Quench your thirst: Picklesburgh has plenty of 'dill-icious' drink options
Pickle-flavored juice, beer, iced tea, lemonade and alcoholic drinks will be some of the liquids flowing starting at noon Friday when Picklesburgh opens.
Pickles are commonly used in food, but the festival pours on the drink options, as well. The annual event produced by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will have a bigger footprint along the Boulevard of the Allies this year.
The festival will showcase two giant inflatable pickles and a new Xmas in July celebration. One of those is a three-story-tall Heinz pickle ornament. It will provide a centerpiece for the holiday addition, hosted in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. There will be live music on the Pittsburgh Pirates stage, holiday photo opportunities and creative food and drink items from local bars through Sunday.
Competitive juices flowing
The annual pickle juice drinking contest will hold preliminary rounds Friday and Saturday, culminating in determining a champion Sunday. The winner earns the title ‘Mayor of Picklesburgh’ and $500 cash. Competitors will chug a drink called Picklexir — an all-natural pickle juice that tastes like the real thing and not just a water-vinegar brine, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and Pittsburgh Pickle Co., which provides the drink.
Contestants will be provided with one jar of pickle juice — roughly one quart. The person who finishes the jar of pickle juice first will be declared the winner of that round. There are five rounds of 10 people each starting at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The winners of each round will compete at 2 p.m. Sunday to determine the champion.
This year’s competition will be hosted by YaJagoff!, a podcast featuring hosts Rachael Rennebeck and John Chamberlain. Pickle juice drinking check-in will be at the Yajagoff! tent near Stanwix Stage.
Any open slots during the competition will be part of an on-site raffle. Interested contestants who do not get pre-selected to compete may show up and sign up for the raffle for a chance to compete.
Registration is closed.
Iced tea
Exclusively for the event, Turner’s in Penn Hills created a limited-edition pickled iced tea.
The pickled iced tea, along with classic iced teas and lemonades, will be available at multiple locations. Turner’s also is presenting free kids’ activities at the Li’l Gherkins play area, where they will be able to create pickle-shaped jewelry and puppets in conjunction with staff from Arts Excursions Unlimited.
Beer here
East End Brewing Co. in Larimer and Pittsburgh’s Primanti Bros. once again are partnering for the Almost Famous Pickle Beer called Spicy Cucumber Gose Ale.
“This year’s Almost Famous Pickle Beer has a zippy new recipe update,” said Scott Smith, founder of East End Brewing, in a statement. “We’ve enjoyed working on this collaboration with Primanti Bros. for several years now. But like any long-term relationship, after a while, it’s nice to spice things up a bit.”
In addition to barley, hops, dill and 1,600 pounds of fresh cucumbers that go into the beer, this year’s recipe was brewed with chili peppers to provide a “spicy little kick at the finish,” Smith said.
The brew will not be available at Picklesburgh but will be released at East End Brewing locations in four packs of 16-ounce cans and on draft starting Thursday. East End will also be featuring pickle-flavored Barmy Soda. The beer will be available at 20 Pittsburgh area Primanti Bros. locations Friday.
Wigle Whiskey
Wigle Whiskey’s Eau de Pickle is the perfect pour to celebrate Pittsburgh’s pickle love at Picklesburgh, according to the distillery. It has lemon, mint syrup and cucumber.
This spirit is inspired by traditional botanicals used in pickling. It has balanced notes of brine and spice and will be served by Wigle bartenders at the tent in PPG Place. They will be selling limited edition T-shirts and bottles of Eau de Pickle to-go.
Wigle will have two other options — one with Wigle landlocked white rum and spiced pickle brine and another with straight rye and strawberry puree.
Pittsburgh Mobile Bars
Pittsburgh Mobile Bars will offer four pickle-inspired mocktails that can be turned into cocktails by adding vodka, gin, rum or bourbon.
The drinks — pickled lemonade, strawberry basil fizz, raspberry shrub and pickled jalapeno limeade — are made by Goodlander Cocktail Brewery in Larimer.
For details, visit picklesburgh.com.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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