#6147 - Penn Brewery, Pittsburgh, PA - 4/6/2025

Penn Brewery, Pittsburgh,PA

They built a brewery here in 1870, when the Eberhardt and Ober families, who dominated Pittsburgh brewing from around mid-century, merged into the Eberhardt & Ober Brewery. In 1899 they merged with Iron City Brewery and 12 other local breweries and renamed the conglomerate Pittsburgh Brewing Company.

The Pittsburgh Brewing Company operated well into the federal prohibition years (as the state of Pennsylvania was in no rush to close breweries or saloons) then restarted after prohibition, finally closing in 1952 after a long dispute over labor contracts. Over the following four decades the building was largely abandoned, hosting a fruit juice company and furnish storage space behind broken windows and fading trims. But then in mid 1989, after lobbying the Pennsylvania state government to modify laws to allow brew pubs, Tom Pastorius revived the structure with the Allegheny Brewery & Pub, which in 1994 would change its name to Penn Brewery. Pastorius' ancestor, Franz Daniel Pastorius, founded Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1683. The new brewery produced lagers and other German style beers, "adhering to the strict quality standards of the 16th-century Bavarian Reinheitsgebot purity laws."

Penn Brewery was thus the first brewpub and craft brewery in the state, and what Pastorius referred to as "the first tied house since prohibition." While the term was primarily used in pre-prohibition days to denote a saloon tied to a particular brewery or distiller, Penn Brewery means it is the first to have a brewery and restaurant in the same location. It is also now the city of Pittsburgh's oldest operating brewery. Pastorius would sell the majority of his operation in 2003, and then retired and sell his remaining 20% in 2008. The brewery would subsequently stumble in both business and quality of beer while owned by a private equity group, and would even close the restaurant and move brewing operations out of town. Partners Sandra well Cindrich, Linda Nyman, and Corey Little would take over in 2009, starting by bringing Pastorius back as as well as much of the former staff, restoring the brewing operation and restaurant, and producing award winning beers and also profitability.

Since August 1, 2022, the brewery has been operated by Austrian Stefan Wolfgang Nitsch, who has said that "It’s the most authentically European beer I’ve had over here. It reminds me of the beers I stole from my grandpa’s basement when I was younger." (pittsburghmagazine)  The brewery and beer garden will often be packed for events these days, but it was very open when we visited right at noon opening time on a rainy Sunday. The buildings are impressive, the beers are quite good, and the restaurant still focuses on traditional German cuisine. But the most striking feature is surely the lagering caves. These caves actually riddle the entire hillside, and were used for keeping beer cold before the days of refrigeration -- which for this brewery arrived in 1885.  You can view and even drink in the first portions of a couple of these tunnels, which didn't seem particularly inviting on a cold wet day (even if they were not adorned with skeletons), but which were still quite interesting to see, and must be particularly nice on a warm summer afternoon.

800 Vinial St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 - (412) 237-9400
Est. 1994 - Building constructed: 1870
Previous bars in this location: Eberhardt & Ober Brewery, Pittsburgh Brewing Co., Allegheny Brewery & Pub
Web sites: pennbrew.com - facebook - instagram 
Articles: theclio - pittsburghmagazine - wikipedia - phlf - brewersofpa - 150 years of Penn Beers (video) - northsidechronicle - yelp - tripadvisor