In the can, lightly salted lemon curd tartness, dry orange oiling and fried plantain starching pick up dry-spiced herbage with light florality as sunny yellow grapefruit snip and Chardonnay buttering also reach raw-honeyed wheat base.
Lupulin-induced premium lager with palest yellow clarity and bubbly white head brings barleycorn graininess to lemony grapefruit brsikness and musty orange rind bittering as basil-snipped lemongrass perfuming nips at citrusy hop spritz.
Ambitious whiskey-aged stout stays viscously rich while maintaining soft water easement. Pudding-skinned dark chocolate gains maple-candied toffee sweetness, Madagascar vanilla sugaring and bittersweet cocoa remnant atop marshmallow-toasted Graham Cracker base. Bustling barleywine-bourbon-burgundy boozing beckons for heavyweight nightcap.
Neutralized hot-stoned white oak chips add light smokiness to oaken vanilla leathering saddling soft-toned rummy fruitcake entry. A cornucopia of maibock-like fruiting surfaces as subtle tangerine, candied orange, red cherry, blackberry and melon illusions settle in.
Vast peach puree syruping coats pale wheat malting, defying nasty phenol hop alkalinity. Mild apricot scurry enhances summery peachy theme.
Easygoing light lager variant places mild lemony mango tang and wispy floral perfuming in astringent hop setting. Candied mango continuance too washed out.
Thin summery light lager variant with misty mango juicing. Tang-like orange tartness caresses mango-nectarine-honeydew sugaring and pithy florality as fizzy lemon shandy-like effervescence hits acrid hop astringency atop bland white bread base.
WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA
Residing at a red brick Industrial building one block South of Bullfrog Brewing and Gennetti Hotel, JACKASS BREWING opened this second location in 2025. Olden wood floors ground the white-walled converted warehouse and the U-shape bar (with twelve taps, caged Edison lights and cornered TV’s) services several windowed four-seaters and the large furnished mezzanine.
The 22,000 square-foot tap room includes a restaurant, event space and rooftop bar. A varied beer menu displayed a colorful spectrum of stylistic delights. Brew tanks are towards the rear and patio seating is available when warm.
My wife and I visited after our Pittsburgh roundup at 7PM, mid-October ’25.
Tart lemon-salted oaken cherry pucker, green grape esters and parched lime souring induced Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb, an extremely dry fruited sour.
Rustic mineral graining guarded the orange banana breaded spicing of Saison Of The Asses, leaving white peppery shards.
Unspecific Belgian yeast engaged autumnal Belgian strong ale, Jackass O’Lantern, pitting rummy cinnamon-nutmeg spicing and orange-bruised banana sugaring against white-peppered herbage.
One of Jackass’ most popular year-rounders came next. Tangy grapefruit, salty pineapple, zesty orange peel and peachy tangerine blitzed the lightly oated wheat creaming of Juicy Ass, a fruit punched New England IPA with latent pine tones.
Lightly wood-smoked coffee roast saddled mocha-driven porter, Dumbass, scattering dark chocolate, caramel and espresso tones among the dark roast hop bitterness.
Mocha-fortified milk Stout, Mules, placed creamy milk chocolate across caramelized coffee, molasses breading and tart dark cherry frolic.
“Intense” bourbon-aged Imperial Stout, Imbecile, let pudding skinned dark chocolate fudging drape dry burgundy, sherry, chianti and Muscat wining as well as a stiff whiskey back (at 12.2% ABV).
A few weeks later in mid-November ’25, grabbed a few more tapped Jackasses while watching college football on a Saturday night at the bar.
Briskly tropical New England IPA flagship Foggy Doo, first tried at original Lewisburg locale three years hence, stuck piney orange rind bittering, zesty juniper minting, limey grapefruit scamper and green mango salting atop lightly creamed oats.
Meanwhile, West Coast IPA, Woody, scurried dank pine resin across sour orange rot, salty mango-guava zesting and spiced floral daubs atop honeyed pale malts.
Dewy moss seeped into navel orange sweetness for moderate-bodied pale lager, What The Helles, a musty Noble-hopped bohemian.
Ultra-dry sour ale, Calamansi, let mouth puckering Philippine lime salting and lemony mandarin orange wisp settle above acidulated wheat base.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
At Pittsburgh’s Strip District, HELLTOWN BREWING opened its fourth of five (as of October ’25) locations in 2020. Beginning in a Colorado mechanics garage in 2011, Helltown’s founders settled in the Iron City’s Mount Pleasant section, creating their initial brewhouse (before buying nearby Rivertowne’s Export production facility and gaining a second spot). The other two Southwest Pennsylvania Helltown outposts are in Houston and Butler.
Occupying a two-story white aluminum barnhouse-styled depot, Helltown’s 1700 Penn Avenue locale in the Strip features wood barrels, wood benches and chairs leading to the lacquered wood top bar. There are 24 draught handles serving both Helltown and Rivertowne fare. Wine, cider and cocktails are also available.
A large fenced-in benched side deck offers plenty of seating.
During my mid-afternoon Saturday stop, October ’25, bought cans of Helltown’s Bluff 78 American Lager, Grand Prix English Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Star Breaker Hazy IPA and Mischievous Brown Ale (all reviewed in Beer Index).
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Occupying a prominent marble-columned Municipal building along the cobblestoned roads of Pittsburgh’s southern Dormont section, BACK ALLEY BREWING COMPANY opened its doors in 2022. A yellow Back Alley signpost leads patrons to the Classical large arched entrance.
An elongated cement-topped bar serviced the white walled main space as well as the dainty restaurant garden room. Arched windows and the high ceiling bring a simple elegance to the cafe tables and leather booths surrounding the bar.
I visited Back Alley on a Sunday at noontime, October ’25, when the Steelers had a home game and many fans hit the streets. I tried the two tapped IPA’s and took home a half dozen more (reviewed in Beer Index).
Flagship Back Alley IPA retained orange rind bittering, yellow grapefruit tang and salty pineapple zing as well as herbal tea whims and grassy hop astringency atop honey-spiced pale malts.
Dry rye graining surged next to grapefruit rind bittering for Raccoon Ninja Warrior Rye IPA, snuggling dark roast-hopped brown leaf musk across dusty cocoa powder.
Right after Friday brunch in October ’25, headed to Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville section to take on three brewpubs within a quarter-mile walking distance. Long Story Short on Butler Street offered franchised Cinderlands brews and Eleventh Hour Brewing on Charlotte Street crafted its own beer onsite. As for BURGHERS BREWING, besides its street-cornered Butler Street taproom, the fine ‘burgers n’ brews joint’ has locations (as of this date) in Millvale, Southside and Zelienope.
Gathering ingredients from nearby farmers, Burghers shoots for total sustainability with approachable fare well suited for the average American beer drinker. On my stopover, there were four easygoing German-styled brews on tap alongside an IPA, Czech lager, Italian pils and malt liquor.
Inside, the concrete-floored pub features a twelve-seat, tile-fronted, wood bar with ten draughts (and two TV’s sidling the beer menu). There are several windowed yellow metal-seated wood tables and a corrugated standing post plus a back kitchen cookin’ burgers.
Crisp light-bodied Italian pilsner, Coltivare, put floral perfumed hop oils alongside moldy lemon rot above delicate truffle-like pilsner malting.
Sweet barley-corn crisping met polite Noble hop herbage for Czech amber lager, Wyrmslayer’s Reserve, a simple bronze-cleared moderation.
Chestnut and tobacco roasted German dark lager, Dunkel, let lightly creamed cocoa onboard.
Dewy festbier, Aufstoin, plied lemony orange tartness to gluey spelt and doughy wheat.
Stylishly dryer than most hefeweizens, Yellow Funicular scurried lemony banana-clove sweetness and wispy navel orange, mango and plantain illusions thru cilantro herbage topping whittled white wheat base.
Dry kolsch, Nubbel, let grassy hop herbage seep into mild lemon zesting over tidy mineral graining.
Zestful hazy IPA, Hipstertone, placed lemony orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess next to dank pine resin atop delicate oated wheat creaming.
Bettering most premium malt liquor, smooth Gold Chains guided sugary lemon at honeyed corn malts without getting gunky (and hiding its hefty 7.4% ABV).
In the heart of Lawrenceville just down the street from one of Burgher’s Pitt-based franchised brewpubs, LONG STORY SHORT serves Cinderlands draughts crafted a few miles south at the microbrewers’ large warehouse facility in The Strip. Operating since 2016, Cinderlands ‘foederhouse’ originally occupied the Long Story Short space but was then renovated to be a ‘humble neighborhood bar’ and sandwich shop November 2020.
Inside a uniquely Classical sienna columned municipal post, Long Story Short features a spiffy white tile-floored barroom with exquisite white marble top bar, twelve white-walled tap handles, two TV’s and a sidled dining room plus an open kitchen counter serving four front patioed metal chairs. Mezzanine seating is available and pinball, darts and billiards are welcome games.
My wife and I tried all seven respectable draughts during our October ’25 stopover. The payload included the following Cinderlands suds.
Dryer ‘n hoppier than most stylish competitors, Archive: American Wheat, brought lemony orange tartness to its mineral-grained flaked wheat base.
Brewed with local Saaz hops, bohemian Czech lager, Saazy Saazbourne, swept dewy fungi and mild floral spicing thru musty pilsner malts.
Floor-malted Bohemian pilsner malts gave Czech Them Buns (a musky Czech lager) its buttery toasted breading and brioche bun warmth.
Following those two Eastern Euro lagers were three Germans.
Easygoing helles lager, Low Voltage, pinned corny pilsner malts to herbal tea-like Noble hops with a light lemon twist.
Also brewed with pilsner malts, Dusseldorf dark ale, Allegheny Altbier, let caramelized wheat soak its toasted biscuit base.
Smoke-dried beechwood gave smoked schwarzbier, Feurig, its cured meat seduction backed by subtle cocoa-coffee riffs and blackened barley malts.
Snuck in a hazy pale ale before departing. Sunshiny lemon zest and orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess settled across resinous pine bittering for Squish, the moderate version of Full Squish IPA.