The fort's history indicates that a small brewery was established as part of the complex by roughly 1765. In the absence of pure spring water for drinking, beer was often a preferred beverage of the early pioneers. 

The Fort Pitt Brewing Company was incorporated in late 1906. The company operated successfully throughout its first decade, and in 1917, even as the threat of Prohibition flourished, directors displayed optimism of growth and new ventures. All beer sales ended in 1920 when the Prohibition was enacted, forcing the owners to decide what will happen with the large plant in Sharpsburg. Choosing to remain operational, Fort Pitt created non-acholic beverages including Montana Wet Ginger Beer which at the time was reportedly the country's only brewed ginger beer. 

With the end of the Prohibition in 1933, beer was all the talk in Sharpsburg with multiple breweries ready to be back producing. It is estimated that half a million cases of beer has been ordered from Western Pennsylvania breweries and at least 100,000 of the orders placed were from Fort Pitt. With changes in technology from the Prohibition Era Fort Pitt had to find new ways of marketing their products. Advertising heavily with sporting events, radio and the six-day bicycle race through the city with Fort Pitt slogans printed on both ends of the track. In 1935, Fort Pitt was dominating the local beer marketing with selling a record number of barrels - 114,000 to be exact. Success came to a halt when visionary and guiding force Samuel Grenet passed away suddenly, combined with his passing and the depression of the industry and technological advances Fort Pitt was in a financial distress. Sales continued to drop and left them at a loss for the year. 5 years later, new ownership comes in and manages to turn things around for the better, re-branding the Fort Pitt brand with a spotlight on a lighter, pilsener style beer gaining popularity during that time period with almost immediate success.

Plans to expand quickly began a topic of discussion, Fort Pitt purchased The Victor Brewing Company in Jeannette for $333,000 and now had two production facilities nearly doubling the output of two years earlier. With World War II looming in the future that did nothing to stop the company's growth. Years went on and only continued success, the war was over and Fort Pitt had their sights on growth. Fort Pitt was the king of not only local brewing competitors but all Pennsylvania beers for one of the first time in history.  

As employee strikes and buy outs struck company changes occurred at a rapid rate. 1957 would stop brewing operations at the Sharpsburg plant but that would not be the end to the Fort Pitt Brewing story. They quickly sold their rights to the Gunther Brewing Company in Baltimore for an impressive price tag of $1.3 million. Although in 1965, the aging Fort Pitt and Old Shay brand would return to Pennsylvania but not Pittsburgh instead Smithton purchased by Jones Brewing Company. The purchase of the brands brought back the well known names back to the area. To one's surprise, the brands returning to Pennsylvania were barley noticed by the Pittsburgh market as it was already being dominated by Duke Beer and Iron City Brewing. The story of Fort Pitt Brewing comes to a close in 1996 ending this 90 years of history for the brand, when the brewery decided to end production at the site due to ongoing financial and labor issues. 

In 2011, Mark Dudash, Pittsburgh native announced his intentions to trademark the Fort Pitt name and bring it back into production. For the first time in history, all of Pittsburgh's major brands are now being produced out of the same brewery. Although the glory days may behind us the Fort Pitt name is strongly linked to Pittsburgh with a bright future ahead.