East End Brewing has opened a Growler Shop at the Pittsburgh Public Market in the strip district.  The market sounds cool (you can read about it here) and I love East End Brewing, so I’m definitely going to check this place out.

This past Friday night, my girlfriend and I got a pizza from Bites and Brews on Elsworth Avenue.  We had been meaning to try the pizza for quite awhile and we finally got around to it.  I can’t put my finger on why it was so good, but it was.  Since Jess picked it up, I didn’t get a chance to check out the beer selection, but I hear that it is quite good.  I’ll have to make it in there to check it out.

On Saturday, we rented the movie ‘The Damned United’ from a Red Box while we were out and about.  Bill Simmons recommended the movie in a column (see it here).  It was about a football (soccer) coach in England in the 70’s.  It was a really entertaining movie.

On Monday, we watched the movie ‘Whatever Works’ which I got from the library.  It is the latest movie written and directed by Woody Allen and it stars Larry David.  It was funny, with a terrific blend of Woody Allen and Larry David humor.

Jess’s friend John came to town that night for an interview the following day, so all three of us went to dinner at Church Brew Works.  It is a great restaurant on Liberty Avenue where they brew all their own beer.  The beer and food are really good (I recommend the Pious Monk Dunkel and the Spinach & Smoked Gouda dip).

All four get the Alan & Jess seal of approval.

I bought a couple of holiday samplers prior to Christmas (Samuel Adams and Saranac), my roommate and I both bought cases of beer recently (Bell’s Winter White and Troegs Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale, respectively), and I got a couple of six packs for my birthday with a variety of beers.  The end results are a well stocked fridge and a couple of cases full of these beers:

Bell’s Java Stout
Bell’s Winter White Ale
Bud Light Golden Wheat
Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Ale
Great Lakes Brewing Co. Edmund Fitzgerald
Green Flash Brewing Co. Nut Brown Ale
Ithaca Beer Co. Apricot Wheat
Leinenkugel’s Creamy Dark
Magic Hat Unfiltered Spring ‘10
Magic Hat Vinyl Lager
Pyramid Audacious Apricot Ale
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat
Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
Samuel Adams Holiday Porter
Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale
Samuel Adams Winter Lager
Saranac Adirondack Lager
Saranac Black & Tan
Saranac Black Forest
Saranac Brown Ale
Saranac India Pale Ale
Saranac Pale Ale
Shiner Bock
Smuttynose Winter Ale
Southampton Double White
Stone Levitation Ale
Troegs Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale
Yards Brewing Company Brawler
Yuengling Black & Tan

Look out Sober Alan, we are under attack!

My girlfriend and I stopped by North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock on our way back to Pittsburgh yesterday.  They have a great selection of beers brewed on the premises and the food is very good.  If you’re ever in Slippery Rock or driving by on Interstate 79, I’d recommend stopping by.  http://www.northcountrybrewing.com

I went back to East End Brewing Company with some friends yesterday to try their newest beers.  They had a Dark Mild and a Russian bread beer called Loaf on tap.  They were both very good.  They also had one keg of Sour Dough Loaf beer that has been aging for two years.  It was so good!  It has a citrus flavor and it is sort of tart.  It’s totally different from any beer that I’ve ever had.  Needless to say, I’ve become a huge fan of East End.

I went with my roommate and my girlfriend to East End Brewing Company today to pick up a growler of beer before the Penguins game.  Along with the year round beers (Big Hop IPA, Fat Gary Nut Brown Ale, Black Strap Stout, and Monkey Boy Hefeweizen), East End currently has Monkey Girl Dunkelweizen, Pedal Pale Ale (Summer seasonal), East End Witte (Spring seasonal), and Wee Heavy on tap.  I hadn’t tried the Monkey Girl or the Pedal Pale Ale yet, so I was glad to try both.  During growler hours, you can try free samples of any of the beers that they have on tap and get growlers to go.  I like supporting local businesses and I like good beer, so I really like East End Brewing Company.  Stop by if you get the chance: http://www.eastendbrewing.com/

My roommate and I always have plenty of different beers in our fridge.  Here is a list of what’s in there right now:

Bell’s Winter White Ale
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Duchesse De Bourgogne
Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout
Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale
Harpoon’s Raspberry Hefeweizen
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy
Michelob Dunkel Weisse
Red Hook Sunrye Summer Ale
Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier
Samuel Adams Hefeweizen
Samuel Adams Summer Ale
Saranac Caramel Porter
Saranac Pomegranate Wheat
Saranac Pumpkin Ale
Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat Ale
Troegs Dreamweaver Wheat Ale
Zuzack’s Midnight Moon (a homebrewed beer from a friend of ours)

I swear, we actually do have some food in there, too.

My girlfriend’s parents live in Harrisburg, so while we were visiting them this weekend, we visited the Troegs Brewery.  I think brewery tours are interesting (the tour of Sam Adams in Boston is really cool).  We were able to sample all the beers and see the brewery itself.  We got a couple of growlers filled which I’m looking forward to drinking.  http://www.troegs.com

I went to the Hofbrauhaus last night for a friend’s birthday party.  It recently opened in Pittsburgh.  There are still only a few of them in the U.S.  The building and interior layout is apparently modeled after the original Hofbrauhaus in Munich.

The beer and food was good.  The atmosphere is certainly the most unique part of it.  The waitresses and servers wear a German outfit (like what you see on the St. Pauli Girl beer bottle).  There is an outdoor area and inside there are 2 main rooms.  One is a dining room with lots of tables and the other is a bar room that also has plenty of tables.  With just 2 big rooms, it gets loud and sort of festive.  The Penguins and Capitals were playing and with the Penguins winning, everyone was in a good mood.  It’s certainly worth checking out if you’re in Pittsburgh.  You can read more about it here: http://www.hofbrauhauspittsburgh.com/