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| - I do like this place - the beer selection is good and they emphasize local beer, and I am always a fan of Pittsburgh pride and supporting Pittsburgh business. So I feel a little bad to write a review filled with nit-picky complaints, but somehow they've just rubbed me a little bit the wrong way. The name is a bit misleading - they don't brew their own beer, but instead serve local independently brewed beer. I feel like a brewing company should be a company that does brewing, but maybe that's just me. If you go to their website, it is actually named after a historical group of brewers that collectively called themselves by the same name in the early 1900s. But still, you can't expect everyone to visit your website to learn about your name before being disappointed to find out you don't actually brew beer.
I was also going to complain about the vagueness of their menu, but now I'm looking at their menu and it's different from the one I ordered from not too long ago. This new menu is actually descriptive, without calling things just "Sandwich" and then offering not much further describing factors. The sandwich that I did order was actually pretty good, though.
On another plus side, they also have dessert (although I'd never had cheese for dessert before and I'm not sure it's actually my kind of dessert, even if it comes with chocolate). Which as far as I'm concerned should be a legal requirement for all drinking establishments. Because dessert is great and drunk people love ice cream.
Really where they lost the most points for me, though, was pretentiousness. I wanted a soda because I had to drive, and the waitress snapped at me that they don't serve that "mainstream" stuff. As if it's a sin to drink a diet coke. When I pressed further for non-alcoholic beverages, the answer was basically "no." I've never been treated like that before for not drinking a beer (especially after I'd already had one). They pitch themselves as a "tavern for independent spirits", when really they seem to only qualify you as an independent spirit if you conform with their feelings about "mainstream" beverage.
Rant aside, the food is good and the beer is good and if you're in the market for trying out some local beer and food, you should really go here. Just whatever you do, don't try to order a diet coke. You will be shunned.
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