Brewski’s

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Field Note

Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood is flush with dive bars, Carson Street the prime location for most divey drinking options just across the Monongahela River from the city’s urban core. But despite the Carson Street address attached to Pittsburgh dive bar Brewski’s, the bar’s location feels almost disconnected from the rest of the neighborhood thanks to existing about a block and a half past where a reasonable person might turn back as businesses start to dwindle and residences start to take over.

A neighborhood dive bar taking credit for an innovation in beverage dispensing is not uncommon, but Brewski’s boasts the entirely original claim of being the “original home of the 23 ounce draft.” Also dubbed the unofficial “South Side Saloon,” Brewski’s has carved out a notable niche not only thanks to offering a bit more beer with each pour but in packing in more graffiti per square foot than any bar in Pittsburgh.

The bar’s exterior is about as classic as it gets for a corner bar dedicated to a crowd of locals, a simple dark brown awning over the front door, a large sign with the name of the bar and its set of official mottos above that. A bit of beer sign neon peeks out from two windows that frame the bar’s front door, everything housed in a brick structure that looks very, very Pittsburgh. Like most dive bars in Pittsburgh, Brewski’s allows smoking inside, a number of fans kept on full blast to somewhat dissipate the lingering smell of cigarettes.

But the true dive bar appeal of Brewski’s is no doubt the graffiti-scrawled interior that covers a surprisingly cavernous floorplan that includes a main first room that houses a rectangular bar located in the center of the space. The graffiti starts here, markers of all shapes and colors used by locals and visitors to offer a bit of guidance or something beautifully unintelligible. Kiefer Sutherland’s signature can be found in this front room, the actor making his mark during a one-time visit.

While no surface in this front room is left untouched, the long rear space is even more impressive, the additional surface area a willing canvas to an even denser wave of graffiti. Dart boards and gaming terminals can be found just past the small portal that opens up off of the front room into this new graffiti-filled cave, the area widening to an even larger alcove that houses the bar’s two pool tables, a pair of foosball tables and a shuffleboard table.

Because the walls in this back room are kept free of the usual dive bar mirrors and beer signs, the graffiti has been allowed to run rampant, covering the walls, the ceiling, even the exposed brick that can be found in spots. The shuffleboard, foosball and pool tables are of course included in the display, the effect of all of these scrawlings an intense visual onslaught that might be one of the most dive bar-looking scenes in all of Pittsburgh.

Brewski’s is, naturally, a cash only bar with an ATM available amid the cigarette machine and gaming terminals in the front room. Though it may be surprising given the very dive bar feel of the space, the bar’s bathrooms have been renovated over the years. The Pittsburgh dive bar is, thankfully, open 365 days a year and specials here have been known to reach as low as $1 for a PBR draft (yes, all 23 ounces of it).