Sly Fox Brewing Co. is opening a pub in The Highline, and a Downtown satellite this fall

Sly Fox Brewing Co. is opening a pub in The Highline, and a Downtown satellite this fall

Release the (booze) hounds! Sly Fox Brewing Co. is coming to Pittsburgh.

This fall, the eastern Pennsylvania-based brewery will open a nearly 6,000-square-foot location on the South Side.

Sly Fox will occupy a space in The Highline development, formerly known as the Terminal Building, on E. Carson Street. The company, which annually produces 22,000 barrels of beer, will use the site as a brew lab to test experimental batches and create one-off beers suited to the local market.

A smaller satellite pub will open Downtown, in an as-yet-unannounced location.

“Why Pittsburgh? Why not? It’s a really cool place,” says John Giannopoulos, co-owner of the brewery. “It’s a metropolitan area and where there’s more people, there’s more beer.

“We don’t tend to open our brewpubs in strip malls where we are surrounded by a bunch of national chains,” he adds. “We like to be more organic. The Highline is a good fit for us.”

After years as a homebrewer, John’s brother, Pete Giannopoulos, founded Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery in 1995 in Phoenixville, a suburb of Philly. The business introduced many locals to craft beer and soon amassed a loyal following.

John came on board in 2004 to manage the new 20-barrel production brewery and accompanying restaurant in nearby Royersford. That place was sold in 2011 to make way for a larger production facility in Pottstown.

Since then, the siblings have churned out more than 100 different beers, which are distributed throughout Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and D.C. Several new Sly Fox brewpubs are set to open in eastern Pa. as the company works to complete its Steel City outpost.

The location has other benefits: Sly Fox is deeply rooted in outdoor activities such as running, cycling, golfing and hiking, so Giannopoulos is happy the building is located next to the Mon River and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.

McKnight Realty Partners purchased the historic site – once considered the largest, cargo warehouse between New York City and Chicago – in 2016 and is pumping more than $100 million into its revitalization.

Once completed, the complex will boast 600,000-square-feet of office and retail space (Astroid coffee shop is among the tenants), interior parking for 521 vehicles, bike storage, a public fitness center and more than one acre of green public space.