Countdown check, Earthlings: the Dancing Gnome 10th anniversary celebration starts today, Friday, Oct. 9, at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT), when the Sharpsburg brewery near Pittsburgh releases three anniversary beers. Saturday, Oct. 10, brings 10 collaboration beers, including one with Maine’s Bissell Brothers. Here’s the two-day flight plan.
The Dancing Gnome 10th anniversary schedule
Friday, Oct. 9: three anniversary releases
Hours: 2-10 p.m. ET (11 a.m.-7 p.m. PT). All three are 2 p.m. releases on the brewery’s calendar and, per Breweries in PA, will pour on draft too.
| Beer | Style | ABV | Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nobody’s Robot | Double IPA | 8.2% | Cans |
| Nobody’s Jester | West Coast IPA | 7.4% | Cans |
| Black Clouds Double Vanilla | Barrel-aged imperial stout | 13.5% (brewery); 14% (Breweries in PA) | Bottles |
The brewery’s online shop calls Nobody’s Robot “Our anniversary DIPA. 8.2% and fully saturated with sticky Nelson and Citra hops.” Per Breweries in PA, Nobody’s Jester uses the same Citra and Nelson hops, and Black Clouds Double Vanilla was aged 33 months, then conditioned on fresh vanilla beans. Sensor discrepancy noted in the table: the brewery lists the stout at 13.5% ABV; Breweries in PA reports 14%.
Saturday, Oct. 10: 10 years, 10 collaborations
Hours: noon-10 p.m. ET (9 a.m.-7 p.m. PT). The brewery’s anniversary event page lists these partners and beers. Only one ABV has been published so far, so the rest stay blank in the Bureau’s logs.
- Bissell Brothers: Vibrate Higher, hazy IPA (6.6%, per Breweries in PA)
- Schilling: Skatter, Dutch lager
- Good Word: Forward and Back, dunkelweizen
- Human Robot: Keep Honking V3, English lager
- Old Thunder: Won’t Ask Twice, Belgian pils
- Balance Brewing: Friday at 2, West Coast IPA
- Stick City: Triumph Fresh, fresh hop golden wheat ale
- Golden Age: Original Fest, German-style festbier
- Blue Sparrow: Tin Crested, barrel-aged stout
- De Fer: Cold Brew Dead Sleep, coffee cask stout
Per Breweries in PA, Vibrate Higher is hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Krush and Rakau and uses a different yeast from Dancing Gnome’s usual house strain. Ur-Märzen and Cold Brew Dead Sleep are draft-only; the rest also go to-go. Single kegs of Chili Pilsner and Bloody Jester, both with Blue Sparrow, will pour too.
Conflicting transmissions: Breweries in PA calls the Golden Age beer Ur-Märzen, an original-style märzen, and the Balance collab “Fridays at 2”; the brewery’s page says Original Fest and “Friday at 2.” Check the board on arrival.
How to go
- Where: the Dancing Gnome taproom, 1025 Main St., Pittsburgh (Sharpsburg), PA 15215.
- When: Friday 2-10 p.m. ET for the releases; Saturday noon-10 p.m. ET for the collab party.
- Saturday food: food trucks Blue Sparrow, Steer and Wheel and G.S. Sando.
- Saturday music: Buscrates.
- Taking beer home: Friday’s beers are can and bottle releases; on Saturday, everything except the draft-only pours goes to-go, per Breweries in PA.
Ten years in Sharpsburg
According to the brewery’s Our Story page, Dancing Gnome took shape in 2014. Two years of pilot batches produced its house pale ale, Lustra, before the taproom opened Oct. 1, 2016. Its early focus was exclusively hop-forward; traditional styles and ultra-low-ABV beers came later.
The original taproom was at 925 Main St. In 2021 the brewery opened a 9,000-plus-square-foot brewery and taproom with a 20-barrel brewhouse down the street at 1025 Main, and in 2025 it reopened 925 Main as Nine Two Five, Breweries in PA reports. Founder and brewer Andrew Witchey told the outlet in 2019: “I’d love to see more appreciation for traditional styles in the same manner as NEIPA and Pastry Stouts, but that’s a slow process.”
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