BREWER RSVP
MORE INFORMATION ON THE GOLDEN AGE LAGER FEST IS BELOW
Golden Age Lager Fest will be a tribute and a toast to lager, its history, and its future. We want to throw a festival that is entirely dedicated to serving lager made by like-minded brewers who make the pursuit of brewing perfect lager a significant part of their brewing operations. In the process, we’d love to share the gospel of lager with the general public, and talk to you about the specific trials and tribulations of being a lager brewery.
We are excited to host the Golden Age Lager Fest with our good friends and Homestead neighbors, THIS IS RED. THIS IS RED is a creative agency who has renovated a beautiful, century-old Slovakian church into a creative studio and event space that is perfect for live music. It also has a bit of lager history itself – its church bells were donated by the historic M. Winter Bros. Brewery in 1897, which, per its own advertisements, brewed “Fine Lager Beer Exclusively.”
Lager Fest will have two sessions on Saturday featuring two great musical acts per session. In the first session, from 1-4, we will be joined by Sierra Sellers and Buffalo Rose as our musical acts. In the second, from 6-9, Natural Rat and The National Reserve will take the stage.
In addition to the festival proper, we will be hosting a Friday night brewers’ dinner at our brewery which will be complimentary for two representatives of each brewery. Following the second session on Saturday, Golden Age will also host an after party, where we will lick our wounds and drink yet more lager. We’re hoping to get to know you all a little bit better over the weekend, and to keep building on the network of lager-focused brewers both here in Pittsburgh and around the country.
We will provide each participating brewery with a stipend to cover the price of the beer they send (the exact amount of which we’ll dial in soon, but wouldn’t exceed two half barrels per brewery). And for breweries joining us from outside of the greater Pittsburgh area, we’ll book a hotel room for Friday and Saturday night. For out-of-state breweries without distribution in Pittsburgh, we’ll make arrangements to import your beer.
THIS IS RED
Pittsburgh made the steel that made America, and it was immigrants who made Pittsburgh. By the 1880’s an influx of Slovak Catholic immigrants in the region created the need for a Slovak parish. The new church, St. Michael Church, was initially fostered by the Holy Ghost Fathers of Duquesne University. However, parishioners wanted a priest who spoke their language, and sought out a Slovak seminarian in St. Paul, MN to take on the job.
In 1909, the wooden church building was dismantled, moved to the current location, and rebuilt despite some outcry from the congregation. By 1927, however, the congregation had grown so much that the wooden structure had to be torn down completely to accommodate a larger building. The sanctuary was enlarged once again in the years following WWII. The structure and façade of the building has remained much the same ever since.
By the late 1960’s, the steel industry began to fade and with it, much of the surrounding community. Facing declining population and increasing maintenance costs for decades, the Diocese of Pittsburgh officially closed St. Michael Church on November 1st, 2009. In the summer of 2016, the church building began its second life as THIS IS RED.
LAGER FEST MUSIC ACTS
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Sierra Sellers
neo-soul singer/songwriter whose influences range from Erykah Badu to Carlos Santana. Her soulful voice is captivating, while the simplicity of her lyrics causes one to feel as though she is speaking directly to you.
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Buffalo rose
Buffalo Rose is a wildly charismatic six-piece modern folk/Americana band from Pittsburgh that will change your entire perspective on acoustic music. They take the singer-songwriter tradition to a new level by crafting original songs which are emotive, meticulously arranged, and inspired by a world of idiosyncratic influences that never let a dull or predictable moment creep in.
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natural rat
Doom pop with a heavy Indiana Jones influence
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the national reserve
The National Reserve mine an archetypal musical seam, marrying gutbucket R&B, Laurel Canyon lyricism, New Orleans funk workouts, late night soul, and bluesy, boozy rock ‘n’ roll to create their own timeless brand of American music.
Usually you find The National Reserve touring America with the likes of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi or at their Brooklyn Friday night residency at Skinny Denis, but on Saturday May 14th they'll be closing the first annual Golden Age Lager Fest.
Listen up.
We’ve curated an intriguing mix of local and national talent for the Golden Age Lager Fest