USA, PA: Mondays Brewing opening in Peters on October 31

Mondays Brewing, named for the day of the week when many breweries and other hospitality businesses are closed or quiet, is opening Saturday, October 31 on Route 19 in Peters. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held there, fittingly, on Monday, November 2, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The little brewery and taproom is a side hustle for Washington & Jefferson College computing and information studies professor Sam Fee, PhD., who lives in Peters. Some of his students helped him completely re-plumb and renovate this storefront in one of the many plazas on this stretch of the South Hills, which doesn’t have another brewery.

He wants it to be Peters’ “neighborhood brewery.” It’s a cozy spot, with a capacity of 79 people, so about 40 may be inside with COVID-19 restrictions. There’s also outdoor space for about 40 more on the side and at the front entrance.

Mr. Fee is working, with assistant brewer and local journalist Mike Jones, in the 5-barrel brewhouse and they have a half-barrel pilot system for smaller batches. Ashley Mikelonis is managing the taproom, where the tap handles are marked with the days of the week. When they have enough beer, there will be a special for each day.

“I think one thing we have going for us is variety,” he says.

For the soft opening on October 31, they will serve a cream ale, a West Coast-style India pale ale, a raspberry sour and, depending on how quickly they are ready, a New England-style IPA and the brewery’s signature amber ale. That last one is Tangled Aggression, and most of the beers have names. The West Coast IPA normally would be Mondays IPA, but because they couldn’t make it with the recipe’s grain bill, they modified it and dubbed it Tuesday’s IPA.

Opening a brewery during a global pandemic means you have to be able to adapt, says Mr. Fee, who has met obstacles with the attitude of “I’m doing it anyway.”

He’s working on ways to meet the state’s COVID-19-mitigation requirement that alcohol be served with food, which he plans to bring in from nearby restaurants to start. He’s keeping things as local as possible, starting with CNC Malt from Butler County. He’s purposefully keeping things small for now.

“The reason I’m pushing so hard to get open is so people can try the beer ... so they know it’s good,” he says.

He expects that, due to the pandemic, many customers will take beer to go in crowlers. He’s also selling four-packs of Pennsylvania Loophole, a hazy IPA that East End Brewing Co. in Larimer sells to other breweries that don’t have their own canning lines.

Mr. Fee, also an archaeologist and an artist who does landscape photography on those trips. is eager to work with other local businesses. He will be serving some wine from SilverMark Cellars, which just opened a tasting room in Canonsburg, and some spirits from Liberty Pole in Washington, Pa. In fact, he just got a used rye barrel from Liberty Pole in which he will age some of his Rebellious Rye ale to serve at the brewery’s first anniversary.

Hours are noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday, 4-8 p.m. Monday and Thursday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday).

The brewery’s address is 1055 Waterdam Plaza Dr., McMurray (15317).

29 October, 2020