PHOTOS BY KRISTY GRAVER

CoStar is one of the oldest and newest breweries in Pittsburgh. 

Since 2011, co-owners Dominic Cincotta and Jeff and Caitlyn Hanna have been churning out small batches of beer from a Highland Park garage. Now they’ve got a 2,400-square-foot building in Etna equipped with a 10-barrel brewing system. 

“The beer scene in Pittsburgh has come a long way,” Cincotta says. “It’s gone through waves, but the beer is the best it’s ever been.”

The new building at 323 Butler St. opened quietly in late February, but longtime fans of the brand found out, packed the place and drained the kegs. CoStar will be open on Saturdays and Sundays only to start, but more hours and outdoor seating will be added once the friends find their groove. 

They met nearly 20 years ago while hanging out at the William Penn Tavern (a Shadyside bar that relocated to Lawrenceville in 2022) and bonded over their love of mountain biking and beer. 

Cincotta hails from the Harrisburg area and saw the rise of popular beer-makers such as Troegs Independent Brewing. Caitlyn Hanna, a native of Downingtown, Pa., grew up visiting craft breweries with her parents when the scene was just starting to grow. Now that she and Pittsburgh-born Jeff are raising three kids of their own, she feels like the timing was right for CoStar to take center stage. 

When I visited the space last Friday, 18-month-old Liam Hanna was bouncing a ball to his mom. He then bellied up to the bar to have a snack and watch YouTuber Ms. Rachel on the brewery’s large TV.

Guests who are 21 and older can get full- or half-pour of five different brews, including the company’s original beer Hopland Park Pale Ale, named in honor of their humble beginnings on Costar Way in Highland Park.

Cincotta says they’ll still use the garage for yeast propagation and experimentation. 

That is, of course, how they started. 

The homebrewers were inspired by industry veterans such as Scott Smith of Larimer’s East End Brewing Company and Roundabout Brewery’s Steve and Dyana Sloan. They got licensed in 2012 and started selling kegs to local bars, including the William Penn Tavern, Lorelei and Kelly’s Bar and Lounge in East Liberty, Acacia on the South Side and Morningside’s Bulldog Pub. They made a splash at beer festivals and began to gain a cult following.

During the pandemic, when production slowed to a trickle, CoStar’s mystique grew. Finding their beverages in the wild was like a badge of honor for local beer fans.

Now it’s a meeting place for them. 

The prefabricated steel building, which was erected on two empty lots along Etna’s main drag, has indoor seating bathed in natural light. When the garage doors are open, it’s like having a drink in the Great Outdoors. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the patio, which will soon feature firepits.

A rotating line-up of food trucks will provide the grub, but patrons are welcome to bring in food from neighboring eateries such as Cop Out Pierogies, Rear End Gastropub & Garage, Senza, a new bakeshop and cafe, and Porky’s Bar & Grill. 

(After interviewing the folks at CoStar, I walked to Porky’s for a bite. It was National Pig Day after all. The Bridge Street landmark reopened in November after months of renovations and it looks great. Although they feature their Lenten dishes on Fridays, I ordered from a small selection of “Heathen Menu Items.” The Pulled Frank, their signature sandwich, features smoked pork slathered in Carolina barbecue sauce and coleslaw. Sinfully delicious.) 

Anyway, back to the beer: CoStar has a solid line-up of easy-drinking brews, including a kolsch, a cream ale, an IPA and an Extra Special Bitter, but the recipe book has more than 50 entries. Canned beers might be in CoStar’s future, but, for now, you can only get them on draft at the brewery or at a watering hole in the region. 

What started as a hobby has slowly grown into a family that includes longtime fans and industry partners as well as Etna residents, business owners and borough officials.

“It’s been really fun opening this place,” Caitlyn Hanna says. “The kids have been here for all of it; when it was just a pile of dirt and gravel. They learned how to ride their bikes in here. They were so excited to tell their preschool teachers that their brewery opened.”