Pennsylvania Brewing Company

slander

New York

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5

Rolled through on my "In exile in Western PA for 13 weeks tour". On approach you feel it's just a picture postcard of an old old old time brewery. Absolutely amazing. I entered through these iron gates that led me into this beautiful brick biergarten with a handful of people eating and drinking at the outdoor tables. Heading inside, you find a bunch of long german beer hall style tables and some smaller detatched tables. The bar is dead ahead with a good couple of bar stools, the whole deal looking upon a brewing room with it's shiny copper kettles. very nice. There's a smaller downstairs dining area where apparently they used to "cellar", it's walls blocks 2 feet thick. Outstanding!!
They were pouring 6 beers, all in strict adherence to the Reinheitsgebot. The Penn Dark was a very flavorful Dunkel and the unfiltered HefeWeizen had an amazingly pleasant banana-clove taste, but the real treat here was the brewer's reserve Kaiser Pils.
The food menu is mostly traditional German cuisine. Wurst and the like. Hey, where are you going to get your Rinderrouladen fix?
I myself went with Pasta Baton Rouge (chicken & sausage in a nice cajun sauce over capellini), good stuff.
They do outdoor steak dinners, have bands play, and do accordian night sing-a-longs. And apparently they do a mad Octoberfest, coming up reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal soon.

08-02-2003 13:52:44 | More by slander

sparkydoyle

Pennsylvania

4.18/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5

Visited July 2003, around 5 on a Saturday afternoon. About ten couples were eating/drinking in the outdoor beer garden, about four or five large family groups having dinner in the indoor restaurant. Ambiance was great—diners sat on benches at long tables that could seat about eight, antique bar, large window that provided a view to the brew kettles.

Food was outstanding. The veal, bratwurst and smoked pork chops were great companions to their selection of lagers. My companion, who confesses to not being a fan of German cuisine, enjoyed her selections and helped herself to some of my bratwurst and smoked pork chop (tasty and lean).

A request for samples of the house beer offerings was met with complimentary four-ounce servings in standard beer glasses. My partner and I settled on the weiss beer (which we thought was one of the best examples of the style we’ve had in a while) and a Kaiser Pils. Service was efficient and food prices were reasonable.

We were visiting Pitts and were able to walk to the brewery from the Golden Triangle area of downtown Pittsburgh, and took an interesting long walk to the brewery by way of the 9th Street bridge (unfortunately the 16th street bridge was closed), and circled through Troy Hill, over the 31st street bridge, and through the Strip District. Lots of great urban archeology in these parts of town.

07-27-2003 15:03:30 | More by sparkydoyle

WVbeergeek

Ohio

3.85/5  rDev -3.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5

Made it to the brewery a couple weeks ago, and I must say walking in to the restaurant/bar/brewery seeing the appreciation for European traditional styles of brewing made me all warm in tingly inside, thanks Tom for doing it right. The dining room is clad with flags hanging down each row with large wooden tables very bier hall esque in my eyes. The rather small bar always has Penn's regular lineup on tap along with any seasonals available. You feel like your in another country this place is great. The beer was fresh and the Kaiser Pils brewed in Jan. or Feb. still held up nicely, I enjoyed the Penn Weizen on tap in a signature Penn wheat glass. Our waitress was good to us and service was prompt on a rather slow Tuesday evening. The clear window to the right of the bar unveils copper brew kettles that just breathtakingly put a tear in my eye amazing, and all of their year round beers were available on tap plus two seasonals like I stated but overall this is a selection you could get bored of very traditional but great, and a must for anyone visiting the area or who resides here. Food well I started with a cut of pork chops but it came out overcooked and chewy, so I asked my waitress what she could do and brought me some freshly prepared vienerschnitzel. They came up big on service and mediocre on the food quality control, I can't believe the meat was served as dry as it was, outright horrible. However, they made up for with a truly tasty traditional German dish.

07-13-2003 14:45:06 | More by WVbeergeek

aaronh

Pennsylvania

4.08/5  rDev +2.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5

Step inside the Penn Brewery's "Bier Halle" and you feel like you stepped into a picture from one of MJ's books. Flags from virtually every European beer producing country hang from the ceiling along side the Penn Brewery flag and the Stars and Stripes. The whitewashed-looking interior is populated by substantial picnic-style tables. You can have a seat or stroll up to the copper-topped bar to order your bier. Only offerings from Penn are available, but if you're in the mood for authentic German bier, they won't disappoint. While enjoying your brew, you can take in the sight of the well-maintained copper brew kettles and partake of some excellent German-style food. A true credit to the cultural diversity of Pittsburgh, any beer lover must make a trip to this brewery when in the area.

02-03-2003 14:10:14 | More by aaronh

ADR

Pennsylvania

4.15/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5

I was a once-a-week "resident" up to 1994 and have been back a few times since moving to Minnesota. Great, great views of the brewing equipment, nice but complicated layout of some of the dining areas, and the bar itself is not very long, making for some long lines at times. The food is German style and variably good and they sometimes push the oompa music a little too much. Great lager joint. I'm not a Wheat fan but the Weizen here is great. Probably enjoy the Kaiser Pils the most. An important part of the North Side revival, came before the Carnegie Science Center, PNC Park, and the new football stadium.

03-28-2002 17:20:09 | More by ADR

QXSTER1

Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5

This is an authentic looking German beer hall housed in an old Pittsburgh brewery. Communal tables overlook the brew kettles and the bar area. True to it's German influence they brew very good, clean tasting lagers and an excellent weizen.
The restaurant serves top notch German cuisine to match the beers. This was the first brewpub in Pittsburgh and some say it's still the best. If lagers are your thing this is the place.

03-28-2002 16:42:37 | More by QXSTER1