Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on August 20, 2026.
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Pittsburgh is a beer city, there is no getting around it.
No matter where you are, you are never too far away from a brewery. No matter what time of year it is, odds are good a beer festival is just around the corner, too.
But if you are into the local beer scene and want to try out something a little different, look no further than Brewing for a Cause- the annual homebrewer beer festival at Velum Fermentation that showcases amateur brewer's while raising funds for charity.
This has truly become one of our favorite beer festivals in the city!
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The Premier Home Brewers Beer Fest
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The first element of Brewing for a Cause we should talk about is the beer fest. This is a slightly different Pittsburgh beer festival, if only because the participants are not commercial brewers but rather area homebrewers.
The event itself is put on by the Three Rivers Underground Brewers (TRUB) organization and is their annual charity event. In the nearly 20 years since they started having the event, this group of homebrewers has raised over $350,000 for local charities! Brewing for a Cause indeed.
We'll talk about that charity element more in a minute, but the beer festival portion itself features dozens of homebrewers bringing over 100 unique samples, be it beer, cider, or mead included in the admission price (a very reasonable $25 during our visit). Styles here run the spectrum from known styles to, in the case of some homebrewers we know, really out-there brews and everything in between.
Part of why the latter is unique in this particular instance is that homebrewers are not constrained to commercial success. These are just a bunch of people doing it for fun and making beverages however they like as a hobby. So while breweries may throw around outlandish descriptions about using a “reckless amount of fruit” or an “irresponsible amount of hops,” some homebrewers have creations that deserve another classification that we throw around a lot in our own insane food projects and fermentations- “a cost-prohibitive amount of [insert ingredient here].”
This isn't to say that every homebrewer you'll try at Brewing for a Cause is like this, of course. But we gravitate towards the unique and out there, and during our visit in 2025, we had no shortage of rather options you may only find in homebrews- either due to the cost to do at scale being quite high or having ingredients that are simply hard to come by in appreciable volume.
Within the fest, guests can also vote on their favorite beers, as the homebrewers are also vying for the best homebrew of the year, which comes with immense bragging rights. So after you get done sampling, be sure to vote for your favorites!
- Given this, we'll be equitable here and not name our favorite homebrewers in this one to avoid introducing bias to a friendly competition. Go try everything!
Going beyond the beer, the event features food from Cold Friends Kitchen's truck (a favorite of ours- get the pork belly bites), a lineup of great auction items (with proceeds also going to charity), and other vendor tables on site as well- coming together to make a truly epic beer fest all around!
Raising Money for a Cause – The Best of All Worlds
Now, if this was just a beer fest of home brewers with any other name, we'd still be calling it one of the best beer fests in the city. It's not every day you get to try samples from 100+ home brews you likely won't find anywhere else!
But throw in the fact that the entire event is a fundraiser for a selected charity each year (and lately has revolved around local animal charities), with all proceeds going to that charity, and you've absolutely won us over.
During our visit to Brewing for a Cause in 2025, for example, the selected charity was Paws Across Pittsburgh, which was on-site with information booths and adoptable dogs that loved all the belly rubs from passing beer enthusiasts, ourselves included (they even had QR codes for cute pups at every beer table). All told, the event raised $6,437 for the organization, and really makes you feel like you're drinking for a cause just as much as the homebrewers are brewing.
In 2026, the partnered charity is Animal Friends, and we are hoping to hear about another record-breaking year (and while we are told there won't be adoptable dogs, we do hear that there may be some furry pets on site who love belly rubs all the same)!
The only downside? You may have to tell a loved one that, no, you can't adopt another dog. After a few beers with Angie, that was a fun conversation.
Overall, Brewing for a Cause is a different kind of beer fest that lets you not only take a dive into Pittsburgh's massive homebrewing scene, but also help raise funds for charity while doing so. We highly recommend scoring tickets to the event if you are able to attend!
Brewing for A Cause is an annual homebrewer's beer festival that raises money for a selected local charity. It typically takes place in late fall at Velum in South Side. In 2026, the event will take place November 14th from 3 to 6 pm, with a VIP hour starting at 2 pm. Guests must be 21+ to attend and a designated driver ticket is available as well for $5.
