Two new breweries in Pittsburgh — in Lawrenceville and the Strip District — don’t use “brewery” or “brewing” in their names. The region also a new “brewing” taproom, a new “brew” one and a new “brewpub,” among several more that are on the way.
Lawrenceville’s Lolev Beer has a great story behind the first part of its name.
Co-owners and brothers Ted and Scott Slesinski were homebrewing in their Fishtown, Philadelphia, basement, but as Ted tells it, Mom thought “basement” sounded grungier than the finished space they were using, so she didn’t want them to call it that.
Ted took to calling it “the lower level.” Years later, he shortened that to “Lolev” for the commercial brewery he and Scott are opening Friday on Butler Street in a building that previously was a gym and that started in the 1920s as a Ford dealership.
At noon they started selling their opening lineup that includes Array pale ale, Tides India pale ale, Scylla imperial stout and a hop-flavored but gluten-free hard seltzer called Revive.
Scott is the head brewer. Those brothers came here from out East to partner with Pittsburgh brothers Derek (who helps brew, too) and Jeff Gonano.
Together, they’ve completely transformed the space, which features a main tasting room with a long comfy banquette along one of the walls, which are hung with large paintings by Alex Perkins. Between that room and the bar at the entry is a cozy triangular room that Ted says he’s calling “the library.” In back is a big 20-barrel brewhouse, complete with mood lighting, with brite tanks that flow draft directly to the taps.
“I think it’s really the best way to drink the beer,” he says.
They are particularly fond of saisons, which they plan to begin aging soon in a bank of oak vessels called foeders. “We’ll see what the market thinks about them,” Ted says, noting that they want to make all kinds of brews. “We just try to do every style we’re making justice.”
The two sets of brothers’ future plans include packaging, added seating above the bar and outdoors, even on the roof, and more.
Hours to start are noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday and 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Food will be offered from food trucks — Ippa Pizza this Friday and Haskel’s Deli Saturday — and can be brought in from neighborhood eateries. Lolev Beer is located at 5247 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201. Learn more at https://lolev.beer.
Open for about a week now not far away in the Strip District is Bonafide Beer Co. It’s a project of Christian Simmons, who runs Pennsylvania Libations based around the corner and Sweet Rust spirits bottling and farm-to-table restaurant in Ligonier, with Travis Tuttle, who previously brewed at Butler Brew Works, which he co-founded.
Now Tuttle is brewing on a 2-barrel system squeezed into what was the kitchen of the former Chicken Latino restaurant, which they’ve completely transformed with leather furniture and local artisan wallpaper.
“I call it ‘retro swag,’ ” says Simmons. The cozy space, which some customers think looks like a cigar bar, also has a cozy private space in its center that they call “the Snug Room.”
It’s not big, but the partners have big plans, including selling cans of Bonafide Beer across the state and beyond. All of that will be contract-brewed with Export’s Helltown Brewing, with which they’ve worked on the now-Helltown-run nearby bar called 1700 Penn Ave.
Coming they hope this spring is a new Bonafide Beer brewing operation, one of three that are going to be opening in the historic Hazelwood Brewery in that up-and-coming neighborhood.
Wherever the beer is made, they aim for it to live up to the “bona fide” name by being genuine and real — genuinely easy drinking stuff that’s also easy on the wallet. They’re leading with an American lager and an India pale ale, and while they will make a wide range of styles, as Tuttle puts it, “We’re not chasing trends here.”
In addition to draft from the brass taps, there is a full bar of Pennsylvania spirits and cocktails. Customers have plenty of places in the Strip where they can buy food to bring in.
It’s located at 155 21st St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Starting hours are 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday. For more, visit https://bonafidebeerco.com.
Other just-opened places include the Time Brewpub in Ellwood City, Lawrence County, in the main part of a former elementary school and featuring a full food menu. Check it out at 600 Mount Vernon Drive, Ellwood City, PA 16117 and https://www.facebook.com/thetimebrewpub.
Just opened on Thursday is a second tap room of Sarver’s Cellar Works Brewing Co., which has taken over the storefront in Verona that formerly housed Stonewall Cider House and Meadery at 723 Allegheny River Blvd., Verona, PA 15147 as well as at https://www.facebook.com/CellarWorksBrewingCo/ and https://cellarworksbrewing.com.
This just in: Soft opening Friday night in the trail town of West Newton, Westmoreland County, is the new taproom of Bloom Brew at 123 N. Water St., West Newton, PA 15089. Owner Jeff Bloom says the original location, behind the fire station at 100 Riverside Drive, “will become seasonal May through October”: https://bloombrew.beer.
Bob, a feature writer and editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and serving as interim editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Contact him at bbatz@unionprogress.com.
