ELEVENTH HOUR BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Residing at a beautifully renovated red bricked stone columned roadhouse in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville section, ELEVENTH HOUR BREWING COMPANY opened 2017. Family-owned and operated, the pristine establishment’s casual homey vibe and elegant wood design contrast the towering industrialized aluminum brew tanks staged beyond the bar.

Inside, Eleventh Hour’s elongated, corrugated aluminum-fronted, wood-topped bar services three butcher block community tables and five wooden four-seaters. The olden wood ceiling, plumber piped draught board, shiny epoxy floor and large air ducts bring a rustic feel to the tidy pub.

A tented cement-floored umbrella-lined deck offered further seating.

During my October ’25 visit, tried seven homemade “balanced, reliable” craft brews.

Floral-perfumed Noble hop herbage and mild lemon licks serenaded German pilsner, Noble Spirit, a dry pilsner malted light body.

Soft-toned hoppy blonde, Allegheny Flight, stuck dry lemony herbal musk inside barley-roasted Vienna malt sweetness.

Dryer-than-usual kolsch, Archer Heavy, let laidback lemon pit bittering and wispy floral herbage reach raw honeyed pilsner malts.

Lemon-tinged orange briskness, red apple tartness and green grape tannins softly guided Maibock, an acridly barnyard, straw-dried moderation.

Equally soft on the tongue, Planets & Gods: Ouranus IPA splashed lemon zest across orange peeled sweetness and peachy pineapple tang, picking up light herbal snips.

Politely bitter and dry NEIPA, Cole Bear, coalesced West Coast-styled piney dankness and yellow grapefruit bite with orange-candied pineapple twang and guava whims of a hazy New Englander.

Dryer-than-sweet English barleywine, Ye Olde Lamplighter, posted dry bourbon and sweet sherry notes as well as dark cherry, red grape and plum nuances to caramelized molasses malts.

TRACE BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

After visiting Andy Warhol Museum on a seasonably warm Friday at noon, October ’25, headed to Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield section to toss back a few at TRACE BREWING (with a satellite taproom uptown). Opened springtime 2021, Trace occupies an old warehouse next door to fabulous Liberty Beer shop.

Serving home brewed coffee as well as beer, cider, cocktails and wine, the casual neighborhood pub features a ten-seat wood top brick-fronted bar (with twenty taps), strewn metal-wood tables, fluorescent flytrap lights and exposed pipes. A rustic right side room with seating leads to an alleyway beergarden. Rear brew tanks store the stylishly amiable suds.

Founder Dave Kushner, whose experience includes stints at Harpoon Brewery, John Harvard’s – Cambridge, Lord Hobo and Remnant Brewing, also organizes events for Trace. Special thanks to Phat Bagels for the bagels and candied jalapeno dip.

Peaty barley-roasted graining and dry Noble hop musk centered autumnal Festbier, picking up lemondrop tartness, mild Scotch licks and leafy dew.

Chameleonic NEIPA, Bricks & Bridges, let cologne perfumed citrus zesting reach lacquered pine stead as lemon balm, candied pineapple, honeydew and ‘Juicy fruit gum’ illusions sidled minty eucalyptus swipes.

DANCING GNOME

United States Brewpubs,

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Consuming a large metal-furnished aluminum warehouse in the Pittsburgh borough of Sharpsburg, DANCING GNOME opened its original taproom one block down in 2016. An early focus on ‘hop forward’ brews eventually led to a more varied traditional menu crowded with appreciable Euro-styled fodder upon my October ’25 perusal.

A polished copper top bar faces the gray subway-tiled draught board, liquor-stacked wood shelving and large on tap menu. The epoxy-floored, gray-walled, high ceilinged taproom features skinny community tables, stooled wood tables, several orange crossbeams and windowed brew tanks. A wood benched patio section adds outside seating.

Dancing Gnome’s large screen TV showed the Penguins home opener against the Islanders while I snagged four easygoing yellow suds and two dark ales on a crisp autumn night.

Dry grained mustiness and musky hop bittering united for German-styled Pilsner, a fluffy-headed gold body with oated spelt barnyard acridity and light lemon licks meeting at saltine cracker stead.

Specialty-grained German moderation, Spelt Lager, retained earthen spelt, alfalfa and millet dryness for its frisky citrus hops.

Peacherine and Citra hops reinforced Cubism India Pale Ale’s brisk tropical zesting as lemony yellow grapefruit bittering, waxy gooseberry-guava tartness, candied pineapple tanginess and white peach sweetness gathered above creamy oats.

Even creamier oats regaled Art Deco India Pale Ale, underlining lemony grapefruit, pineapple and orange rind bittering.

On the dark side, cask conditioned English porter, Guard The Tower, welcomed coffee-burnt dark chocolate nuttiness.

A less mocha-insistent milk stout, Dead Sleep, encored with dark chocolate syrup draping nutty coffee, mossy soy and charred wood.

CHIMERA BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Just south of Pittsburgh in the suburban borough of Castle Shannon, CHIMERA BREWING COMPANY opened in the summer of 2024 at the former spot housing Mindful Brewing. Renovated and rechristened as Chimera, their ‘craft, cuisine and community’ logo and modern Greek mythology twist prove worthy.

Inside an Industrialized, cement-slabbed cabin, its elegant aluminum atrium and angled roof mesh with the cabin’s brown wood base. A picnic-tabled turf patio welcomes patrons to the cozy neighborhood pub. A prominent Chimera insignia centering two winged lions takes up a side wall. The twelve plastic-seated bar features a silestone top and twenty-plus tap handles line the white tiled draught board.

Nifty ancient Greek characters brighten the back walls and a right side dining area services brews alongside pizza, burgers, wings and sandwiches. Three pinball machines counter the bar and TV’s pack the place.

Never afraid to experiment beyond stylistic boundaries, Chimera is one of Pittsburgh’s best breweries.

On my late afternoon October ’25 jaunt, I ate Italian Rhapsody pizza (sweet sausage, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, ricotta and spinach) while polishing off eleven of the fourteen choice homemade four-ounce draughts.

Rustic barnyard mustiness saddled raw-honeyed lemon musk, letting its overall dryness envelop moderate-bodied Persephone’s Light Lager, a subtler kolsch variant.

A ‘historical’ German kottbusser, nebulous oats flaked pilsner malting, raw molasses acridity and mild lemon oiling made Oat So Sweet the only mediocrity in the bunch.

Lacquering candied peach Schnapps syruping atop honeyed wheat, Fields Of Elysium Peach gained sharp perfumed hop musk.

Flagship New England IPA, Perpetual Flux, splashed spritzy Citra/ Nelson Sauvin hop sunshine thru mild pine lacquer as bittersweet lemony orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess mingled the dainty guava-gooseberry tartness moderating its sugary pale malting.

Authentic Belgian yeast serenaded Bacchus Trappist Tripel, a spunky alcohol-fueled delight with orange-bruised lemon meringue tartness, honeyed banana sweetness and mild herbal spicing.

Doughy peanut buttered Vienna lager, Mc Nutter’s Afternoon Delight, picked up drifting red grape and dark cherry snips over floury cocoa buttering.

Confectionery dark lager, S’more-Gasm left marshmallow fluff upon dark chocolate and vanilla-creamed Graham Cracker base, segueing to phenol hop astringency.

Another dark lager, German-styled dunkelweizen Dumb Dumb & Dunkel, stayed creamily smooth as chocolate-breaded fig and date reached molasses toast bottom.

Powder-sugared pumpkin pie spicing and mild citric perfuming embodied Pie Oh My!, an autumnal charmer sprinkling ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon on pastry-floured pie crusting.

Dryer-than-usual Baltic Porter, Daddy Fabric, placed caramelized dark chocolatey black coffee alongside plummy black cherry tartness.

Loud chili peppering perked up Mole-inspired stout, Mexican Emperor, leaving slight Band-aid astringency on the backend.