S and s brewery
The town of Smithton was also well known for The Magic Lantern Cinema. A cool guy sporting a disco era hair style named Melvin was bartender. This place was decorated inside with Christmas lights, about 2 miles of can pop-tops strung from wall to wall and autographed photos of Hollywood stars of the 1950's and 1960's. Just up the street from the brewery was Elinore's Hotel (I think thats how her name was spelled) where the standard fare was 2 Esquires for a buck. Stoney's, Fort Pitt, Esquire and Old Shay Ale if I remember were the brews from The House of Jones. I moved away from PA in '83 or '84 and in my travels never found a beer that compared. Great story guys! I was raised on Stoney's growing up in the Connellsville area in the 1970's. More rich wood tones adorning the tap room Danielle? She's happy w/ a Sun Drop pop.Man, we gotta work on her! This whole trip was so inspiring, that I decided that I am going to make Stoney's our official beer here at SWPARE and bought a case of bottles on the way home, one of which I'm enjoying as I type this. What is not to love about Stoney Jones, riding atop a keg of Stoney's beer? We'd party w/ this dude. Places like this would make awesome loft type apartments in the right area but the sad fact is, you can build them but who is going to fill them? It's the same old sad story that a lot of other old buildings and towns face. He related stories of people coming in, only to vandalize the place. Before yinz hate Bob for doing this, we have to say, he seems like a really good guy, but as a business man, he recognizes the liabilities old buildings like these can pose. He is reluctantly (in time), tearing the old brewery down to make room for his current undertakings. Bob bought the property a few years back, and told us all the old equipment inside had already been salvaged, and nothing brewery related remains inside. Joyce gave us permission to walk about the site for pictures, and as we did, we ran into the current owner of the property, Bob. After tours, we reckon you could have gotten a nice cold sample here. Old aerial shot hanging on the office wall. From there, manufacturing took place at another Pittsburgh favorite brewery, Iron City, in Lawrenceville, Pa, until financial troubles caused them to move all production to the old Rolling Rock plant in Latrobe, Pa. Stoney's brand beers were produced on this site from 1907, until the plant became too antiquated to be profitable, and was shut down in 2001. They have a kick ass gift shop known as Stoney's Corner.