Feb 11, 2026 By Mike Jones 6 min read

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.”

While Benjamin Franklin probably never actually uttered that famous quote, it still rang true this past weekend as local restaurants, coffee shops and drinking establishments battled through a nearly 60-hour boil advisory following Friday night’s massive water main rupture in Elrama.

The boil advisory, which Pennsylvania American Water lifted about 11 a.m. Monday, forced the closure of some businesses over the weekend and required others to get a little creative in order to remain open for the Super Bowl Sunday crowd. The advisory affected 95,000 customers in southwestern Pennsylvania, and stretched from the Mon Valley to the South Hills of Pittsburgh to western Washington County.

Rusty Gold Brewing in Canonsburg quipped on its Facebook page Saturday that “good thing beer doesn’t need to be boiled” before being consumed.

But the beer-making process itself does boil the pre-alcohol liquid wort in tanks to sterilize it and avoid introducing bacteria during fermentation. That equipment allowed Rusty Gold’s brewers to boil tap water in one of their 200-gallon kettles to help with proper cleaning and other sanitary purposes throughout the weekend.

“Obviously, a brewery has that advantage of being able to boil all that water,” Rusty Gold owner EJ Kleckner said with a laugh.

Kleckner brought in bottled water and cans of pop to avoid using the soda fountain gun that mixes carbonated tap water, while also using plastic cups for beer and disposable dishware for food at the restaurant and brewery. Workers also pitched the ice and brought in fresh bags to avoid any chance of contamination.

“It made it a little slower pouring cans (of soda) and watching what you’re cleaning with,” he said. “Other than being an inconvenience, it didn’t affect much of what we were doing.”

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for various coffee shops in the area that rely on tap water to brew their cups of joe. Chicco Baccello owner Nancy Ogburn said they had to close both their Washington and Canonsburg locations on Saturday – and remained closed as usual on Sunday – while offering sandwiches and limited drink options Monday. A maintenance person was working on the cappuccino machine at both locations Tuesday so they could begin making their specialty brews once again.

“Well, it sucked,” Ogburn said of the widespread boil advisory. “Lots of people didn’t get their lattes. I can relate.”

On Monday, Ogburn said the staff brewed coffee “the old-fashioned way” by boiling the water and manually making it.

“Today, it’s looking much brighter,” Ogburn said about being able to offer the typical slate of hot drinks the coffee shop is known for.

Liberty Poles Spirits in North Strabane was open for business as usual Saturday and put out a minute-long video on its Facebook page explaining the procedures the staff was undertaking to make sure for a safe experience. Kevin Hough, who filmed the video in their “bottleshop” next to the meeting house, said they already had boiled 1,000 gallons of water in the distillery’s “hot liquor tank” as they do every Friday – before the advisory even happened – that gave them clean rinsing water to use for the day Saturday.

Hough said his father and the distillery’s patriarch, Jim, was instrumental in the problem-solving process as they reviewed a four-page document from the state Department of Agriculture on what to do in such a situation.

“Dad sent the message to the family and we just started gameplanning from there,” Hough said. “What do we have to do? Shoot, I think we can make this work. Let’s make it happen.”

The large ice cube blocks dropped into many of the cocktails were already frozen before the advisory went in place so could still be used, and workers bought bags of ice for other drinks. The biggest change was being cognizant of the different processes to avoid using water straight out of the tap, Hough said.

“Through the expansion (at the North Strabane location), we’re just programmed that if there are issues happening, we’re just wired to figure out what to do,” Hough said.

Hough added that they had a great crowd Saturday, and being closed Sunday for a belated staff Christmas party helped mitigate any extended issues.

“I think that really helped. It ended up being a busy Saturday,” he said. “People said they were glad to see the (Facebook) video and it helped them decide to come out.”

But not everyone was as lucky.

The Elrama Tavern, which is located on Route 837 in Union Township just a stone’s throw from where the water main break occurred, lost all water to the business and was closed until Tuesday after the utility’s services returned.

“We did get water into our basement, although we don’t have any permanent damage,” restaurant owner Susie Grimm said. “We were able to get here right away and get that cleaned up.”

Grimm said they had parties planned that had to be canceled, and food had to be thrown out. All of this comes nearly a year to the day when the restaurant reopened last February following the devastating fire in 2022 that destroyed the original location.

“The staff is out of money and we’re out of money. But nobody got hurt. That’s the most important thing,” Grimm said.

Some chain restaurants in the Washington area had to get creative while others had no choice to close. Buffalo Wild Wings in South Strabane closed Saturday, but reopened Sunday for the Super Bowl and poured its beers in red Solo cups, giving guests an authentic tailgate experience. But other places, such as the Starbucks coffee shops, were forced to close until the boil advisory was over.

Kleckner at Rusty Gold said while the lengthy and widespread boil advisory was unusual, they’re somewhat accustomed to having to make quick decisions in such situations since water main breaks are just a normal part of the freeze-thaw season during winter.

“There’s always a water main break,” he said. “We saw a little bit of an impact (Saturday), but it wasn’t a ghost town. We had a good day.”

Staff writer Paul Paterra contributed to this report.