I found this story on Go Magazine about how Philly Beer Week and how Pittsburgh is a better city for beer than Philadelphia. While I like the sentiment I have to strongly disagree that Pittsburgh is a better beer city than our arch rivals across the state.
First off, I'm a fiercely proud Pittsburgher. I love this city and will defend it on every front. Secondly I think that Pittsburgh has a wonderful beer scene. The Breweries and Brewpubs are generally of very good quality. There are many great places to go and have a beer. And the beer selection that our wholesalers make available to us is enormous. But I can't in my right mind say that say that we top Philly in overall beer scene.
Most of the article is a feel good story about how good we got it here, and I don't disagree at all. Everything he mentions I'm in favor of. Well everything except that I'll have to rate The Publick House in Boston higher than the Sharpedge Restaurants. I've said many times that If I were to open a beer bar, I'd model myself after the Publick House, and I wouldn't change a thing! I have not visited Monk's so I can't speak towards that.
The crutch of the authors argument is:
"We’re not as big as Philadelphia. And no, we don’t have as many breweries or bars. But what we lack in size is more than made up for in quality. The proof? Check the medals at Penn or the Church."
So it sounds that in the author's mind it boils down to who has won more medals, ok lets look at the medals. From the info that I can find Penn and the Church are the only Pittsburgh area breweries to win Great American Beer Festival (GABF) medals* and combined they have won 12 in their history. On the other hand Philadelphia breweries won 12 medals at the 2007 GABF alone! Which makes PA the highest winning state in the east**.
Also from a very unscientific quick count, the Philadelphia metro area has 2 times the population (5,116,830) of the Pittsburgh Metro Area (2,270,880), but they have 3 times as many breweries in the same distance from downtown. If you cut the state in half, the brewery count will likely be 5 or 6 to one.
Pittsburgh is a great beer city. Other than some stupid state and county laws it's hard to complain. And I'll gladly help out all I can in creating a Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, But arguing that our city is better than Philly? That needs to stay in the realm of football, baseball, and hockey for the time being. Hey Flyers, how is that 7 - 1 ass kicking feeling this morning?
Footnotes:
* Andrew Maxwell might have won some medals but It's hard to track down what medals are awarded to which John Harvard's Brewpubs in the chain.
** Scroll to the October 14th Story.
Philly Wins with Beer
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