Pittsburgh's newest brewpub opened Monday to a standing-room-only throng. The Rivertowne Pour House is off to a booming start in the remodeled former Parkway Tavern in Monroeville.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Brewmasters Andrew Maxwell, left, and Barrett Goddard pose with their mascot Wylie the Fish at the Rivertowne Pour House in Monroeville. Click photo for larger image.

The new place is a partnership between Christian Fyke and Joe Boros, who own two Rivertowne taverns (in Verona and North Huntingdon), and Andrew Maxwell, who previously was head brewer at John Harvard's Brew House in Wilkins.

Joining Mr. Maxwell in brewing at this new spot is Barrett Goddard, former head brewer at the Johnstown Brewing Co., who trained with him.

"We're a seriously powerful two-headed monster," says Mr. Maxwell, whose own brewing prowess made him many appreciative fans and friends.

The brewers will need each other, as the place plans to offer as many as 18 drafts, plus one cask-conditioned ale, at a time.

Monday night, as a crowd that included sunburned spectators from the U.S. Open golf tournament squeezed in to the spacious bar, servers had their hands full with skinny pint glasses of the 15 offerings, including a cask India pale ale and proving-popular pinkish Raspberry Patch and Perfectly Pomegranate, both made with real fruit.

		If you go The Rivertowne Pour House is located at 312 Center Road at Old William Penn Highway. The phone number is 412-372-8119, and the Web site is www.myrivertowne.com.

Several of the brews play off the place's wooden carved mascot, Wylie the fish, including "Old Wylie's IPA" and "Ultra Light Tackle," aimed at customers all along the beer spectrum. As Mr. Maxwell puts it, with so many choices, "No matter what they're used to, I should be able to produce a better product that meets their flavor needs."

The food menu also offers something for almost everyone, from appetizers and salads to sandwiches and dinners as well as pizzas. The fish and chips, which include fried salmon, are served in buckets, one of the fun, quality touches from a kitchen under the direction of Kathy Carroll and Jeff O'Block.

Diners (up to about 200 of them) sit on multiple levels and spaces, which are decorated in warm gold paint and light woods, around the high-capacity brewing and fermenting tanks. The 15-barrel, gas-fired lager system was customized, with help from others in the region's brewing fraternity, to brew lagers and ales.

Opening soon in back is an 80-seat banquet room, outfitted as is the rest of the place with wireless Internet as well as a projection screen, and, out front, a patio with a canopy of live hops vines.

A grand opening is planned for early next month.

Also soon, Mr. Maxwell says, a rotating selection of four of the place's brews soon will be on tap at the other two Rivertownes, along with some of the sodas he's also brewing himself.

Meanwhile, he's basking in the effervescent greetings of old friends that he hasn't seen in months of hard work of renovating and starting the business. Plus, he says with a voice hoarse from 18-hour days but happy, "I've really been given an opportunity to create a lot of new friends."