Penn Brewery says its missing chunk of copper has finally come home. The historic piece, stolen from one of the brewery's old brewhouse kettles, was recovered in a scrap pile, and suspects are now facing charges. The roughly 4-foot, ellipse-shaped section, originally the bottom of a boil kettle, disappeared from the Vinial Street brewhouse during repair work in 2023. It had been set aside to honor the late head brewer, Andy Rich. City police, working with a Zone 1 detective, tracked the metal to a scrapyard, where it was found unmelted and returned to the brewery.
In a social-media post first shared last week, Penn Brewery explained that the kettle bottom had been removed during 2023 repairs and represented decades of Penn Brewery history and craftsmanship, as reported by WPXI. Staff said they were working with Pittsburgh police detectives to bring the part back, and brewery leaders later publicly thanked neighbors and online sharers who helped push the story into wider circulation. The brewery says the rescued copper will still be preserved and turned into a commemorative plaque, just as originally planned.
How Police Tracked It Down
Penn Brewery owner Stefan Nitsch told CBS Pittsburgh that Detective Lang from Zone 1 followed the trail to a nearby scrapyard, where the kettle bottom was sitting at the bottom of a pile, miraculously unmelted. Nitsch said he and his daughter went to the yard to retrieve the piece themselves and will now move forward with creating the commemorative plaque for Rich. "Detective Lang from Zone 1 did an awesome job tracking down and retrieving that piece of history for us," Nitsch told CBS.
Charges And What Police Say
The brewery's update said "the suspects have both been charged" following the recovery, and the company publicly thanked the City of Pittsburgh Police for their work on the case, per WTAE. At the same time, local coverage noted that law enforcement had not yet released detailed information about the suspects or the specifics of the recovery at the time of publication, according to TribLIVE. It remains unclear exactly what charges will be filed or when arraignments will take place.
A Small Piece Of A Long History
The Vinial Street complex sits on the former Eberhardt & Ober Brewery site, where brewing operations date back to 1848. Penn Brewery has used the historic brewhouse since the 1980s, drawing on that long German beer-making lineage, according to Wikipedia and local histories. The kettles in question were part of that old-school brewing setup, and equipment was imported from Germany as the modern Penn operation was built out. recent reporting on the brewery's Chapter 11 filing offers context on the financial pressures the company is juggling while trying to keep that legacy alive.
What Happens Next
Penn Brewery says the recovered copper will be fashioned into a permanent memorial to Andy Rich and that it plans to host a reception for the detective who helped bring the piece back, according to CBS Pittsburgh and other outlets. For now, the historic kettle bottom is back on brewery property while the legal process catches up. Court records detailing exact charges and next steps have not yet been posted, and those filings will ultimately provide the full public record of the case.
