USA: Sale of Rolling Rock won't dry up western Pennsylvania’s beer legacy

The original Pittsburgh business was all about the beer. At least that's the contention of Tom Pastorius, who knows a little bit about the topic - his Penn Brewery is the state's oldest craft brewery and celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this month, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted June 18.

Pastorius claims that a brewery begun around 1794 near Pittsburgh's famous Point was indeed the city's first business. "That makes sense," he said. "Back then, Pittsburgh was the jumping-off point to go to the wilderness. Well, what's the last thing you'd want before you left for the wilderness? And what's the first thing you'd want when you got back?"

Something to wet your whistle, perhaps.

There's been plenty of that to go around since Peter Shiras began brewing beer near the Point. In fact, some say the beer flowed even earlier there - and that the British Army established a brewery at what was then Fort Pitt in 1765.

Although some segments of the brewery industry have hit hard times lately - the venerable Rolling Rock label is changing hands and Pittsburgh Brewing Co. is in bankruptcy - the growth of local craft brews promises to keep local mugs full for the foreseeable future.

"Things are set to pop in Western Pennsylvania," Lew Bryson, a Philadelphia author who writes about Pennsylvania beer, said of the craft brewery forecast.

The craft brew boom is just the newest branch in a beer saga whose roots run centuries deep. Records show the Pittsburgh area has been home to well over 150 breweries since the mid-1800s, many of them tucked away in places such as Troy Hill and the South Side, where hillside locations were favored for cold storage.

The fortunes of area breweries ebbed and flowed during the 20th century, buffeted by Prohibition, labor tumult and the growth of major national players Anheuser-Busch and Miller. Now, two entities that have produced such good-time staples as Iron City and Rolling Rock are on the ropes.

Pittsburgh Brewing, which offers Iron City among its brands, is attempting to reorganize. The Lawrenceville company, which formed 144 years ago with the merger of 21 local breweries, got a boost late last month when a government agency agreed to assume responsibility for the brewery's underfunded pension plan.

A turnaround would not be unheard of. It happened on the other side of the state for Pottsville-based D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.

Billed as America's oldest brewery, Yuengling nearly went dry in the 1970s. By last year it had grown to become the nation's fifth-largest beer producer, according to Modern Brewery Age magazine - a rebirth that Bryson called "absolutely unprecedented."

David Casinelli, Yuengling's chief operating officer, said his company recognized that radical changes were needed "or we'd die on the vine." Ultimately, fortuitous timing, the growth of other products - including microbreweries and craft beers - and a little luck all helped fuel Yuengling's turnaround, Casinelli said.

He's not saying Pittsburgh Brewing could do the same, but he added, "Twenty years ago, we were probably in not that much different of a position than Pittsburgh is in today."

The problem, Casinelli said, is that industry giants are way ahead in tapping resources, which makes it difficult for regional breweries to compete.

"The big guys have very deep pockets," he said. "It's a very difficult challenge for small breweries like (Wilkes-Barre-based) Lion or Pittsburgh to compete. After a while, they suffocate you."

One of those giants recently swallowed Rolling Rock, the Latrobe-based green-bottled brew with the quirky label that Anheuser-Busch soon intends to produce elsewhere.

Several area residents said the sale is cause for major concern among beer aficionados and supporters of local business in general.

"If this continues, all we'll have is Bud to drink, McDonald's burgers to eat, Wal-Mart to shop at and Exxon gas to buy," said Bud Hundenski, of Coraopolis, a beer memorabilia collector.

Hundenski said people need to get behind local breweries, at the expense of the industry giants.

"You want to support a brewery, not a beer factory," said Hundenski, vice president of the local chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America - a chapter named in honor of a legendary Pittsburgh brew known as Olde Frothingslosh.

"People have been toiling in Latrobe since 1939. Part of our community fabric has been shredded. Now there's an uproar, but it's too late."

Despite the pending move of Rolling Rock and Pittsburgh Brewing's ongoing struggles, Pittsburgh - and Pennsylvania in general - remains a major player in the brewery business. According to the Brewers Association, a Boulder, Colo.-based trade association, 66 breweries continue to operate in Pennsylvania and it is home to four of the nation's 19 largest brewing companies.

Although regional breweries have had their difficulties here and elsewhere, craft beers produced by such companies as Penn Brewery and the Church Brew Works continue to grow. In fact, the craft beer segment grew by 9 percent last year after experiencing a 7 percent increase in 2004, the Brewers Association contends.

Pastorius, who got into the brewing business after he returned to his native Pittsburgh following a 12-year stay in Germany, said the specialty beer market is growing simply because the beer tastes better.

Sean Casey, owner and president of Church Brew Works, said consumers have grown more willing to experiment with their beers. As customers stretch their palates, Casey said, "they get more intrigued, they look for more variety, more unique styles."

The changing habits are paying off for Casey, who said his company's sales grew by more than 50 percent last year. He expects sales to grow even more this year.

Despite the rosy forecast, Pastorius said he doesn't expect to convert every Pittsburgh beer drinker to one of his company's seven brands. "I can't appeal to everyone," he said. "People who are drinking Bud Light are not going to drink my beer."

Dick Ober, a Hopewell resident whose family brewery once occupied the same building that now houses Pastorius' brewery, said he's a fan of some microbrews and believes they are good for the industry as a whole.

"A lot of them make some fantastic beers," he said. “Still, if given one final beer, Ober said he'd sooner pop open an IC Light or an Augustiner. "I refuse to drink the nationals," he said. "I'm a firm believer you have to support your local industry. If you don't support them, they won't be here."

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