PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

On May 5, Steve and Barb Hartman celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Their belated gift to each other is the July 4th opening of their Hazelwood business.

Hazel Grove Brewing is a labor of love.

The couple and their business partner Larry Adams spent three years transforming the sprawling, industrial building into a bright, colorful, plant-filled taproom. It stands across the street from the skeleton of a steel mill and the future Hazelwood Green, a riverfront brownfield that’s getting a multi-million-dollar makeover into a research, manufacturing and recreation hub.

It’s grit meets green, past meets progress.

In addition to colorful murals by Shane Pilster and Max Gonzales that highlight steel workers and local landmarks, Hazel Grove pays tribute to Pittsburgh’s blue-collar heritage by investing in the neighborhood’s future.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

You can find their beers on tap at The Woods House Historic Pub on Monongahela Street, one of the oldest structures in the city and Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Restaurants. The brewery’s food partner is Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, or CKP, located on nearby Flowers Avenue. In 2013, the nonprofit culinary training center launched to focus on students who have experienced barriers to employment, such as incarceration, homelessness, addiction or trauma.

CKP’s food truck is a mobile classroom that will be parked outside of the brewery (there’s a parking lot!) during business hours to sling everything from cheesesteaks to chicken wraps and a few Hazel Grove exclusives. Enjoy your grub in the courtyard or the taproom that’s filled with custom tables designed by Monongahela Manufacturing.

In the 5.5-barrel brewhouse, Steven and assistant brewer Anil Vishnuvajjhala make a beer for every palate, including light beers, stouts, Belgians, IPAs and non-alcoholic offerings. Canned libations will be available to go.

This Graver is officially a Grover.

During the soft opening on June 27, I had a perfect summer-sipper, a saison made with Schezwan peppers and brewed in collaboration with Ambridge-based Altered Genius Brewery. (If you really want to drink in the wild, visit Altered’s other taproom in Imperial; it’s right on the Montour Trail!)

I followed that snifter glass with a pint of Nisus, a quaffable American Amber with a fluffy, white head. It was the only cloud I saw in Pittsburgh that sunny day. You’ll also find bubbly beverages from Larimer’s Goodlander Cocktail Brewery and cider from Greenhouse Co-Op in Greenfield on the menu.

There’s a lot of neighborliness going on here. Mister Rogers would approve.

Before they decided on a property, Nisus was the company’s name; but once the owners saw the Hazelwood building — a former construction company storage facility — they knew the name had to match the surroundings. Since Hazelwood Brewhouse, a three-breweries-in-one-building concept now open on Lytle Street, was already in development, the team dropped the “wood” and added a “Grove.”

It seemed only natural.

Supporting the growth of the community is just as important as the beer, says Barb, a leader in Pittsburgh’s chapter of Pink Boots Society, an organization that supports women and non-binary individuals working in the alcoholic beverage industry.

The Hartmans, both Pennsylvania natives, were living in Seattle when they thought about opening a small pub as a retirement project. Then Steve, an engineer by trade, started making beer at home and racking up awards for it. (He’s had lots of time to perfect the craft; the Carnegie Mellon University graduate brewed his first beer for his seventh-grade science fair project on fermentation and got an A.)

Starting a brewery seemed like a better option for the empty-nesters. They asked Adams, their college buddy, to serve as chief financial officer and fixer of all things high-tech.

The pandemic put their plans in a holding pattern, but didn’t stop their momentum thanks to help from fellow business owners. For two years, the Hazel Grove team churned out their brand of beer at Cobblehaus Brewing Co. in Coraopolis (another brewery with a scenic second location!), poured samples at dozens of events and distributed kegs to 22 local restaurants and watering holes.

The word nisus means “a mental or physical effort to attain a goal.” That goal will be met on Independence Day.

Hazel Grove Brewing is located at 4609 Irvine St. in Hazelwood. Opening hours are noon to 10 p.m.