Image by doryexmachina via Flickr

• Cupcake Eating Contest – How many can you eat?
  • Friday, September 26, 7pm – Dozen Bakeshop in Lawrenceville
  • In celebration of Cupcake Week
  • Eat cupcakes win prizes
• Little Italy Days in Bloomfield
  • All weekend
  • All Italian all the time
  • Food,  Music and Bocci Tournament
• Head of the Ohio
  • One of the top 10 regattas in the country
  • All day Sat along the Allegheny River
  • Competitive rowing teams from around the country are here to compete
• Oktoberfest at Penn Brewery
  • Friday and Saturday Night
  • Polka, German Food and Beer

Here are some links/articles/blog posts that are worth a look:

• Raise a glass its time for Oktoberfest. – For nineteen years the Penn Brewery has brought Munich to Pittsburgh with our annual Oktoberfest celebration and this year will be no exception. Held the same weekends as its German counterpart, the Penn Brewery offers the most authentic Oktoberfest celebration in Pittsburgh.

  Friday and Saturday nights the party starts at 5:00 p.m. with live German entertainment, a delicious variety of German foods and our craft made, award winning beer highlighted by our annual Oktoberfest Bier.

• FORTY UNDER FORTY – November 7, 2008 – Save the date – Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP will honor 40 people in Pittsburgh under the age of 40 who are doing great things in the city.
• Should I Drink That? Brewcast » Blog Archive » Episode 44 – Steel City Big Pour 2008 – My friends from the best Podcast in town are back with a new episode from the Steel City Big Pour (and a snazzy new website)

  Join us for the second annual Steel City Big Pour which is once again the greatest beer fest in the land. Featured breweries are:
  Scott Smith from EastEnd Brewing
  Brandon from Rock Bottom
  Mike from Troegs Brewing Matt from Voodoo Brewing Jim from Erie Brewing
  Fred from Hoppin Frog
  Woody from Ale Street News
  Chris from Bocktown
  Drew from Pipers Pub
  Aaron from Stone Brewing

  We're still giving away FREE TICKETS to the Brewing UP A Cure beer festival! Check out the contest page for details!

• IheartPGH.com » Blog Archive » PARK(ing) Day – Parking Spots become Parks for a day – Friday, September 19,2008 – check out this comment on this history of Parking in Pittsburgh.

Click here to see more links we like.

Where was I? Oh right, drinking. In Pittsburgh. On the weekends.

This weekend is the always enjoyable, always exciting, always humid under the tents (that sounds sorta filthy, yar? “Hey baby, let’s get humid under the tents.”) Oktoberfest at Penn Brewery, 5 to Midnight Friday and Saturday, and the more family-friendly 4 to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Git Aht recommends this event highly. Why? Not just for the beer, which is plentiful, delicious, relatively cheap, and plentiful (Yes, twice, ’cause it’s important), but also because the Hardest Working Polka Band In Show Business Alpen Glow will be performing. If you’ve never heard them, you’re doing a great disservice to not only yourself, but your family, your city, your country, and possibly your liederhosen. (God, I want some liederhosen, but do you have any idea how expensive those damn things are?) If you love the chicken dance in the same way I do, which is to say when you hear the first melodic strains of it you’ll gladly spill your rigs, pigs, and bird to get to the fire hall dance floor at any wedding you attend in Western Pennsylvania, you simply must hear Alpen Glow with, oh, let’s say, a half-gallon of beer in your hand.

Pictured (l to r): Das
Hornenplayer, Das Birdensqueezer, und Das
Buttonboxentek

Here is an example of their important work, and may I say it brings a tear to my eye, and a sort of dull yet lovable ache to my liver:

If you can’t make it this weekend, fear not because they’re making enough beer for next weekend too.

More on this situation as it develops, or rather, more on this situation as I wake up Saturday morning somewhere in an alley on The North Side wondering where the hell my pants and/or dignity might be, and asking the Aviary if I can use their phone to call a cab.

I Made It! Market is teaming up to raise funds for the Brew House Association with a Fashion Show/Dance Performance and Indie Craft/Clothing Market at the Brew House (2100 Mary Street, South Side) on Friday, February 22.

7:30 pm: doors open

8 pm: fashion show… followed by a performance by Jazzercize Troop Radical Pittsburgh

9 pm- midnight: DJ J. Malls of The Big Throwback

Craft demos and I Made It! Market throughout the evening. $5 at the door.

Must be over 21 to drink.

Partners include:
Penn Brewery, Sugar Boutique, Jupe Boutique, Jet Boy Jet Girl, Phillip Pelusi of South Hills Village Mall, DJ J. Malls of The Big Throw Back, Jazzercize Troop Radical Pittsburgh and the Brew House Association.

Visit www.myspace.com/imadeitpgh for more info. or to join the I Made It! mailing list.

This just in from our friends at Harris Grill (and yes they are rebuilding and will reopen).  I think few people realize that the original whiskey rebellion started right here in Western, PA (check out the entire history here).  I don’t usually post political things on this website, however the people organizing this event are some big Pittsburgh lovers.  I have great respect for many of the businesses hosting this event, they are local businesses that continue to donate their time, energy and money to many organizations in the Pittsburgh area.
Celebrate Unity Night & Roll Back The Tax!

What Is It? A Celebration & a Fundraiser to Help Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation (FACT) Continue the Fight to Repeal the Allegheny County Drink Tax.

When Is It? Monday, February 11, 2008, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm
Where Is It? Church Brew Works, 3525 Liberty Avenue, Lawrenceville, (412) 688-8200
What’s Included? Craft-brewed beers from Penn Brewery, The Church Brew Works & Rivertown Pour House! Savory food provided by the cities best chefs & local entertainment playing original music including the NoDrinkTax Jig by Terry Griffith!
Participation? Tickets are $40.00 per person.
TICKETS: Tickets can be obtained through FACT’s Website, www.stopdrinktax.com, and in person at (The Church Brew Works 688-8200, The Priory 231-3338 & Penn Brewery 237-9400 in the North Side & via www.pennbrew.com )
A silent auction of great gift baskets will be a part of the evenings activities. Event proceeds are used to finance activities seeking the repeal of the 10% County Drink Tax.
JOIN THE WHISKEY REBELLION II!
In 1794, the people of Western Pennsylvania banded together to fight against an unfair and counterproductive tax on whiskey. In 2008, farsighted voting Americans in Allegheny County have united to demand the repeal of the unfair and counterproductive 10% Drink Tax. Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation (FACT) has been on the forefront of the fight against this tax, and has to date spent hundred of hours and thousands of dollars opposing the Drink Tax. While the Drink Tax has been passed into law, FACT continues the fight to repeal the tax in the courts and through the political process. This is the Kick off Party for Whiskey Rebellion II, and like those citizens of long ago, FACT and its members and allies will not quit and will not go away until the political leaders of Allegheny County listen to their voices!
For more information, visit the website, www.stopdrinktax.com

I was getting a little worried that Pittsburgh had more Groundhog Day celebrations than Mardi Gras celebrations. Penn Brewery to the rescue. I was lucky enough to visit a fellow Pittsburgher in New Orleans for Mardi Gras a few years ago, before the flooding. It was definitely the biggest party I have ever attended. Mardi Gras, like Groundhog Day are holidays that need to be celebrated. So head on over to Penn Brewery for bead, beer and good music. I love the Boilermaker Jazz Band (check out the picture of the band performing in New Orleans) and I can only say good things about Dixie Doc and the Pittsburgh Dixieland All-stars.