The Independent Brewing Company

We are so happy that something else moved into the old Fanattics space. As we said in our review of Fanattics, just about anything would make more sense in that space. It's a bonus that something cool moved in.

The Independent's whole deal is that all of their beers are from within 100 miles of the bar. They're serious about beer and they're serious about local. They're also trying to focus as much as possible on local liquors for their cocktails. And why not? We've got great regional beers and our liquor production is getting better by the year.

They're premixing some cocktails and letting them stand in wooden barrels until the flavors are deemed perfect. It looked like a tough job, tasting the cocktails and adjusting accordingly, but someone's got to do it. We were fortunate enough to meet the guy who takes on this very difficult job and talk with him for a while about cocktails. After some prodding, he agreed to make A his currently favorite cocktail. He made a Manhattan using Wigle Rye Whiskey and it was delicious. We’re not sure we have ever seen anyone put that much time and effort into a drink, and it was greatly appreciated.

There's a small food menu and some specials. A had the Mac and Cheese and it was nice and smoky and filling; good comfort food for a really cold night. They also intrigued us with their Wednesday International Fries night. It doesn't take much to convince us to eat fresh-cut fries with a variety of toppings, we're in.

Everyone working was friendly and engaged. They all seemed really into what they're doing there and we can't blame them. Good beer, whiskeys, vinyl on the turntable. There's a part of us that doesn't want to tell anyone about this bar and keep it for ourselves, but fuck it, go check this place out. It is pretty darn cool.

Address:	1704 Shady Ave, 15217 http://independentpgh.com/	Games:	None
Façade:	Not Scary	Scene:	Hip Local Beer People
Parking:	Wear Walking Shoes	Patio/Outdoor:	No
Kitchen:	Bar Food	Cleanliness:	Normal
Smoking:	None	Jukebox:	None
Hours:	W-F 5pm-11pm Sat 12pm-12am Sun 11am-6pm	Cig Machine:	No
Drink Prices:	Average	# taps:	12
Bathrooms:	Sit	Specials:	Daily Food and Drink
Live music:	Never	Riley Factor:	N/A
ATM:	No	Cash Only	No
TVs:	0	Size:	Hole in the Wall

It was obviously terrible.