Sip Your Way Through Pittsburgh with City Brew Tours

Discover Pittsburgh's favorite neighborhoods by sipping your way through the city with City Brew Tours...

This post was created in partnership with TripAdvisor. As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.

One of my favorite ways to explore a new city (or as in this particular case, different & new to me parts of a city I already love) is to book a culinary tour with a local tour group. I have hopped on winery tours & the occasional local foods tour, but brewery tours just may be my personal favorite. 

Local breweries have just recently started making a comeback from the days of Prohibition in many cities & areas of the country, popping up in once was industrial neighborhoods of towns & cities. They bring with them not only some tasty & creative local brews, but also have restored a revitalized sense of community & pride in these once forgotten parts of the city. 

Recently, myself & one of my girlfriends booked a brewery tour through TripAdvisor & hopped on with City Brew Tours in Pittsburgh to explore & get a small taste of the local brewery & microbrewery scene in a city that was once the heart of the steel industry of America...

Exploring the Local Brewery Scene in Columbus, Ohio

With over 40 breweries & microbreweries, Columbus, Ohio is quickly becoming a must-visit destination for craft beer enthusiasts...

This post was created in partnership with Experience Columbus. As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.

When I moved back to my home state of West Virginia after living in the Columbus, Ohio area for 8 years, Columbus was just then starting to experience a growing craft beer movement. While local breweries were very few in number (think maybe Barley's, Columbus Brewing Company, & Elevator Brewing downtown), craft beer tap takeovers in local bars had started to become more & more popular. In fact, these tap takeovers is how I first experienced and fell in love with craft beers.

Fast forward 8 years later, and the craft beer scene in Columbus has totally evolved into a full-fledged local brewery movement. In fact, there are now over 40 breweries & counting in the Columbus area alone! I knew I had to get back to C-bus to explore the local brewery scene. I spent two days in the city- even embarking on a guided brewery tour- and I didn't even get to a fourth of the breweries in the city!

Even though I didn't get to experience everything Columbus's local brewery scene has to offer on this most recent visit, I did get a good taste of what the city has been brewing up since I moved away. Today I am sharing a few of my favorite craft beer gems from Ohio's state capital...

Chocolate Stout Blackberry Brownies

With ooey, gooey chocolate & ribbons of sweet blackberries, these decadent & rich Chocolate Stout Blackberry Brownies are a chocolate lover's dream...

If there is one summertime flavor combo that I feel is overlooked all too often, it is most definitely the combination of juicy blackberries with rich dark chocolate. But let me tell you all this- it is a flavor combo that you need to make happen asap. Like this week if possible. Or even today. I mean, why wait for this deliciousness? ;) And luckily for you all, I have just the recipe to accomplish this- these ooey, gooey Chocolate Stout Blackberry Brownies!

I have taken this incredible combination of flavors just one step further by throwing a good chocolate stout beer into the mix as well. But no worries if you don't happen to be a beer fan. The beer flavor mostly bakes out leaving these decadent brownies with an extra level of richness.

Bacon & Beer Bread Drops Biscuits

These Bacon & Beer Bread Drop Biscuits are ready in the fraction of the time of traditional beer bread and are even more delicious with the addition of bacon...

If there are two things that you all know that I love, it is bacon and craft beer.  And bread.

I love bread too. ;)

And yes, I know that they are not necessarily always the healthiest options, but as I always say- all in moderation, folks.

I love, love, love beer bread. (See my Homemade Peanut Butter Beer Bread for a tasty example of my adoration for it.)  But what I don't love is how long it takes to bake... close to an hour! Sometimes I just can't wait that long for some beer bread goodness, so I took matters into my own hands and came up with these beer bread drop biscuits.  And I threw some crispy bacon in there just for good measure...  ;)

Spiced Pumpkin Ale Bread

 This savory Spiced Pumpkin Ale Bread has just a touch of sweetness & a spiced flavor that is reminiscent of pumpkin pie...

Post updated 10/13/17- This tasty Spiced Pumpkin Ale Bread post deserved some updated photos. I did leave one of the originals below just so you all can see for yourself why this recipe so desperately needed a little face lift. ;)