The Iron City Brewery (also known as the
Pittsburgh Brewing Company) was started in 1861, located on 17th Street in Pittsburgh,
by Edward Frauenheim, a young German immigrant. It was one of the first American
breweries to produce a lager. The company soon began brewing Iron City Beer, which
would become the enduring flagship creation of the Iron City Brewing Company.
By 1866, the business had outgrown
it's building on 17th Street and moved into a four-story brick building at the
corner of Liberty Avenue and 34th Street. Three years later, Iron City Brewery
built an additional three-story building on the site.
The Iron City Brewery's fame spread quickly
throughout the country's brewing industry. The Pittsburgh facility was one of the
most complete and extensive breweries in the United States. It was one of the largest
brewers west of the Atlantic Coast area.
In 1899, the Iron City Brewery merged with
twelve other local breweries, along with nine others outside the county, to form
the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. The headquarters and main operation of the newly
formed brewers trust remained in Lawrenceville.
The Pittsburgh Brewing Company, located in
Lawrenceville, in 1919.
Prohibition, starting in 1920, forced many
breweries, distillers and taverns to close, yet the Pittsburgh Brewing Company
survived. Before prohibition was repealed in 1933, The Pittsburgh brewer produced
soft drinks, ice cream and "near beer," and also ran a cold storage business to
endure those years.
By 1977, Pittsburgh Brewing Company was one
of just forty breweries left in the country. In a move to restore stability during
difficult financial times, the brewery introduced a new light beer, branded as Iron
City Light, or IC Light. The new product quickly captured 80 percent of the local
light-beer market, and helped increase the sales of regular Iron City beer, which
soon regained the position of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s favorite beer.
The 21st century saw the Pittsburgh brewer
again fall in hard economic times. In 2005, a sharp decline in sales forced the
Pittsburgh Brewing Company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 2007, the brewery
was purchased and renamed to it's original name of "Iron City Brewing
Company."
In May 2009, due to the aging Lawrenceville
facility, Iron City Brewing signed a deal with the City Brewing Company to begin
producing beer at their former Latrobe Brewing Company plant. Brewing started in
June and bottling/kegging production resumed in July, 2009. The abandoned
Lawrenceville building was named a Pittsburgh Historic Landmark in 2010.
The company's
ties to Pittsburgh still exist, as the Iron City website still lists "a four-story
brick building on the corner of Liberty Avenue and 34th Street" as the brewery's
location.
After 149 years in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh's
iconic Iron City Beer is now produced in Latrobe. Despite the move, Iron City Beer
will always be associated with the city of Pittsburgh. There are certain trademark
items that people seem to relate to the city. There's the Steelers, and there's Heinz
ketchup, and there's Iron City Beer. You can travel most anywhere in the country and
walk around wearing an Iron City t-shirt. The odds are strong that you will be
identified as a Pittsburgher.
As with most breweries, there are many
specialty collector cans made to promote local sports. Iron City was one of the
first to link their brews with the local sports franchises. For years they have
created new collector cans to promote their product. There's also the Pittsburgh
Brewery's specialty brew, Olde Frothingslosh, an ale that looks as good as it tastes.
Yes folks, Iron City Beer is a Pittsburgh tradition like no other, and for
those of legal drinking age, it's not a bad tasting brew.
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