Pittsburgh’s Grist House to expand into a Cold War era missile command center

Being Cleveland-area born and raised, I have a deep, illogical hatred for the city of Pittsburgh, but I’ve been forced to call a truce because of the city’s awesome craft beer scene.

Two things stand out most when I think of Pittsburgh breweries. One is creativity. The Millvale neighborhood’s Strange Roots Experimental Ales BLEW MY MIND with a creative, delicious and inspiring 21 percent ABV beer that somehow avoided tasting like turpentine. The other is the city’s repurposed brewery locations. Pittsburgh is an older, hilly, densely packed city, so space is at a premium. I swear they have repurposed every church in town into a place to make and drink beer, a decision I truly respect.

The aforementioned Millvale neighborhood is also home to the popular Grist House. Every time I’ve been there it has been obscenely packed with people — like, terrible-towel-waving levels of obscenity. The original location is no longer enough to contain its demand, and the location it found to spread its wings is worth some attention:

Yes, Grist House Craft Brewery is expanding into a 55,000-sq-ft building that once served as the Nike Missile Command Center during the Cold War. There’s no timetable set for completion, but the plan is for it to become the brewery’s main production facility, featuring a large taproom and retail space along with an extensive barrel-aging program.

For more details on the building, check out this cool interactive site the brewery launched to announce the news.