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T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | february 23, 2022 | Volume 112 | Issue 69
BEER AND WINE EDITION
MASH, TRASH AND PITTSBURGH’S HOMEBREWING COMMUNITY Brandon Raglow Staff Writer
A bartender at Hemingway’s Cafe on Saturday evening. John Blair senior staff photographer
OAKLAND BARS ‘GETTING BACK INTO THE GROOVE’ AFTER COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS LIFTED Alexandra Ross Staff Writer
Gene Ney, owner of the Oakland bar Gene’s Place, didn’t see any decrease in business when the Omicron variant drove up COVID-19 cases among Pitt students in January — in fact, he said he saw the opposite. “In all honesty, yeah, it helped my business out a lot because Pitt was all online, and so students had more free time to come to the bar,” Ney said. During last academic year, many bars in Oakland sold only to-go alcohol or did no business at all, due to county and state restrictions. By the time this academic year began, those restrictions had been lifted, allowing bars to operate at fuller capacity. As a result, Ney said business has been “significantly better” this year.
“It feels great being able to interact with all the customers, almost all of which are Pitt students,” Ney said. “It feels great getting back into the groove and doing the things we like to do and serving people.” John Elvasky, the owner of Hemingway’s Cafe, said he was surprised by how many students returned to his bar when it finally reopened last March after closing for 54 weeks. He said business remained high as restrictions regarding social distancing and capacity went away. “I thought, when we first opened, I'm like, ‘Geez, we're gonna be dead, everybody's gonna be afraid to come in,’” Elvasky said. “But we’ve got lines for two weeks [after re-opening] out front, lines waiting to get in. And then when we were allowed to seat fully, we got packed.” At first, Elvasky said, customers had to remain
socially distanced and wear masks when not seated at their tables. Elvasky said Hemingway’s followed all Allegheny County Health Department guidelines, and said customers and staff complied with the rules. “We had no complaints whatsoever, no pushback whatsoever, from the kids or the staff,” Elvasky said. “Everybody was very, very nice and understood the seriousness of it. And it was, it's a serious situation, but, you know, it’s time to put it behind us, in my opinion.” Businesses are no longer required by the state or county to implement mask requirements, social distancing or capacity limits. Ney said his bar is now “pretty much back to normal.” “We have the sanitizer around for your conveSee Bars on page 5
For many, the processes that result in the Miller Lite appearing in their red solo cups are as cryptic and confusing as a witch brewing a potion in a cauldron. But Bob Parker said the process can be simplified to a few steps. “To begin really flippantly, it's an afternoon of work, two or three weeks of waiting, and then a couple hours of work and then some more waiting and then you have beer,” Parker, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, said. Parker, who’s also associate dean for graduate education, has taught a class on brewing beer for students 21 and older every spring semester since 2017. The class is a popular selection for engineering students, and some take the lessons from the course and continue homebrewing after graduating, even creating their own businesses. He said that over time, “Science, Technology, and Culture of Craft Brewing” has shifted its focus from strictly science to include lessons on the cultural aspects of brewing. “The first couple years, we really focused on the technology and the process of brewing. This is the first year that we've opened it up to all of campus, and we've expanded it to be science, technology and culture,” Parker said. “We want to make sure we cover the cultural aspects because that's a significant fraction of what the craft beer movement is.” Parker said the home brewing process begins by boiling grains to extract the sugars inside to create a mash. Next, he said yeast is added to the leftover liquid, known as wort, and the mixture is put into an airtight container — which for Parker See Homebrewing on page 6