Pittsburgh is a craft beer lover’s dream city and for two days in February it’s a craft beer lover’s dream come true.
The 6th annual Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest pours into the David L. Lawrence Convention Center February 22-23. It features 125+ breweries. It has 400+ craft beers. It has 3 options for you to live out your craft beer sampling fantasies. Take your taste buds around the world on a whirlwind sampling of craft drafts from near and far.
Here are 6 reasons to get to Pittsburgh’s Winter Beerfest this year:
The Beer
The obvious reason to go: Beer! And plenty of it. Start planning your sampling strategy now.
With 17,000+ attendees this event is officially in the Top 10 Largest Craft Beer events in all of the USA. While the Beerfest folks wouldn’t tell us where we rank we can only assume that if we aren’t #1 then we’re definitely ahead of Cleveland! (Yes, Cleveland you make good beers, but you’re still Cleveland!)
The Ticket Options
The Beerfest consists of 3 separately ticketed events:
Friday night 6:30PM-11PM (2/22)
Saturday day 12:00PM-4PM (2/23)
Saturday night 6:30PM-11PM (2/23)
Some brews are only accessible to those with a Connoisseurs Reception ticket and others are available during Early Admission. No matter what ticket you get you will have great access to a great variety of great craft beers. Get your tickets here.
And for your designated driver? They can get a ticket to the event to along with access to water/soft drinks and the food.
“Know Before You Go”: Everyone, including DDs, must be 21+. And if you want a “lower-key” vibe go Saturday afternoon.
The Food
Along with the best beer the craft beer industry has to offer, the event will feature fare from local restaurants and Food Trucks will also be along for the ride (and will come at an additional cost depending on your selected ticket). You can sample your way thru the beer while sample your way thru the food. And you’ll definitely need to add food into the mix so that you can keep going strong the whole time!
The Benefits
No we’re not talking about how it will benefit you, we’re talking about the fact that the event is actually a great way to support two great causes. Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit Animal Rescue Partners, Inc and Biggies Bullies of Pittsburgh.
The Hostest with the Mostest
PARKING: Be sure to reserve your parking in advance with SpotHero — this way sampling time doesn’t get wasted on parking time.
POST-EVENT CRASHING: The Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest’s official host hotel is the Drury Hotel which is only 1 block away from the Convention Center. But, alas, there is no vacancy. But not to fear – there are other hotels in the area with vacancy and the Beefest folks were kind enough to make a list of local hotels to make it easier for you to find a place to crash.
The Advice
We couldn’t squeeze any “insider’s tips” out of the Beerfest folks on how to get the most out of the Winter Beerfest but let us offer you some advice:
- Arrive when it begins.
- Stay until it ends.
- Drink up! (Repeat.)
