We’re still counting down until FreshFest on August 8th, and we’re even more excited about it because of their four-pack collaborations! Not sure what we’re talking about? Here’s everything you need to know about FreshFest and here’s the scoop on the first four-pack. Today, we’re spilling the beans about the second four-pack! To remind you, each beer in the four-pack is a collaboration between a Pittsburgh brewery and a Black-owned brewery. There are four varieties per pack: hoppy, dark, sour, and lager.
Hoppy: Butler Brew Works x UNION Craft Brewing
Butler Brew Works is, you guessed it, in Butler. It’s the culmination of five years of hard work amongst three long-time friends, but it was well worth the wait. They’ve won a number of awards, and they brew a variety of styles.
Beer unites! That’s not just the tagline at Baltimore’s Union Craft Brewing, it encompasses everything they believe in as a business. They just celebrated their 8th anniversary, brewing beers that unite old and new ideas, the science and craft of brewing, and boldness and balance of flavor.
This hoppy beer is a 6.5% Hazy IPA called “Satellite Surfer” because of the Comet, Galaxy, and Strata hops in it. They’re also adding just a bit of coriander during fermentation to compliment the fruity hops.
Working with the team at Union Craft Brewing has been extremely enjoyable. They seem to have a lot of great minds under their roof. It’s been great to see how a large scale brewery works through the process of designing a beer. We had fun bouncing names back and forth, and are very excited to see the artwork that [artist] Erik White [who goes by Lurker] is doing for the label.
Butler Brew Works
Dark: Hitchhiker Brewing x Weathered Souls Brewing Co
Hitchhiker is devoted to refining time-honored styles and discovering new ones – they’re focused on the evolution of brewing. Fun fact: their Sharpsburg location was once home to Fort Pitt Brewing Co. They’re committed to brewing the best possible beer with the lowest environmental impact.
Weathered Souls calls San Antonio, Texas home. They’re not a chain, their beer is not mass produced, and they’re relying on word of mouth to spread the scoop on how good their beer is. You can’t get any closer to the source of your beer than if you visit them – you’ll be sitting in the shadow of the fermentor your beer was kegged from days before! You can find them brewing up a variety of styles.
We don’t have any insider info on this dark beer, but we know it’s going to be amazing coming from these two breweries!
Sour: Grist House x White Lion Brewing Company
Grist House is a brewery where drinking buddies become lifelong friends and regulars become family. Everyone is welcome there, including your furry besties. They have two locations in Pittsburgh: Millvale and Collier.
White Lion’s collaboration team is lead by Head Brewer Mike Yates. They were founded in 2013 to manufacture, package, and distribute quality craft beer for the mass market. It’s the first craft beer brand to go to market in Springfield, MA. It’s also the only Black-owned, fully manufactured, packaged and independently distributed brewery in Massachusetts. They brew a robust portfolio of styles of beer and have won numerous awards.
The inspiration behind this sour is the Bramble cocktail, which is a gin-based drink made with lemon juice, simple syrup, and blackberry liqueur. “Fight the Sour” is a Kettle Soured Ale fermented on a bed of blackberry puree. It was aged on crushed juniper berries, and they added just enough real lemon juice to balance everything.
The two breweries spent some time getting to know each other and brainstorming in Springfield. White Lion said that they are constantly learning with brewing, and they like hearing how other breweries approach their respective brewing process.
Lager: Four Points Brewing x Green Bench Brewing Company
Four Points is in Charleroi, about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh. All of their beers are brewed in a five barrel system on the first floor of the brewery – which you can see from their second floor balcony. Their sister restaurant, Four Points BBQ, is located next door to the brewery. We think it’s a perfect combination!
Florida’s Green Bench Brewing Company is ringing in a new era of green benches in St. Petersburg to move towards a more unifying future. The brewery started out as a hobby and evolved into a full-time business of passion. They use fresh, local, and traditional ingredients to brew unique beers, ciders, and mead.
Even though we don’t have insider info on this lager, it must be delicious with the passion of these breweries!
Make sure you keep an eye on FreshFest’s website for the ordering link, which will be posted soon!
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.