This Labor Day Weekend at the Independent

Friends:  

We're closed on Monday, to celebrate our nation's labor movement, but we've got an action-packed weekend at the Independent that includes outdoor parties, Taco Truck, firkins, smoke beers and more.  Details below.

Saturday Afternoon (3-7 p.m.) -- Beer, 
Bands, Punch, and Lawn Games on the River: Now Free Admission!

Our Millvale Riverfront Park event with Grist House and Wigle this Saturday is now FREE ADMISSION.  If you were one of the zero people who bought a ticket for the event, don't worry, we'll be refunding your money.  Folks -- this is going to be a fun outdoor event to celebrate the end of summer sun, and, like the summer sun itself, it is now free.  Bring your family; bring your dog; bring your thirst and your appetite.  It's a freakin' river party and there will be good beer, booze, and food.  Moreover, unlike your last river party, your creepy Uncle Donny won't be there getting drunk, gawking at young women, questioning the birth certificate of our 44th President, and setting off M80s in tree stumps.  

Saturday Evening (9 p.m.)  -- First Saturday, Four Seasons Firkin Tapping

You may remember this event as the highly alliterative "First FRIDAY Four Seasons Firking Festival."  Why the change of days, you ask?  Routine scheduling problems, dude.  This Saturday, our Four Seasons Firkin is an Oatmeal Stout conditioned with habanero peppers and cocoa nibs.  That's a dark beer drinking, spice braving, chocolate loving woman or man's dream, guaranteed to put so much hair on your chest that you'll look like wookie by the end of a pint. 

Sunday (6p-10p) -- Taco Truck Comes to Squirrel Hill

Squirrel Hill is a neighborhood for great food, but many kitchens (like ours) are closed on Sunday evenings.  The Independent wants to help bridge our neighborhood's Sunday gap, and we're going to do that by bringing you food trucks every Sunday evening.  Squirrel Hill Sundays just got better: we'll bring you beer and cocktails and the trucks will bring you Sunday dinner.  We'll all be home to watch Walking Dead spin-offs, commercial free on our DVRs at 11 p.m.  Go team!

This Sunday, we're really proud to work with our first truck (a truck I hope you'll be seeing quite a bit of), which is Pittsburgh's (now legendary)Taco Truck.  The bar will open at 5 p.m.  Taco Truck will be ready to roll at 6 p.m.  Your Sunday evening happiness will arrive shortly thereafter.  

September is Smoke Beer Awareness Month

There was a time not long ago in Pittsburgh, where finding a smoke beer in a bar was such a rare occasion that I would (figuratively) fall down to my knees and praise the good lord and then (literally) purchase the beer with a nod and a "thank you" to the publican for his or her good taste.  Smoke beers are not actually themselves "smoked," instead they are made with malts that have been smoked, and they come in many colors, tastes and smells, ranging from East End's rich and dark Heritage Smoke Stack Porter to Hitchhiker's light and clean Grodziskie, a smoked wheat beer.  Regardless, I'm a sucker for them, and as I do the purchasing for our extraordinary mediocre establishment, I'm going to force these beers down your gullets.  I still remember the meager years of smoked beers, and I'm still compensating.  So, yes, there is a chance (in fact a likelihood) that you will see multiple smoke beers on our board at once over the next month, coming from Grist House, Lavery, Spoonwood, Hitchhiker and anyone else who wants to sell us one.  But I will make no apologies for it.  it may be 90 degrees right now, but, as the Stark family will happily warn you, winter is coming.  A bit of smoke in your beer is just what you need. 

See you at the Independent,

Pete K.