Pittsburgh Breweries Making Amber Waves of Grain into Gold Medals

When I lived in Pittsburgh there weren’t a whole lot of breweries around. Church Brew Works and Iron City were the only ones that I can remember. Then again, I wasn’t quite the beer snob back then that I am now.

Still, in my travels I’ve scoured beer havens from Boulder to Asheville to Portland and have sampled dozens of types of beers, loads of pale ales and IPAs in particular.

While dabbling around in my RSS Feed over the weekend, I found this map of who won what around the country during last year’s Great American Beer Festival. Pittsburgh took home several medals, Pennsylvania coming in 4th place overall with 17 awards last year. Which is beautiful news for the folks back home.

Even if the results do seem a bit dubious. I mean, Asheville, North Carolina was dubbed Beer City last year, and the entire state only got 4 awards. Pisgah’s IPA and Pale Ale, Highland’s Kashmir, and Asheville Brewing Company’s Shiva are all better than any single pale or IPA I’ve ever tasted out of Colorado. …and as much love as I give to Pittsburgh, I just can’t imagine they’re putting out consistently phenomenal beers like those coming out of Western North Carolina. Though I do have a fond appreciation for Rivertowne’s Old Wylie’s IPA.

Either way, here’s to PGH doing well again this year!

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