Sep 21, 2013 5 min read

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When Oktoberfest celebrations break out this autumn, it’s a good bet craft beers will fuel many of the festivities.

Craft beer is taking over taps across the country, and more beer lovers are experimenting with their own homemade brews.

Washington County’s love affair with craft beers – made by small, independent breweries – is apparent at local pubs and restaurants, where the likes of 21st Amendment, Southern Tier and Rogue Ales are showing up alongside imports and big-name beers. Washington & Jefferson College offers a beer brewing class, and organizations like the Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Home Brewers (TRASH) have sprouted to promote the production of hand-crafted beer.

At The Sharp Edge Brasserie, beer lovers will find a lot more than 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

The Peters Township pub and restaurant offers 55 beers on tap and a selection of 350 bottles of Belgian and craft beers.

Owner Jeff Winewski was one of the forerunners of the craft beer explosion in Southwestern Pennsylvania, opening his first Belgian-style pub in 1990.

“During the 1980s I was living in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Boulder Beer was the first craft brewery in Boulder. I was working as the beverage director for a Sheraton out there in the late ’80s, and I turned a wine bar into a beer bar, and revenues spiked 43 percent,” recalled Winewski. “I came back here and decided to do something along those lines.”

According to the Brewers Association, craft beer sales have grown 15 percent in the past year alone, earning $10.2 billion.

In 2012, Pennsylvania ranked No. 6 in the nation with 102 craft breweries (among them is Full Pint Brewing Co. in Pittsburgh, whose craft beers, including a popular Chinookie India Pale Ale, are available at Sharp Edge) and No. 2 in terms of production, at 1,626,116 barrels.

Brian Hughes, co-founder of the start-up New Prosperity Brewing Co. in Washington, which is awaiting licensing, believes the popularity of craft beer is driven in part by the movement to promote local companies and products.

“I think there’s a backlash against all things macromarketed and macroengineered. People are seeking out microversions of products, from groceries to clothing,” said Hughes. “There’s definitely a grassroots effort to bring simplicity back to the things we buy.”

Winewski and Jeff Kristophel, a founding partner of the 3-year-old Full Pint brewery, say consumers are avoiding traditional large beer producers, turning instead to craft breweries and their more full-flavored beers.

“People are looking more for quality than they are for quantity. It’s just like when people go out to eat now, they’re looking for fresh ingredients, something a little bit different,” said Winewski. “All of the mass-produced beer products out there all taste very similar, so the craft beers give you alternatives to that.”

The most popular craft beers these days are IPAs, Belgians and seasonal beers. In particular, IPAs – hoppy and bitter – have grown 40 percent in the past three years, according to Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza.

Winewski said IPAs “are without a doubt the biggest seller” at Sharp Edge, and fruit beers have a growing fan base.

The Sharp Edge’s house beer, Over the Edge, is a triple IPA made in Belgium. Winewski said at least a half-dozen Belgian beer companies are trying to mimic the American-styled IPA.

“That’s pretty high praise because, if you know anything about beers, Belgians are the Rolls Royce of beers,” said Winewski.

According to Mike Coury, owner of Salatino’s River House Café in Charleroi, craft beers have become popular among a younger generation of beer drinkers. The restaurant offers more than 150 varieties of beer, and more than half of them are craft brews on tap or in bottles.

“Craft beers are a big market for younger people who have more discriminating tastes. Younger people drink top shelf,” said Coury, noting seasonal beers like pumpkin ale have become wildly popular at Salatino’s. “They’re adventurous and more willing to try different beers.”

Home brewer Mike Beattie, president of TRASH, said membership in the organization has reached about 150, and between 30 and 40 members regularly attend the monthly social.

A self-decribed “foodie,” Beattie said he began making his own craft beer because “I think when you actually care about what you’re eating, it makes sense that you care about what you’re drinking. It comes from caring about what you’re consuming.”

He thinks it’s an exciting time for craft brew enthusiasts in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“People realize there’s a lot of interest in craft beer here. There’s a great community of beer pubs and breweries, but there’s also a great community of beer enthusiasts,” said Beattie, noting Penn Brewery and Full Pint, and nanobreweries like Roundabout Brewing. “The bottom line is there’s a market for it out here, and people are willing to seek it out.”

New Prosperity founders Hughes and Mike Holives, who started out as home brewers before they decided to enter the craft beer industry, are banking on that, and believe Washington County can support a craft brewery.

“We’ve been brewing for a couple of years together and a lot of years on our own. Mike spent a lot of time in Europe, and I came back here from Seattle, and we had an appreciation for what it takes to make a good craft beer,” said Hughes. “This area is so primed for this. This is something where we could put our professional lives and our travels to good use and make us feel like we’re doing something worthwhile. We’re finding meaning and satisfaction in this.”