Craft Beer Radio

Like you Jeff I will defend Pittsburgh to the end. I am from Pittsburgh (Sewickley) but have lived in Philadelphia for the past 12 years and often find myself in the middle of a Philly versus Pittsburgh debate. There have been more times than I can remember that I have had to deal with Pittsburgh bashing. Most of this happens when I am at a bar wearing a Steelers or a Pens jersey. A 7 to 1 ass kicking doesn't make a Philadelphian happy. LET'S GO PENS!!! I have to strongly disagree with the Go Magazine article. Philadelphia's beer scene is better. I spend enough time in each city to make a fair comparison and while I love my beer spots in Pittsburgh (Sharp Edge, Fat Heads, Smokin' Joe's, East End Brewing and The Church Brew Works) overall Philadelphia offers more diversity. It's not just that Philly is bigger so there have to be more bars and breweries it’s the range of beers available. What you find in Philly is that even the crappy little dive bars will have something decent in bottles or on tap. I know that Sharp Edge is great but people with beer knowledge know that Philadelphia is Brussels USA. Monk's is just one great Belgian bar out 6. Philly was the first US city to serve Cantillon and Rodenbach. You have already stressed the award winning breweries. Try finding a brewery in Pittsburgh that makes Berliner Weisse. Nodding Head Brewery in Philly has a good one, Ich Bin Ein. To add to it Philly gets a lot of beer that Pittsburgh doesn’t because of the distributers out here. When was the last time you were able to fill two growlers with Pliny the Elder and Younger? It doesn't happen here often but it does happen. Take a look at a map and geographically you will see that a short drive takes you to New Jersey or Delaware where you have other great beer offerings. There is a reason why beer writer Michael Jackson made so many trips here and conducted his annual tutored beer tasting at the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years. This event is still amazing even after his death. As for beer writers don’t forget that Lew Bryson and Don Russell both call Philadelphia home. Philadelphia Beer Week was fantastic and it would be great to see a city wide event take over Pittsburgh the same way. At this time with the beer scene in Pittsburgh I don’t think it would work. However if it did I would be on a plane in a heartbeat heading back to my hometown. Pittsburgh is a good beer city unfortunately it falls short in some areas. It just seems that more people here in Philadelphia appreciate good beer. Although you do have us beat for beer podcasts. To bring this rant to a close we should all be lucky to live in a state where great beer is easy to come by. There are a ton of people out there across the US who are very jealous of what we get here in PA.

Brian P (SourHead67)
www.beerwise.blogspot.com