Cask Ale in Pittsburgh

On the Pubnetwork™

This site originated at pubnetwork.com

and the barstool of Ed Vidunas

Posted June 2003 Revised January 2004

The title says it all but I will try and say more. Below are the places that currently serve cask ale in Pittsburgh and a few extra notes. You can e-mail me at

Brew Pubs & Breweries Serving Cask Ale

Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville has one engine usually serving an English Brown, but anything on cask or tap is well made and true to form. Sean Casey is the owner and Brian Pearson is the brewer.

John Harvard’s in Wilkins Township has an engine and serves many styles. They also put on a wood cask at times serving via gravity. Corporate owned; Andrew Maxwell is the brewer.

Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh’s North Side puts a gravity fed cask on the bar at some of their events. They are strictly a German style brewery and very good at it. Tom Pastorius is the owner and brewer.

Rock Bottom in Homestead’s Waterfront has two cask engines and their English Ales are just what you would find in the UK. Save your money and drink here. Matthew Carroll is the brewer of this corporate owned brew pub.

Taverns Serving Cask Ale

Fat Heads on Pittsburgh’s South Side has one beer engine and it gets a workout. The beer menu (39+ taps) is dominated by US Microbrews and the cask is usually from Yard’s, Rouge and Victory as well as others.

Both the Sharp Edge Emporium in East Liberty (Pittsburgh) and the Creek House in Crafton (Pittsburgh) have multiple engines and they are major player for cask in Pittsburgh. The Emporium has 50 regular taps and the bulk of them are Belgium. The casks are many times higher alcohol

Dee’s Six Pack in Swissville serves cask ale every Wednesday (could change)

The Parlour in Sharpsburg is looking to serve cask ale. I will update then.

Distributors Supplying Cask Ale

A.M. Lutheran Distributors, Inc. West Mifflin

Vecenie Distributing Co. Millvale www.beersince1933.com

Cask Ale Notes

Taverns and brewpubs serve with from metal but from time to time the beer can be in the wood. Unless the beer is served with gravity it is dispensed with gas and always with a sparkler. I think sparkles change the true taste of the beer but that’s my opinion. I think the owners think you have to use sparklers but you do not. They do force a head on the beer and there is nothing wrong with that. I think I just drink too in Southern England.

True cask ale is a living beer. It is not pasteurized or kept too cold as the yeast is performing a secondary fermentation. Cask ale must be allowed to settle a few days before serving. That is the yeast and other solids need to drop to the bottom of the cask. To help this along a cellerman would add finnings to the ale. The solid matter in the ale is attracted to the finnings and fall (called flocculation) under their combined weight. Cask ale when served should always be bright. Living beer has B vitamins that are good for us and drinking cask ale in moderation will help keep you regular.

Cask ale is not the same as nitogenated beers. The combination of nitrogen and carbon dioxide produces a creamy-smooth head and but sometimes with a washed-out taste. This works well in Guinness and other dark ales but I think it takes away from Ordinary Bitter.

I will try and keep abreast of who is dispensing cask ale in the burgh but if I have missed something or you just want to chew me out then mail me at ed@pubnetwork.com

We have good beer in Pittsburgh for a number of reasons and I would like to state three of them here: Sam Chiodo (Joe Chiodo’s Tavern), Tom Pastorius (Penn Brewery) and Jerry Miller (Brandt Distributors). Sam brought in good imported beer to town in the early 80’s and gave us the taste for exciting and exhilarating brews. Tom opened Pa’s first microbrewery years before the rest. Jerry brought in hard to find micro-brews at his own expense. He kicked off the micro madness in Pittsburgh. The beer we drink today is here because of the work of these three gentlemen. The Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland had hundreds of beers earlier but they never got promoted on a grand scale.

For the best cask ale venue in the country go to www.realalefestival.com and see what Ray Daniels is doing in Chicago.

A group of lads from the Sharp Edge were trying to form a Cask-Ale club sometime in 2002 but I have not heard anything more about this. What have you heard?

Now, back to the Pittsburgh page or my Welcome page.