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The Pittsburgh Brewery You NEED To Visit

April 7, 2018 /

Last weekend, Sean and I went beer tasting in Pittsburgh. As LUCK would have it, we wound up going on St. Patrick’s Day. (Do you see what I did there? Ha!) All of the bars and breweries that we made it to were super busy of course, especially the ones on the north side of town and down by the strip.

Although we both enjoy craft beers, we’re not huge connoisseurs, so it wasn’t hard to find some good brews and have a good time. For us, our mission when we went was just as much about finding somewhere with an atmosphere that resonated with us, as well as having a good selection of tasty drinks.

Allegheny City Brewing Beer

Pittsburgh, and Western PA as a whole, has a TON of breweries to offer. Something on my list of things to do, actually, is the Brew Trail. Technically, the entire trail would take you through all of America, but a LOT of the beers can be found in PA. I grew up in wine country, and now being with Sean in PA, I feel like I’ve found beer country.

So, anyway. Sean and I found this absolutely amazing brewery while we were making our way around Pittsburgh last weekend. Now, again. I’m not some beer-fanatic. So, I can’t really speak to the overall quality of their beers as much as I can speak to my own opinion on them. With that being said, I was impressed.

Allegheny City Brewing Co. is a small little brewery on the north side of town, in what used to be Allegheny (hence the name). I think that if you were just driving by, you probably wouldn’t notice it that much if it weren’t for the artwork that adorns the side of the building. The whole wall has a beautiful display of colorful creations. Of all of the breweries that we visited that day, it was the first one that really had some curb appeal to it. That was just a nice touch though, compared to all of the reasons I really fell in love with this place.

Pittsburgh Street Art

There are 3.

Number one: There were dogs.

Number two: The atmosphere of the place was FULL of rustic/nature vibes

Number three: The beer was good.

Let’s start with the dogs.

We walked in, not expecting it to be a dog-friendly establishment. So, can you imagine our surprise as well as my excitement when walking through the door and seeing two huge, and super adorable dogs sitting by the bar?

I’ve been plenty of dog-friendly places before. Telluride, Colorado was by far the MOST dog-friendly, but even there, a lot of the restaurants and shops allowed dogs on the patios, but not necessarily inside. So, I found it really awesome that we could actually bring Raven here with us if we wanted.

Dog Friendly Brewery

I had a bit of hard time convincing myself not to fawn all over the dogs that were there.  I was already a little tipsy at that point from all of the beer we had tasted at previous locations, and tipsy Jamie reaalllyy loves dogs. Ha!

The fact that I could bring Raven there if I wanted made me happy all in it’s own, but there’s more.

We chatted up the bartender, who happens to be one of the brewery’s three owners. We asked Matt how they came to the decision to make their place pet-friendly, and he told us about how he had always grown up with dogs and that they wanted to keep that sort of environment in their business.

On top of just having actual dogs in their bar area, Allegheny City Brewing has a wall dedicated to them. It’s called the Dog Wall, and it’s full of pictures of different dogs from different visitors.

Dog Wall

If the dog-friendly atmosphere isn’t enough to make you want to visit, consider this:

Allegheny City Brewing has, in my opinion, the most ideal atmosphere. You almost forget that you’re in a brewery as opposed to a little coffee shop. There’s a very nature-y vibe that you can tell is inspired by the owner’s time spent in Colorado.

The wood-topped bar stools/counter as well as the pallet bar menu all play into the rustic theme, but my favorite was the table that we sat at. It’s this really sleek slab of wood that’s hung from the ceiling by thick ropes. From that spot, I think we had the best seat in the house.

Rustic Brewery Decor

We were right by the bar (which was also impressive, with their wooden keg toppers), so we had a good view of the super cute ‘Dog Wall’ and could catch a glimpse into their brewing room.

Speaking of their brewery room.

ACB offers a pretty good selection of craft beers despite their smaller, more intimate space. They carry some year-round beers but also rotate out some of their newer recipes as well. Sean and I tried the Ginger IPA, Smoke on the Lager, and A Beer Named Woo. In the end, we chose to go for a glass of A Beer Named Woo. Even on a colder day in Pittsburgh, that beer still tasted nice and refreshing.

Bar Menu

I feel like Allegheny City Brewing is somewhere you could go with your dog early in the morning to enjoy some coffee or a cute little place to meet up with friends and sip some brews. Unfortunately, they don’t open their doors until 4 or 5 during the week, so we may just have to settle for the latter. Either way, this is definitely the spot we’ll be stopping at for drinks from now on.

Side note: They also have a variety of food trucks that serve the brewery at different times. When we went, there was an Indian food truck. There were a couple of people in the brewery that had gotten food from them, and although we didn’t try it ourselves, it looked and smelled sooo good. There’s a different food truck all the time, so you can always be surprised when you go and never tire of the menu.

Allegheny City Brewing Co. is located at:

507 Foreland St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15212

North Side

Hours:

Wed: 5-10

Thu: 5-10

Fri: 4-12

Sat: 2-12

Sun: 12-7

To learn more about their brewery or their beer selection, you can find them here.

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