and everything to do with brunching, this one hundred percent seems the beer festival / brew fest for you.

Fueled by Hops

Fueled by Hops was originally a Facebook group community started by Ryan Galiotto, and has expanded from there. From their “About Us” page on their site:

They are certainly a big and growing community in the PA beer scene, specifically and especially in the Pittsburgh area.

A Brunchy Good Time

This brewfest looks amazing, and absolutely likes a blast for all to attend.

You can see the guys talking about it on their live podcast from their Facebook page last night here: The Unfueled Show – The Best Brunch Ever.

Their event page overview:

“This Spring, we’re coming back with another beer festival to help you shake off the winter blues. On May 14, we’re taking over the warehouse at Hop Farm Brewing in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) and hosting a beer festival to celebrate brunch beers and bacon (lots and lots of bacon!)More details to follow! Tickets on sale soon!”

Best Brunch Ever (Event Page)

Just a few hours ago on the Fueled by Hops Facebook group page, Ryan made this post:

For you all coming to Best Brunch Ever, I want to take a second to tell you how your ticket purchase has impacted the local community.

First, a big chunk of everything we’ve sourced for this event was purchased locally from small businesses. This is becoming increasingly more challenging, but we always try to buy local first.

Our printing and signage was handled by PGH Print Ship in Etna. The folks are TOP NOTCH for printing services. All of our ice was purchased from Mastro Ice near Greenfield (I believe that’s the neighborhood at least). We worked with all small, local breweries and businesses in creating the collab beers for this event. We hope that these beers continue to be sold in taprooms beyond the event and drive business to the local establishments involved.

Without getting too deep in the weeds on comp, I can say that we are paying what I believe to be the highest rates in the industry to the breweries coming to help offset their expenses. We do not ask for donations. We do not try to get lower prices. We believe breweries should be fairly compensated for their product.

We chose all small, local restaurants to serve food at the event. While we had the opportunity to include bigger names, we opted to think small.And lastly, our event workers are all paid, not volunteers. With that said, this is going to be one heck of an event. Be on the lookout for more surprises and event announcements over the next few days. We’re no where near done surprising you.Cheers, yinz!

Ryan Galiotto

Brewery Line Up

Breweries that will be attending the brew fest:

• 412 Brewery
• Abomination
• Abjuration
• Acclamation
• Arboretum Trail
• Bash Brew
• Beat Street Brewing
• Cushwa
• Four Points
• Fourscore
• Full Pint
• Hitchhiker Brewing
• Hop Farm Brewing
• Logyard
• Magic City
• Monday’s
• Other Half
• Old Thunder
• Prototype
• Tattered Flag
• Union Brothers
• Urban Artificat
• Yah Brew!

This is a fantastic line up of breweries with a diverse selection from across Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and other areas. (Two being near us here in Dauphin County – Tattered Flag and Justin Hoak [head brewer of Tattered Flag]’s new venture – Yah Brew!). (As well as the Prototype Brewery and Meadery which doesn’t have a definitive location yet.)

For More Information

For more information you can check out these various sources:

• Fueled By Hops (Website)
• Fueled by Hops (Best Brunch Ever Site)
• Fueled by Hops (Facebook)
• Best Brunch Ever (Event Page)
• Fueled by Hops (Facebook Community Group)

Thanks For Reading

This looks like an absolutely insanely fun brewfest. They have two sessions. Unfortunately its in Pittsburgh (a five hour drive for me) and is on the same day as my 5K in Hummelstown for their food pantry – The Hummelstown Hunger Run. So I won’t be able to attend.

If anyone is attending, let me know in the comments how it was. Can’t wait to hear from you all! Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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So this is a perfect place for a museum dedicated to the history of beer. (Just wish it was opened when I traveled through!) And this will definitely be a stopping point in a future visit to Pittsburgh.

The main presser reads: (dated December 3rd, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania): “Brew: The Museum of Beer’s plans to launch an exhibit on the Story of Beer in Pennsylvania in a downtown storefront were temporarily stymied by Covid-19 but, inspired by the creativity and perseverance of the region’s breweries and restaurants, Brew is forging ahead with an online exhibit of the Story of Beer in Pennsylvania. Supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the exhibit showcases the legacy and significance of Pennsylvania beer, from the origins of Penn’s Colony through the significant craft beer scene today.”

The event looks extremely interesting, as a person very interested in the history of beer (and history in general), as well as craft beer, and specifically Pennsylvania and the role beer has played in the Keystone State, this event looks very very very interesting to me, personally, as well as I’m sure it is to many of our readers out there.

The exhibit will include:

• Video interviews with many of Pennsylvania’s brewing pioneers, brewers, historians, and collectors
• An updated and expanded interactive map of all of Pennsylvania’s breweries as presented by BREW Museum (including pending breweries)
• A searchable list of the breweries and brewers who have won awards at Great American Beer Festival in the 21st Century
• A beer quiz to test your knowledge of Pennsylvania craft beer – the first 25 participants to finish (and score) will receive a prize

SEE – Pennsylvania’s 2020 GABF Award Winners.
SEE – Pennsylvania’s 2019 GABF Award Winners.

The presser continues: “To kick off the exhibit, Brew will have live presentations via Zoom by Brew founder Joe McAllister, brewer Paul Young, and special guest, Lauren M. Churilla, Curator, McCarl Coverlet Gallery and Lecturer of History at Saint Vincent College, who will be speaking about the first Benedictine brewery in the U.S. and the controversy it engendered in Latrobe, PA and around the world. The presentations will commence at 7:00 on Tuesday, December 15 and the exhibit will debut immediately thereafter. Once the site is live, the QR code below will take you directly to the exhibit site.”

So be sure to mark your calendars for December 15th (Tuesday) at 7:00PM (EST Time) to be able to visit the exhibit and attend the live zoom. Once its live, the QR code will be usable and will get you access.

The museum for BREW – The Museum of Beer has tons of information and links and ways you can help and support the museum, by donating or by buying merchandise. You can visit their site here: BREW – The Museum of Beer.

You can also follow them on their social media pages:

• Facebook – The Museum of Beer
• Instagram – Pittsburgh Museum of Beer
• Twitter – @BrewMuseum

Check them out, and be sure to like and follow them on their social pages to stay abreast of when their museum opens, when there will be new virtual tours or exhibits or interviews with brewers and brewery workers and brewery news. Check out their available merchandise and see if there’s anything to your liking, and help donate to get this great project up off the ground.

About Brew: The Museum of Beer – Brew: The Museum of Beer is a widely-anticipated Pittsburgh-based museum dedicated to the fascinating, 10,000-year-old story of beer, spanning beer’s role in the origins of civilization to the diversity and aspirations represented in the contemporary craft beer movement. Brew will be a must-see 50,000-square-foot complex capable of accommodating 400,000+ visitors per year. Aside from unique beer artifacts and exhibits, the multi million-dollar museum will also include a 300-seat brewpub, state-of-the art interactive technology, a large event space, gift store, and Beer Hall of Fame. The size and scope of Brew will be comparable to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I would like to thank Deborah Stueber for reaching out to me and sending the press release for the exhibit and their online opening.

As always everyone – thanks for reading, and visiting the blog. Please be careful and stay safe. Support your local craft breweries, as this week or the next, there might be new mandates, restrictions, and hardships pressed upon breweries (and bars, and businesses, and restaurants in general). So do what you can to help support each other. Give to food banks, give your time at shelters, do whatever you feel comfortable and able to help support your fellow man right now. We are all in this together – as much as that is a cliche, it is the truth. This week or the next might end up being very difficult for many of your favorite small breweries and businesses, be sure to support and show your support, so that they can stay open once this is all over.

-B. Kline

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Be sure to check out our other articles on brewery openings:

• A Sneak Preview of Rubber Soul Brewing (Hummelstown)
• Midwest Coast Brewing Opens (Chicago)
• Rally Point – Cox Brewing Taproom Opens (Elizabethtown)
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Irv’s Pub Rebranded as Rotunda Brewing Pub (Hershey)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• The Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Highway Manor Brewing Co. (Camp Hill)
• Grand Opening: Rubber Soul Brewing Company (Hummelstown)
• Tap Room Opening: Howling Henry’s Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Little Fish Brewing Extending into Dayton
• Levity Brewing Expanding Taproom and Opening Second Location in Altoona
• BREW – The Museum of Beer

You can read about more brewery closures here:

• Stoudt’s Brewing Closing
• Crystal Ball Brewing Closes
• Voodoo Brewery Lancaster Closes
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently

The day started with some trails around the Jackson Falls. The Rock Furnace Trail walks right along the beautiful creek’s edge with lots of little rapids and small waterfalls. Beautiful 9AM walk with nobody in sight. It then led into the Roaring Run Trail along the river where there were more bikers and walkers.

After my hike, it was time to keep moving west young faithful traveler.

The first brewery for day two was Allusion Brewing Company in Vandergrift Pennsylvania. A pretty little brewery pub that really captured the old – time feel of the town. The town was quaint, small, and old in that way most small Pennsylvania towns are. It reminded me of the town from the Back to the Future (when they travel back in time). It just had this oldey timey feel. The beers at Allusion were top notch. And if you visit, and Jim is there, make sure to say hello, great guy and fun bartender. The flights are also very cool, they repurposed old library card catalogue holders.

After this I ventured into Pittsburgh itself (I know a dangerous thing for a Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia Phillies fan to do), but I visited the Rodef Shalom Botanical Biblical Garden. I stopped here last year with my girls, to find out we were there on the wrong day (despite Google Maps saying they were open). Well, once again Google Maps got me, and here they closed for the season back on September 15th.

I was invited by Bobby, the current head brewer for Couch Brewery, to stop in and pay him a visit. They were closed but he was in the ‘shop’ kegging their upcoming release – The Four Horseman, so he invited me in, gave me a tour of their facilities backstage, and brought me out to the bar, and let me have a run of samples of all of their beers. Even giving me a four pack to go. Top notch dude, a complete blast and riot, funny guy, and knows his beer as well. The beers were all fantastic, and he sent me on my way with – Macho Man, Sofa Quasimodo, Morning Wood (not often can I say that a guy sent me on my way with Morning Wood), and Atomic Clock.

He even gave me a sample of their upcoming collaboration beer that he was kegging – The Four Horseman. (He’s Arn Anderson.) I can’t say enough thanks for the hospitality and friendliness he showed me. If you are in the Pittsburgh area be sure to stop out and check Couch Brewery out.

I then traveled up to Riverview Park, where along the way, I must’ve made about ten different wrong turns, going up the steepest hills and back down the steepest slopes. I passed the St. Anthony’s Chapel, where I had taken my daughters to last year, to see a piece of the Cross. I finally made it to the Alleghany Observatory parking lot, and spent the next couple of hours walking and hiking.

While up on Troy’s Hill I saw Penn Brewery and stopped, they were unfortunately closed, but I still snapped a picture, and found a brewery (don’t fail me now Google Maps) that was open, so I was on my way to Hop Farm Brewing Company.

I got to Hop Farm Brewing Company around 7:30PM to find they were at max capacity, so I walked the block, and went back to my car for about fifteen minutes and read, then came back and they luckily had an open table. (Seating was pretty limited.) The burger was delicious and they did their french fries in hop oil (like how Troegs Brewing does their’s at their brewery), and they were absolutely stellar, better even than Troegs.

My night concluded with me going to The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. Hung out there for a bit, checked out the dice tables, poker room (didn’t play), and tried to get a local beer on tap – Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Prehistoric Pilsner. But it kicks with barely a taste in it, and when for replacement I asked the bartender for a local beer, she offers me the Sierra Nevada’s Little Hazy Thing …… sigh. Oh well, so it goes.

Hop and a skip over to my hotel, and I’m calling it a night. See you guys on here again for tomorrow’s recap as I venture into Ohio and Columbus. Cheers!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, 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!

The Trip to Indianapolis:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats