Lots of the region’s breweries now have comfy tap rooms, but only Couch Brewery in Larimer has a Living Room.
Pittsburgh’s newest brewery, which officially opens at 4 p.m. Thursday and holds its grand opening from noon to midnight Saturday, invites its customers to “drink comfortably,” sitting on vintage plush seating and sipping brews with names such as Loveseat, Recliner and Ottoman.
The brewery — in a warehouse-turned-motorcycle shop-turned-gym — is a do-it-themselves project of three friends who share ownership and brewing duties on the 3-barrel system: Cary Shaffer, Darren Gailey and Mike Pearrow. The bios on their website are silly. In real life, they have straightforward day jobs: Mr. Gailey, maintaining Pittsburgh International Airport’s baggage and X-ray machinery; Mr. Pearrow, as an insurance agent; and Mr. Shaffer, as a TV station videographer.
In fact, they got to know each other because they all worked at a Johnstown TV station. Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Pearrow, now of Springdale, started making homebrew. Mr. Gailey, now of Crafton, was in no hurry to try it, but when he did, “It blew my damn socks off.” He proposed starting a brewery to a fourth colleague and friend, videographer Barry Himes, who was in.
They sat down and decided to go for it in September 2014. However, Mr. Himes and his wife were killed in a car crash in March 2015. The other three were even more committed to keep going.
The original homebrewers came up with naming the brewery Couch, says Mr. Gailey, “because that’s the most comfortable place to drink a beer.” Originally, their business plan was to keg beer and sell it to other retailers. But changes to the state’s booze laws allow breweries to not only sell pints themselves, but also, more recently, Pennsylvania wines and spirits. So they decided to invite people to their place to drink and relax. The “couch” theme they ran with.
The comfy collection of Living Room furnishings includes an orange vinyl sectional, a recliner and a “curio” from which they will sell merchandise. Also there is their late loving friends’ the Himes’ loveseat, which is the name they gave to their India pale ale in honor of Himes, for which no IPA was hoppy enough.
The taps are set into stainless-steel from the looks-like-it-belongs-there, quilted stainless-steel bar and back bar that they found in Tarentum, circa 1940s, complete with its Art Deco-looking sconces that they retrofitted with color-changing LED lights. Lights under the mirrored tile edge of the bar and the extension along the back wall give that corner a blue glow. There’s music playing and a few TVs.
For the opening, they are serving a wide range of eight cushy-named brews: Five year-rounds in Loveseat IPA, Recliner Oatmeal Stout, Plush Pale Ale, Blonde Shag and Zitten (Dutch for “sit”) Wit Belgian white, plus seasonals Ottoman Empire Double IPA, HiFi Hefeweizen and Raspberry Duvet Stout. Two “Velvet series” brews will be poured on nitrogen. Many others are planned.
“We want everybody to have a place on the couch here,” says Mr. Gailey. “This is not just for IPA people or stout people.” Once they get a handle on production and demand, they’ll start selling growlers to go and later, kegs, too, he says. “The goal is to make Couch Brewery a big brewery one day.”
Food will be provided by rotating mobile food vendors in the parking lot, which has room for about 80 vehicles. That may be the most and easiest parking of any brewery in the city, says Mr. Gailey, but he mostly wants guests to have the most and easiest fun. “We’re all about people coming and having a good time.”
The brewery’s regular hours will be 4 p.m. to midnight on Thursdays and Fridays and noon to midnight on Saturdays, and those will grow, too. Eats will be provided Thursday and Friday by Food Baby and on Saturday by Alberta’s Pizza.
The brewery is at 1351 Washington Blvd. Read more at couchbrewery.com.
Craft Beer Week continues
This is the second weekend of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week. Scores of events, official and unofficial, are happening, including the big Craft Carnival Friday and Saturday at Industry Public House in North Fayette. Read about that and other picks in our story from last week, or go to the promotion’s calendars at pittsburghcraftbeerweek.com. At various venues you can look for the week’s collaboration beers.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: April 27, 2017, 6:24 p.m.
Updated: April 27, 2017, 6:25 p.m.
