Cinderlands Beer Revives and Innovates #Lovepgh

Greetings Great Beer Now fans and followers! This is the first entry in a multi- part series of blog posts relating to the Great Beer Now Brew + Brew Tour 2018, which took place in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The tour featured some of the finest brew the city has to offer, whether it was brewed with hops, grain, and yeast or coffee beans. So pour a cup of java and your favorite roasty stout and follow along as I explore the Steel City and its rebirth as a craft beer and coffeehouse mecca. Cheers!  

 

Pittsburgh, PA is a city on the mend. Gone are the steel mills that once stood as the economic backbone of the region and in their place is a new economy; one geared toward information, medicine, and service- oriented businesses. Craft beer is on the rise in Pittsburgh and is driving the city to new heights and levels of innovation. A perfect example of this is Cinderlands Beer, located at 3705 Butler Street in Pittsburgh.

Reinvention Imagined

Cinderlands Beer is a smaller brewery, opened just recently in 2017. The inside is narrow, but packs a good deal of seating with booths, tables, and a bar to accommodate guests.

Cinderlands presently operates using a 3.5 barrel system and houses its brewhouse out of sight, on the lower level. The establishment also has a kitchen and is well- loved by locals for both its food and brew. The coziness of the interior also makes it a hit for watching sports and there are televisions behind the bar and in the corner of the larger dining space, so that more people can see them and cheer the home team to victory.

With its rapid growth, Cinderlands plans to expand to as larger facility down the street very soon, with a new brewpub that will house a much larger brewing system. It’s all part of the brewery’s commitment to staying local and helping to reinvent the economy and culture.

Craft Beer Innovation

Cinderlands can be counted on for about five to seven beers on tap at any given time. Here is a summary of the beers I sampled, listed alphabetically by name, followed by the style and my Untappd rating for each, on a 5- point scale:

• Cobra Toes, Kolsch, 4
• Cosmic Cenote, American IPA, 4
• Crimson Cobra, Kolsch, 3.75
• Grizzled Canary, Grissette, 3
• Mind the Skipper, Pale Ale, 4.25
• Skydog, New England IPA, 4.25
• Stickeen, Double IPA, 4.5

Overall average rating: 3.96 out of 5

Cinderlands taps an impressive lineup of solid craft beer. I was partial to the Stickeen Double IPA and Skydog New England IPA, but most of the others had their merits as well. This is definitely not a place to visit if you’re looking for a mild brew, as every beer in the lineup was bold and assertive.

Creativity Realized

Pittsburgh’s craft beer scene is going places. When I was invited to visit the city of Pittsburgh to tour the beer and coffee scene, I wondered aloud what it would be like. “I haven’t been in Pittsburgh in 25 years”, I muttered. “I wonder if the city has changed much since then and is the culture suitable for a thriving craft beer scene”? I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had heard positive things about the changes taking place in Pittsburgh and the only way to truly know was to see things for myself.

Cinderlands Beer was the first brewery I visited during my tour of the area and it made a positive first impression. Walking inside for the first time, I felt like I as visiting a small, local restaurant rather than a brewery or brewpub and I say this because the brewing equipment was not in open view. The food preparation, on the other hand, is in open view so I think it might be safe to say that some of the first- time visitors who stumble upon Cinderlands and decide to visit may very well come here thinking it is a restaurant and nothing more.

The food at Cinderlands is certainly worthy of bragging rights, but the beer easily stands its own as well. I sampled many of the house beers and I was particularly smitten by Stickeen Double IPA. I could easily have continued sipping on this one beer for the duration but alas, there were too many other, tempting beer styles to settle for only one. Skydog, Cinderlands New England style IPA is also quite remarkable and I later learned that it happens to be the brewery’s top selling beer.

CInderlands Beer isn’t a very large place, but they plan to open a larger facility soon, one capable of churning out many more barrels of beer for on- site consumption and possibly for distribution to local bars and restaurants. The present space is still a cool place to hang out with friends. It’s small enough that you don’t feel like a number and a fun gathering place to meet after work or to watch a sporting event while feasting on delicious food and equally memorable brew.

Pittsburgh has come a long way. The city once overflowed with industrial foundries but has since experienced a rebirth of sorts as a more service- oriented economy takes hold. I like the changes I see, and if Cinderlands Beer is any indication, Pittsburgh is well on its way to becoming a craft beer hotbed rivaling even some of the more established beer- centric cities in the American west. It’s the perfect example of creative innovation and commitment to the local good so be sure to visit Cinderlands Beer the next time you’re in the Pittsburgh area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.