As we have shared in our future brewery listing, Coven Brewing is expected to open soon in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. And locals may be very familiar with the location as they intend to move into the space currently occupied by Roundabout Brewing.
We recently spoke with Coven co-founders Trevor Greer and Caiti Sullivan to learn more about the brewery and what locals can expect when they officially open.
As of this writing Coven has signed a lease on the current Roundabout Brewery building at 4901 Butler Street as well as purchased the existing brewing equipment. As we learned, both Caiti and Trevor have a background in the beer and beverage industries and met while working at Dancing Gnome. Caiti has been a brewer at Dancing Gnome since 2019, and prior to this had made kombucha and mixed fermentation hard cider. Professionally, Trevor spent time as the Taproom Manager at Triple Crossing in Richmond, VA.
As mentioned above they will be taking over the space currently occupied by Roundabout Brewery. Coven mentions that Roundabout has also been extremely helpful in their journey. They have “worked with us to take over their location with their equipment in place, which is an incredible opportunity for us to hit the ground running.” In addition to this Dancing Gnome, Old Thunder Brewing, and Diamondback Brewing (Baltimore, MD) have also provided Coven with tremendous support getting their brewery off the ground.
The goal of Coven is to create an enjoyable experience for guests that is unique to their space. They admit they may operate a bit differently than other local breweries in the sense that they do not plan to offer growlers, flights. And due to their small indoor footprint, only the outdoor space will be kid and dog friendly, meaning both will not be allowed inside.
The focus on beer will be geared towards more traditional New England IPAs (“which we plan on brewing a good amount of”) and also plan to explore other styles such as kettle sours, adjunct IPAs, fruited beers, stouts, and saisons. With the intention to also build both a barrel cellar as well as a farmhouse program. In addition to craft beer they will also offer Pennsylvania crafted cocktails, spirits, ciders, and wines.
When discussing how the space will appear to locals, they described an “aim to play off the natural intimacy of the space and use light, warm colors to keep it welcoming and airy.” As mentioned above they will be operating off of the current 7 BBL brewhouse already in the space offering 11 taps of beer across a wide range of options.
As Caiti shared with us she is “really proud to be leading this brewery as a woman brewer. In my time in the beverage industry, I’ve seen professional participation from women, people of color, and LGBTQ people increase – but as an industry, we have a very long way to go towards a truly welcoming and diverse craft beer community of professionals and drinkers. At Coven, one of our biggest priorities is to offer a welcoming, safe, enjoyable space for all guests to enjoy craft beer. Hopefully, we’ll even welcome guests through our doors who may not have felt like craft beer was for them before but feel comfortable exploring our offerings and our space. We firmly believe that craft beer is for everyone and I’m looking forward to investing in the diversity of our community.”
The current plan is for Coven to open in late winter/early spring. Be sure to follow them on Instagram to keep updated with their eventual opening.
