Local Man Bringing Back Another Classic Beer

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Founded in 1906, Fort Pitt Beer was one of Pittsburgh's top selling brands for half a century.

The original brewery building in Sharpsburg still bears the company's slogan, "Fort Pitt, that's it." Built in 1908, the building eventually became a victim of its own success.

The brewery moved to larger quarters in Jeannette in the early '40s.

But the big breweries eventually took a toll, and Fort Pitt became a distant memory, till now.

Mark Dudash has already had success bringing back another old favorite. Duquesne Beer is now produced in the former Rolling Rock facility in Latrobe. His newly-acquired Fort Pitt brew will soon follow.

"When you look at Fort Pitt, number one beer in the '50s, part of Pittsburgh, part of Sharpsburg, part of Jeannette," the owner says, "it's just a situation when you just said, this is history. Bring it back to Pittsburgh."

The Mount Lebanon attorney says the return of Duquesne Beer struck a cord.

"Fort Pitt, the same thing's already started," he adds. "People are contacting me saying, my father worked in the delivery department and in the bottle shop, or whatever."

And the taste? You'll have to go back to the original Fort Pitt, in George Washington's time.

"I'm putting those same English hops in this beer," Dudash says. "And we're going to have an English ale. I went past the 1950s, past 1906 when it started, all the way back to the beginning."

He hopes that Fort Pitt Beer will be ready by Memorial Day.

RELATED LINKS:
Duquesne Brewing Company Unveils New Premium Beers (6/27/12)
More Reports by Dave Crawley

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