Almost Famous Pickle Beer back for a limited time
Pickle beer is back. Almost Famous Pickle Beer, a collaboration between the Primanti Bros. restaurant chain and East End Brewing Co., proved particularly popular when it popped last year in conjunction with the Picklesburgh festival. Because of COVID19, the festival was postponed until next summer while a smaller “Taste of Picklesburgh” promotion was held Downtown July 30 to Aug. 1.
But meanwhile, the beer is being released for a limited time starting Wednesday in 16-ounce green cans at certain Primanti restaurants (https://primantibros.com) and the Larimer brewery (https://eastendbrewing.square.site). It retails for $15 for a four-pack or $90 a case.
It’s “the right beer at the right time, especially with everyone in sort-of-a pickle these days with COVID-19,” quips Jim Prezioso,
Primanti’s senior marketing manager, who notes that the restaurant sold out of the brew in less than two days last year.
This year’s version is the same style — a gose ale brewed with 600 pounds of local cucumbers, coriander, dill and sea salt. But it has a new element — peppercorns — which brewery owner Scott Smith says “accentuates the savory notes on the beer’s finish.”
“The beer is technically a ‘Cucumber Peppercorn Gose Ale’ and comes in at 4.1% [alcohol by volume],” says his colleague Andrew Marcus.
Pittsburgh’s pickleness originated in the 1860s with the start here of H.J. Heinz Co., now Kraft Heinz and one of the sponsors of Picklesburgh. Last year, Picklesburgh was voted by USA Today readers to be the “Best Specialty Food Festival” in America.