March 21st, 2006 by Andy
Recently, I found myself having a spiritual experience sitting in a downtown Pittsburgh church. This wasn’t any normal church, however. It was once a church, but now a brewery.
Pittsburgh’s Church Brewery is a holy pilgrimage everyone should experience when visiting this fine city. Not only is the brewery’s ambiance devotedly unique, but they’ve managed to produce a few laudable beers as well.
The Blast Furnace Stout was a divine showing that evening with its malty essence and true oatmeal stout taste that had wonderfully subtle hints of oats and the prized roasted-ness of espresso. The dark Pious Monk Dunkel was also a reverent tasting with its smooth hoppy taste that had an impressively smooth finish.
But, by far, the most blessed showing of the evening was their Non Denominator doppel bock. Weighing in with a priestly alcohol content of 8.1% and 25 IBUs, this is an exceptional beer. Looking something like a stout in color, this beer poured with an impressive head and had a subtle malt taste to it that elegantly combined a warming spiciness. I also picked up hints of nuts in the taste, much like that of brown ales. The beer had an inviting finish that I could feel down to my stomach and which left me looking forward to the next sip.
There is no need to be religious to enjoy the saintly beers and hallowed ambiance of Pittsburgh’s Church Brewery; however, you may find yourself with religion once you leave and contemplate the visit’s tastings.
