By Acclamation: Verona brewery provides plenty of variety

What eventually became Acclamation Brewing in Verona traces its origins to an appropriate place.

“The story I always tell is that we were at a brewery, and it was packed,” Jason Yahnke said. “And the beer was very average.”

His wife, Danni Piccolo, asked his thoughts. Drawing from his background in manufacturing and information technology, he had been doing rough calculations of the operation’s profits in spite of his not particularly enjoying the product.

“Well,” Piccolo told him, “if you can do better, open your own brewery.”

“I was like, is that an option?” he recalled. “So I started a business plan.”

Today, he is Acclamation’s co-owner and director of operations, working with his wife and a trio of other partners to produce and serve beverages that tend to be on the lower side of the alcohol-by-volume spectrum.

“We wanted to make beer that we could drink and have a couple of them,” Piccolo said, as opposed to becoming inebriated in short order.

As such, customers generally have a choice of several varieties on tap registering under 6% ABV, from wheat and stout to the ubiquitous India pale ale. One of Yahnke’s favorite styles is gose, a sour beer that lends itself well to inventive flavorings, including the primary product of Pittsburgh Pickle Co., with which Acclamation shares its building at 555 Wildwood Ave.

The brewery has an even wider variety of beverages available in cans. Many feature illustrations by artist Joe Wos, who, like Piccolo and Yahnke, lives in Oakmont.

“He designed a series of labels with us called Cryptid Catchers,” Piccolo said, featuring mythological creatures such as the Chupacabra, West Virginia’s Mothman and Pennsylvania favorite the Squonk. Wos’ artwork also is available for purchase at Acclamation.

As for the brewery’s name, it started as Knurd — “drunK,” if you read it in a mirror — before the partners ran into some copyright issues and had to come up with a new one.

“We wanted to specialize in session beer. Three of us were in IT, and our motto is backward compatible,” Yahnke, who worked in information technology for 17 years, said.

For the alternative they selected, details about “Acclamation” are printed on the brewpub’s wall, courtesy of partner Aaron Martin, who majored in fine arts. Included is a description of the little-known punctuation mark called the acclamation point, an invention of French writer Hervé Bazin consisting of two exclamation marks sharing a dot, like a pair of upraised arms.

“We liked the definition of the word ‘acclamation,’” Yahnke said about its use as an expression of approval. “And with the acclamation point, it kind of came with a logo already.”

Acclamation Brewing subsequently was incorporated in 2018, and fellow partners Jim Callendar and Dave Angalich joined the others in looking forward to launching the business shortly afterward.

“We were expecting our license any day,” Yahnke said, “and there was a federal shutdown.”

Once the U.S. government’s wheels started turning again early in 2019, the partners continued to wait into the following year, when covid-19 struck.

“It got to the point where we were trying to figure out an exit strategy,” Yahnke said. “Next thing you know, our license came through, in the beginning of June 2020. We were getting ready to close our doors before we ever opened, and now all of a sudden, we had to hurry up and brew. It’s been a whirlwind ever since.”

He combines his stake in operating Acclamation with serving as primary caregiver for his and Piccolo’s 6-year-old daughter, who has a rare genetic neurological disorder called Rett syndrome. By starting Acclamation, he’s been able to balance his schedule to accommodate her needs optimally.

“He needed the flexibility,” Piccolo, a University of Pittsburgh assistant vice chancellor, said. “We had this nugget of an idea, but we also knew that we couldn’t just open the brewery by ourselves. So we have three other partners, since we couldn’t be here every night or do all of the brewing ourselves.”

From her viewpoint, the partnership is working well.

“We’re a little brewery, but we feel like we make quality beer. We’re getting there. We’re getting better,” she said. “We’re out in Verona, so we don’t get the biggest play. But we feel like we’re serving our community well.”