Ladies and gents, it’s time to drink beer again at 512 Braddock Ave.
For the first time since March 2020, Brew Gentlemen is welcoming customers back for on-site imbibing. Unveiling its newly renovated taproom this weekend, the brewery is hosting an open house on Friday, Dec. 17 from 3 to 7 p.m., Saturday. Dec. 18 from noon to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 19 noon to 5 p.m.
The revamped facility features a retail space for packaged beer and Brew Gentlemen merchandise. The bar area has been redesigned as a tasting room with new tables and seating. Patrons will be able to take self-guided tours of the original 3.5-barrel brewhouse. Guided walk-through tours are expected to launch in 2022.
Co-owners Matt Katase and Asa Foster, Carnegie Mellon University graduates who opened Brew Gentlemen in May 2014, have been churning out beer in the new 20-barrel brewhouse since the pandemic started. Along with brewing equipment, the 28,000-square-foot warehouse on Woodlawn Ave. also houses BG’s canning line. Curbside sales have kept the business afloat during the pandemic.
“For the last 20 months we have been operating daily: making beer and sending it around the city,” Katase says. “Our beer is more widely available than ever before since we started canning it in May 2020.”
Beverages on tap and to-go for this weekend’s open house include fan favorites such as Mammoth Double IPA, White Sky Chai Wheat and General Braddock’s IPA, Brew Gentlemen’s flagship offering that was named one of the best beers of the decade by Paste magazine.
In addition to beer, patrons can sip beverages from Goodlander Cocktail Brewery and enjoy snacks from Fet-Fisk, Salty Pork Bits and Mediterra Bakehouse. Because of the on-site food sales, dogs are no longer allowed in the taproom.
Katase says they’re excited to debut new beers that run the gamut of styles, from a doppelbock to a schwarzbier. While loyal customers kept online sales strong, Brew Gentlemen connected with a new audience over the summer at the Allegheny Overlook pop-up park Downtown. From June through September, the brewery operated a temporary beer garden on Fort Duquesne Boulevard.
Katase is excited to see familiar faces back in Braddock.
“People are going to be able to experience new and old aspects of Brew Gentlemen,” he says. “We’re bringing the best of the past — our reputation for high-quality beer — with a new coat on top. We hope everyone enjoys the changes as much as we did making them.”
