Von Trapp is a family name recognizable to generations from Greatest to Alpha – but more for Edelweiss and favorite things and climbing the Alps to escape Nazis. Not so much for beer.
But love for Austrian kolsch and pilsner runs almost as deep as singing talent in the family. Sam von Trapp, son of Johannes, the youngest and last survivor of the original Trapp Family Singers, was here recently to introduce the beers of Von Trapp Brewing to Pittsburgh.
Though Johannes was born in America (his mother Maria was pregnant with him when they immigrated in 1938), Sam says his dad always enjoyed the beers he’d have when he visited Austria: “He wanted that crisp, clean lager.”
So the family decided to make its own and in 2010 they opened a brewery on the grounds of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. The mountain stream water, combined with German malts and hops, makes for highly rated beers including a Bohemian-style pilsner and several lagers, including a dark Dunkel and golden Helles.
The brewery was expanded in 2015 and its beers are now available throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon and other locations – as well as most of Pennsylvania.
On his Pittsburgh mini-tour, Sam and his crew brought their beers to Bierport, Walter’s and the Abbey on Butler in Lawrenceville, as well as D’s SixPax and Dogz in Regent Square. Vecenie Distributing will be getting the Von Trapp beers around town in the next couple of weeks.
It was Sam’s first trip to Pittsburgh.
“There are so many vibrant things around here. I see a lot of pride,” he said.
The Vermonters enjoyed a visit to Old Thunder Brewing in Blawnox, which specializes in beers similar to Von Trapp’s. Sam may have been most excited, though, by a landmark that’s starting to rival Mount Washington in popularity.
“We drove by Duolingo today. I didn’t know they were from here!” he exclaimed. “I have an 800-day streak going in the app.”
He’s learning German, interestingly enough: “My dad never spoke it at home because he didn’t want my mom to feel left out.”
Jackworth Ginger Beer
Like Sam von Trapp, Jackworth Smith grew up in the hospitality business. He started washing dishes at age 6 at Dunning’s Grill, the Regent Square landmark owned by his father, George Smith.
After college, Smith traveled and worked as a bartender in cities including Detroit, Seattle and Miami.
Named after a grandfather, Howard Jackworth, he goes by Jack, but he came home and unfurled the family name to christen his dream project, Jackworth Ginger Beer, Pennsylvania’s first ginger beer brewhouse and taproom.
Smith has been experimenting with brewing ginger beer since he came across some old recipes and tried making it himself.
“The first batch was awful,” he says. “There’s really no blueprint for ginger beer. It’s cane sugar instead of barley, ginger instead of hops.
But eventually, with the help of friends, he nailed it: fresh Peruvian ginger, chopped up and steeped in filtered water with cane and panela sugars, then fermented (or not, for the N/A version) with some fresh lime juice and carbonated.
Smith and partner Tyler Lewis expect Jackworth to be open by the end of March. In addition to the naturally low-ABV ginger beer (and variations including one with habanero pepper), local brews by Old Thunder, Dancing Gnome and others will be on tap. Ginger beer and more traditional cocktails and mocktails are on the menu too.
There’ll be outdoor seating and occasional live entertainment, along with food trucks, outside their Hamilton Avenue brewpub in Larimer.
“I’m excited” about the opening, Jack says. “This has been a 10-year project.”
Voodoo Brewing grows again
Voodoo Brewing Co., the Meadville brewery with a pub on the North Shore, recently announced an opportunity through Honeycomb Credit, a Pittsburgh-based organization that facilitates crowdfunding investments nationwide. Voodoo hopes to raise working capital to continue to expand nationally, as well as improve efficiency in its new 10,000-foot facility. As of March 4, six days after launch, it has raised over $285,000, according to Madeline Farina at Honeycomb.
Tom Guzick, Voodoo’s director of marketing, says the funds will allow the brewery to improve distribution to the Pittsburgh location with a wider selection of styles and N/A options. In addition, it would like to add a covered patio that could be used in colder months as well as summer.
Voodoo will continue working with Audacy, which owns several local radio stations, to broadcast live at concerts and related events, like the Guns N’ Roses and Morgan Wallen preconcert parties last summer. More parking options, though desired by many North Shore visitors, aren’t feasible, but “it would be nice to have more free parking days,” Guzick says.
St. Patrick’s Day specials
Local breweries and distilleries will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with brunch and whiskey and trolley rides, and a complete absence of green beer, though there’ll be lots of craft-brewed stouts and red ales.
Love, Katie Distilling in Sharpsburg has a March cocktail menu that includes a Leprechaun Jig (gin, vermouth, dill and basil) and an Irish Margarita (rye whiskey, triple sec and lime juice).
Dancing Gnome, also in Sharpsburg, starts the holiday weekend with live music by the Merry Blacksmiths from Donegal (Ireland, not the Turnpike interchange) on Friday afternoon, March 15. It will be tapping Through the Glade 2024, a barrel-aged stout. The Garavogue Irish dry stout will be on nitro, and Irish Red Ale is on tap.
Saturday, March 16, is Parade Day, with Hop Farm in Lawrenceville tapping a cask of its Wolfhound Irish Red. Old Thunder Brewing in Blawnox will have it on cask as well. Not to confuse things, but Leaning Cask Brewing in Springdale is also tapping a keg of its own Irish Wolfhound.
March 16:
Molly’s Trolley will take revelers on a loop through Verona, with stops at Inner Groove (Irish red on tap), Cellar Works and Acclamation’s new riverside location. Tickets are available for two sessions (noon-4 p.m. and 5-9 p.m.).
Further south, the Burgh Bus is running the Leprechaun Loop from 2 to 7 p.m. between Inner Groove Allentown, Back Alley in Dormont and East End’s Mt. Lebanon taproom.
The Jig-Offs are providing the traditional music, and a “traditional” beer release is planned at Abjuration Brewing in McKees Rocks from 5 to 7 p.m. that evening.
Beers of the Burgh is hosting a St. Patty’s Day Beer Market from 4 p.m. at Velum Fermentation on the South Side. There will be beverages from Velum, Full Pint Beer, Inner Groove Brewing, Old Thunder Brewing, Goodlander Cocktail Brewery and Greenhouse Co-op as well as food trucks and live music. Tickets.
March 17:
Eleventh Hour in Lawrenceville is planning a hangover brunch at noon and urges guests to wear their best St. Patrick’s Walk of Shame get-ups.
Leaning Cask Brewing in Springdale is offering brunch too.
The Pittsburgh Beer Choir brings its singalongs to Acclamation in Verona at noon.
Coming next month
We’ll talk to Mike Scarlatelli, who owns the Smiling Moose and finds time to brew their beer too; and check in on Tortured Souls, CoStar and Headley’s openings, as well as Grist House expansions both north (Freedom Farms) and west (Nike missile site).