Pittsburgh brewery tours are growing in number as the craft beer scene has gotten much more popular in the past several years. Whether you're just starting to learn about beer or consider yourself a knowledgeable aficionado, you'll find Pittsburgh brewery tours that will inform and entertain.
Tours of individual breweries are available, as well as ones that allow beer lovers to hop among several establishments. And just because you've tried a particular multistop tour in the past, you may want to try it again, because the lineups often change.
The following are several top Pittsburgh brewery tours you'll want to check out:
Penn Brewery, 800 Vinial St.
412-237-9400
pennbrew.com/Brewery.aspx
Penn Brewery is located in a mid-19th century building in the North Side's Deutschtown neighborhood, so it's not surprising that it specializes in German-style beers made according to strict purity laws. Tours are held on select Saturdays at 1 p.m., and you'll receive a behind-the-scenes look at the operation, a 16-ounce beer, and either a Penn T-shirt or a filled growler.
On some dates, you can add a VIP Meet the Brewer session to your tour for an additional charge, which lets you sample six different beers as a brewer explains how each is made.
East End Brewing Co.
147 Julius St.
412-537-2337
eastendbrewing.com
East End creates about 35 different brews a year, and you may have tasted one or more at a local restaurant or bar. Its small batch and hand-bottled specialty brews, however, are only sold at its two locations.
Three different tours are offered to accommodate different levels of knowledge. Brewery 101 teaches you about craft beers and lets you sample three beers of your choosing. Grain-to-Glass is the most comprehensive tour and is designed for the craft beer enthusiast, providing a front-to-back explanation of the beer-making process, a sampling of four beers, and a $15 bar credit. The Good Wood tour focuses on beers that have been aged in bourbon or wine barrels, and includes four tastings.
City Brew Tours, Pittsburgh
412-419-2337
citybrewtours.com/pittsburgh
City Brew Tours partners with 12 breweries to offer a variety of stops in its tours, each of which features four breweries. Daytime and evening five-hour tours are available, with each providing up to 16 samples of beer as well as a meal.
Transportation is provided between stops, and the driver is also a beer expert who will take you over some of the city's many bridges and share his or her knowledge as you travel on your way to the breweries.
Porter Brewery Tours, Pittsburgh
porter.tours
Take a tour of three Pittsburgh breweries on a tour bus stocked with water, popcorn and a cooler to store growlers you buy during the tour. You'll also get to learn facts about Pittsburgh as well as the city's beers along the way.
Porter partners with nine local breweries, so the lineup can change if you'd like to take the tour multiple times. You'll receive about three pints' worth of samples during your stops at the three breweries.
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