Penn Brewery

800 Vinial Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
412-237-9400-p
412-237-9406-f

www.pennbrew.com

Contact: Mary Beth Pastorius, Director

You could say that beer is in Tom Pastorius' blood. As a direct descendent of Franz Daniel Pastorius, fate must have played a part in his founding the Pennsylvania Brewing Company in 1986.

History buffs know that F.D. Pastorius was "The Father of German Americans." He founded Germantown, the first German settlement in America, on October 6, 1683. Pastorius dined frequently with William Penn, who had a home brewery, and it is known that they enjoyed drinking beer together.

Perhaps it was fate that the old Eberhardt & Ober Brewing Co., a collection of 19th century brewery buildings in Pittsburgh, needed restoration. After sitting vacant for more than 10 years, the once beautiful buildings in the historic Deutschtown neighborhood of the Northside were in desperate need of some tender loving care.

And who better to give that authentic care than a man who, like his ancestor, loved beer? Tom Pastorius had recently returned to Pittsburgh after 12 years in Germany when he began restoring the buildings in 1986. He hired a Weinhenstephan-trained brewmaster from the Technical University of Munich and-after more than two years of hard work-opened Allegheny Brewey & Pub (later renamed Penn Brewery) in 1989. The restored buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.

Penn Pilsner, Pennsylvania Brewing Company's flagship brand, was the first microbrewed beer in Pennsylvania, introduced at City Tavern, Philadelphia in June 1986. Pennsylvania Brewing Company remains a pioneer of the microbrweing industry in the eastern United States and is one of the few microbreweries in the nation capable of producing first-class lager beers.

The opening of Penn Brewery's restaurant in September 1989 also made history when it became the first "tied house" ( a restaurant tied to a brewery) in Pennsylvania since Prohibition, permitted by a change in legislation.

Pastorius' wife, Mary Beth, manages the Bavarian-style restaurant, which resembles eateries in Germany. Large tables with bench-style seating encourage various dining parties to share in conversation. An outdoor Biergarten with additional seating opens at the onset of spring.