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Burghers Brewing is a chef driven smash burger joint and craft brewery focused on local, ethical, and sustainable food & drink.
Our Story
Burghers Brewing officially began in 2017 when head chef and owner Fiore Moletz invited his engineer-turned-brewer friend Neil Glausier to join him as his partner and the head brewer of his 2010-established Burghers restaurant. The result of their partnership rocketed the Burghers experience to new heights of culinary excellence, while solidifying Moletz’s original vision of creating a restaurant that is approachable, affordable, and sustainable.
The dedication Burghers Brewing has to sustainable practices begins with local sourcing — all ingredients used in the restaurant are purchased from local farmers within a 200-mile radius — and carries all the way up to a no-paper-napkins policy. The team’s efforts in creating a more responsible restaurant has earned them a Platinum Designation from Sustainable Pittsburgh, the organization’s highest honor.
While Moletz and Glausier both carry diehard devotions to perfecting their crafts, the result is an unfussy, unpretentious dining experience that everyone from foodies to Uncle Frank can enjoy. Burghers Brewing serves the community as a fun, welcoming hang-out, and as a leader of sustainable practices working towards a better future. Furthermore, our mission is to change the status quo of the service industry by creating a dignified work environment with benefits that our team can be proud to call their full-time gig.
Fiore Moletz
Chef and entrepreneur Fiore Moletz is the Executive Chef and co-owner of two award-winning restaurants -- Burghers Brewing and Della Terra Italian Bistro — located in the Pittsburgh area. The biggest influence on Moletz’s cooking is his Italian heritage, and while many might picture spaghetti and meatballs on a red gingham tablecloth, for Moletz it meant growing up with an appreciation for fresh, local, and approachable ingredients. He’s infused this philosophy along with a diehard dedication to sustainability across both restaurants, setting a new standard for responsible restaurant ownership. His efforts resulted in Platinum designations for both Burgh’ers locations and Della Terra from Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurants. Moletz is passionate about employee advocacy. He works diligently to create a positive work environment. He offers health and retirement benefits to nearly all his employees. Most importantly, he personally mentors all of his staff, encouraging professional and personal growth.
Disappointment ultimately lead to Moletz pursuing a career in food. Even when dining at the most revered spots, nothing lived up to the fresh and flavorful homecooked meals of his childhood. A series of back-of-house gigs taught Moletz the basics of cooking and eventually earned him a position at the iconic Lidia’s in Pittsburgh, PA. It was there under the mentorship of Chef Craig Richards that Moletz learned to marry his love of all things local and fresh with essential fine cooking techniques.
Moletz’s career led him across the United States. From 2001-2005, he honed his skills in the renowned Bastianich Group kitchens of Esca, Babbo and Felidia in New York City and Kansas City. He returned to Pittsburgh in 2005 to work at Il Pizziaolo, where he trained with chefs & pizzaiolos from Naples, Italy. Moletz never attended culinary school. He earned every skill in his arsenal the old-fashioned way, through hard work and honing his senses, and he is damn proud of this. Taste and soul is at the heart of everything Moletz creates, just like the food he grew up with. In his own words, if a guest leaves one of his restaurants unsatisfied, “we f**ked up.”
Neil Glausier
Before becoming the Brewmaster of Burghers Brewing, Neil Glausier served 12 years in the United States Army, working as a civilian avionics/electronics integrator, and later worked as a test engineer on thin film deposition process equipment. He uses the same methodical, detail-oriented approach that it takes to launch an aircraft into the sky to impact his work as a Brewmaster, and to perfect his approachable yet unforgettable brews.
Glausier believes that chemistry and microbiology are shaking hands throughout the entire life of a beer from grain to glass, but not all handshakes are as simple as they may appear. His obsession with sourcing the highest quality ingredients led to developing robust QA/QC and data analytics protocols for the small brewery, while utilizing a reverse osmosis process for achieving the ideal mineral content in his brew water. From there, everything from temperature, proper pH, enzymatic activity, and yeast vitality are routinely tracked and monitored for quality, consistency, and future learning. Glausier isn’t afraid of adapting or evolving any part of his process if it makes for a more perfect beer. In 2019, he graduated from the Siebel Institute of Technology’s World Brewing Academy Advanced Brewing Theory Program and is always finding new ways to optimize his knowledge on the science, technology and ingredients that make seriously awesome brews.
While Glausier creates beer like a mad scientist, the similarities end there. Glausier enjoys beer like a regular Joe, rejecting the pretension, gimmicks and snobbery that can often skunk the craft beer industry. His only rules are: Beer should taste good, and should be made from good things. That’s it.
the partnership
Moletz and Glausier met by chance at a rainy-day crawfish boil in Harmony, PA. As the two got to talking about life, crawfish, moonshine and homebrewed beer, they knew they’d both found a kindred spirit in one another. The idea of teaming up for a world-class burger and beer restaurant never even crossed their minds.
Burghers restaurant was already up and running when Moletz met Glausier. In a tale as old as the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board itself, Moletz was unsuccessful in securing a liquor license. He knew he needed to get creative and began looking into opening a companion brewery instead. Glausier agreed to help his friend with the search for an in-house brew partner, but nothing more. Countless flights and head brewer interviews later, there was still no one else in Moletz’s mind with a better beer or more compatible personality than the guy he met one rainy day at a crawfish boil. Moletz somehow convinced Glausier to quit his full-time engineering job to become the Brewmaster and his business partner to form Burghers Brewing in 2017.
The result is a full-service restaurant that feels as welcoming as your best friend’s house, while serving up a sophisticated culinary experience. With its unfussy décor and mismatched dinnerware, Burghers might not appear to be a James Beard award-winning establishment, but with one bite of the “Fox Chapel” burger, it’s easy to see why. Moletz’s and Glausier’s elevated yet inviting approach to food and drink is probably why each would describe the other as the same Burgher on the menu — the “Liberty.” It’s Moletz’s take on the easy, all-American backyard burger with an almost intangible sense of refinement, thanks to a few flavorful touches. Despite their varying tastes in music, both Moletz and Glausier describe their partnership as one of the easiest and most rewarding parts of working together.
