Roy-Pitz opens pub at 990 Spring Garden

Beer is "liquid art," say Ryan Richards and Jesse Rotz, boyhood friends who opened Roy-Pitz Brewing Co. in Chambersburg, Pa., in 2008.

They've made the move east to the Spring Arts/Loft District with Roy-Pitz Barrel House (990 Spring Garden St., 215-995-6792), a striking pub that weds the company's attractive labels and branding with music, food and beer in a vast, high-ceilinged industrial space that was a warehouse's loading dock.

Opening is 4 p.m. June 1. Lunch hours start Friday, June 2.

Like barrel-aged, funky, and sour varieties, many with a Germanic bent? Want a food destination just 50 yards from the front door of Union Transfer? Bingo. Approachable menu from chef Dave Champagne (ex-Grey Lodge Public House) includes vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free selections.

Roy-Pitz is starting the beermaking in Chambersburg, exporting the partly fermented wort to 990 for the rest of the process. Manager Mike Treon says they also hope to collaborate with Love City Brewing Co.,  now under construction around the corner.

It's open from lunchtime through late night, closed Monday. Here's the opening menu, which will expand in coming weeks.

Oh, and some dish about 990:

Schmear-It, the bagel shop/truck, is set up in the lobby from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays with Rival Bros. iced cold brew and hot drip coffee, and bagels from South Street Philly and (for gluten-free) Greater Knead. Also, next year, chef Chad Rosenthal is poised to bring a cafeteria-style branch of The Lucky Well, his Ambler barbecue restaurant, into the 10th Street side of the ground floor.