New brewery opens in Castle Shannon
Eric Seiverling/For The Almanac The newly-opened Mindful Brewing Company in Castle Shannon has 70 beers on tap.
Eric Seiverling/For The Almanac Residents can enjoy Mindful Brewing Company's full service restaurant.
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter Mindful Brewing Company in Castle Shannon
Benjamin Franklin may have said beer is proof that God loves us, but even our founding fathers could never have envisioned the popularity of today’s microbreweries, beer festivals, and brewpubs.
Mindful Brewing Company, located at 3759 Library Road in Castle Shannon, is the latest South Hills entrant into the beer business. And since officially opening its doors Jan. 17, business at Mindful Brewing Company is hopping.
“People are tired of the chain atmosphere, and they’re trying new things,” general manager and Mt. Lebanon resident Matt Boast said.
Located in the former McGinnis Brothers grocery store, Boast said the brewery’s location helped create a buzz even before its official opening.
“People were looking in to the new building while we were renovating it and comparing it to the old building,” he said. “There’s a night and day difference.”
Boast is quick to tell his story about how he entered the world of brewing.
“In another life, I was a computer engineer sitting in a cube with no human interaction,” he said. “I’ve always like beer so I got a job as a server at another local brewery and worked my way up from there. I don’t regret anything I’ve done. This is my dream job.”
The brainchild of owners Dustin Jones and Jeff Sorbara, Mindful Brewing Company houses more than 1,000 beer bottles, 70 beer taps, seven wine taps, six fermentation vessels as well as a full-service restaurant serving sandwiches, burgers, pizza and salads.
“If someone has a vice, they can find it here,” Boast said with a laugh.
The brewery is especially proud of its ties to local food growers and locavores, a term given to people who only eat locally grown or produced food.
“Local food is fresher and higher quality,” Boast said.
And residents are taking notice. Mt. Lebanon resident Jodi O’Brien approved of the brewery’s food menu.
“They serve local food and I like that,” she said during her lunch recently. O’Brien was also quick to praise the brewery’s beer selection.
“They don’t have light beers, which is good because light beers are annoying,” she said with a chuckle. “Light beers are like a massage that just doesn’t quite do it for me.”
According to the Brewers Association, as of June 30, a record-high of 4,656 craft breweries were operating in the United States. That number represents an increase of 917 breweries over the same time period of the previous year. Craft brewers provided nearly 122,000 jobs, an increase of over 6,000 jobs from the previous year, according to the statistics.
Other breweries opening in the South Hills recently include Spoonwood Brewing Company in Bethel Park and Hitchhiker Brewing Company in Mt. Lebanon.
Boast said he doesn’t view the other breweries as competition, and he thinks giving beer lovers more options will be beneficial to the area.
“I don’t want to see us take business away from other places,” he said. “All the breweries will make the South Hills a destination area.”
For more info, visit www.mindfulbrewing.com.