The Church Brew Works is a

brewpub Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, United States, set in the confines of a restored

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

(formerly St. John the Baptist Church). The brewpub is located at 3525 Liberty Avenue in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The church building was originally built in 1902, and had been used as a church until 1993.Church Brew Works History, http://www.churchbrew.com/ Its doors opened as The Church Brew Works on August 1, 1996, after the building underwent extensive renovation, necessitated by years of lying dormant after being officially

deconsecrated Deconsecration, also referred to as decommissioning or ''secularization'' (a term also used for the external confiscation of church property), is the removal of a religious sanction and blessing from something that had been previously consec ...

by the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1993. In 2012, ''

Pittsburgh Magazine Pittsburgh Magazine is a lifestyle magazine covering the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. It hosts an annual "40 Under 40" featuring prominent young Pittsburghers. It's known for listicles including Pittsburgh's 25 Best Restaurants, Best of the 'Bur ...

'' named it one of the best breweries in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Beers

As of September 2007, three flagship brews are locally distributed: Celestial Gold ( light lager), Pipe Organ Pale Ale (English

pale ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

), and Pious Monk Dunkel (Munich-style

dark lager Lager (; ) is a style of beer brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "''lager''" comes from the German word for ...

). The in-house selection is rounded out by a rotating

Stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

, four seasonals or specialties, and one varying cask-conditioned ale. Also available are Millennium Trippel, a Belgian

Tripel Tripel is a term used by brewers mainly in the Low Countries, some other European countries, and the U.S. to describe a strong pale ale, loosely in the style of '' Westmalle Tripel''. The origin of the term is unknown, though the main theory i ...

(in champagne bottles and 5L minikegs) and Cherry Quadzilla, a Belgian

Quadrupel A Quadrupel (Flemish for 'quadruple') is a type of beer, with an alcohol by volume of 9.1% to 14.2%. There is little agreement on the status of Quadrupel as a beer style. Writer Tim Webb notes that similar beers are called '' Grand Cru'' in B ...

(champagne bottles only). The Church's beers are brewed on a steam-jacketed 15bbl system built by Specific Mechanical Systems, Ltd. of

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

Awards

In 2012 the Church Brew Works won the Great American Beer Festival's Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year Award.

Local historic landmark status

In 2001, the Church Brew Works was listed on the

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolvi ...

's List of Historic Landmarks.

Gallery

Image:ChurchBrewWorksJune2.2007.jpg, Interior view of The Church Brew Works. Image:ChurchBrewWorks2June2.2007.jpg, Interior view of The Church Brew Works.

References

External links

The Church Brew Works Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church Brew Works Beer brewing companies based in Pittsburgh Former Roman Catholic church buildings in Pennsylvania Roman Catholic churches completed in 1903 Companies established in 1996 Churches in Pittsburgh Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) 1903 establishments in Pennsylvania 1996 establishments in Pennsylvania