USA, PA: Local Remedy Brewing coming to Oakmont already in January

Local Remedy Brewing plans to open on Jan. 3. Maybe then, co-owner Dr. Matthew Synan can stop and catch his breath, Pittsburgh Magazine reported on November 27.

The critical care pulmonologist and his business partners have spent nearly a year transforming Oakmont Bakery’s former headquarters into the borough’s first production brewery. You don’t have to be a MD to tell that a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this passion project.

The Allegheny Avenue taproom is bright and beautiful, with a garage door facade that lets Mother Nature in. She’s already a big fan of the business since their tables, window seat benches and bar top are made from Oakmont trees that had to be removed last summer. (This town loves its trees, so calling in a chainsaw isn’t a decision officials take lightly. Recently, in recognition of Oakmont’s environmental stewardship, The Arbor Day Foundation gave it the title of Tree City USA.)

With help from Oakmont’s Shade Tree Commission, Beaver Jack Tree Service and furniture makers The Wooden Whale Workshop, Local Remedy now has unique, utilitarian works of art, which are each tagged with the tree’s species and its previous location.

The 10-barrel brewhouse will churn out a wide variety of traditional styles, from quaffable “dad beers” and lagers to stouts.

Synan can’t say with medical certainty that alcoholic beverages are the cure for what ails you, but brewing the stuff helps him decompress after long hospital shifts. He started unwinding with barley, malt and hops a decade ago. The activity helped him through the pandemic, when ERs were full and first responders were stretched thin.

However, when their Chewsick basement started to look more like a brewpub, Synan, his wife Maria and their two kids knew it was time for the doc to go pro.

The family joined forces with fellow “beer geeks” Joe Vickless, Dan Silianoff, Brian “BJ” Swartzlander, Sean Rogan, Maria’s sister Andrea Boswell and Sean Williamson, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, to create Local Remedy.

The company’s motto is “Drink good beer. Be good people.” In its infancy, Local Remedy racked up awards at statewide homebrewing competitions. Now that it’s on the brink of becoming a full-scale, money-making operation, it pledges to donate 1% of gross annual sales to area non-profit organizations.

They’re already giving spent grain to Capricious LLC, a Pittsburgh-based, targeted goat grazing service. When they’re not eating invasive plants, ungulates go bonkers for the brewing byproduct.

I love any business that supports goats, especially one that plans to host Baby Goat Yoga sessions at the taproom. I hope the kids don’t eat the tables!

Speaking of food, Local Remedy will offer snacks and partner with nearby restaurants Leone’s Pizza and Pittsburgh Taco Boys. Customers also will be permitted to bring their own grub. Eventually, there will be a taproom menu. One brewery investor, a fellow physician and former chef who curated food pairings for Napa Valley wineries, is chewing it over.

The Synans say other small business owners in Oakmont, as well as the Pittsburgh brewing community, have supported Local Remedy from the start, offering advice, support and bottomless pints. Expect to see a rotating lineup of visiting beers on the tap list.

Local Remedy wants to extend the same kindness to Oakmont. Several beer names are nods to the borough’s history and landmarks. Perhaps they’ll brew a liquid tribute to Video Hits, the now-defunct movie rental spot where I landed my first job in 1995. The storefront now houses The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy.

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