Iron City Beer

Brewed by Iron City Brewing
Style: Pale Lager
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Lager glass, Shaker

Don’t know what it is, but when you are watching the Stillers, nothing tastes as good as an ’Arn’. All ’Burgh bias aside, this mainstream-ish lager sure beats the crap from Coors or the like.

UPDATED: JUL 6, 2007 Funky shaped aluminum bottle courtesy of hopdog. Pours gold with a sustained white creamy head. Smells of citrus, nuts, apples, grapes. Tastes of nutty malt with some underlying corn starch sweetness. Finishes lightly peppery and nutty. One of the more flavorful pale lagers I’ve tried over the years.

A Pittsburgh tradition. Synopsis with Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. This brewery started many “firsts” in the beer industry. For example, snap top can, draught beer in a can, they used local sports teams on the beer cans, first light beer (Mark V), aluminum bottle, reseal able cap on bottle, and first malt (Hop-n-Gator). Not bad. The beer is not bad either. Try one!

It has been some twenty years since I drank my last “Iron City” beer, and as I doubt it has changed much, it was still like seeing an old friend from my distant past, and memories are sometimes better than the real thing.

The archetypal lager pour, a resplendent gold color, the head brilliant white, modest in size, frothy in texture and as it erodes, it leaves behind a thin coating of lace. A quintessential lager nose, all malt, somewhat sweet, fresh and clean and altogether not a bad aroma. The start all malt, lightly sweet, the top skimpy in its feel to the palate, finish is stingingly acidic, the hops apropos to the style, dry long lasting aftertaste. Good “No”, bad “No”, drinkable yes, and still better than the big three, in my humble opinion that is.

The new IC aluminum bottle hit town the other day and I just had to check it out. Poured medium gold in color with a mild malty grainy aroma and faint hoppiness. Light bodied, some maltiness and crisp in the finish, it’s a fresh batch anyways. Pretty average for the style, compared favorably taste wise with the big brands and generally a lot cheaper, although the new packaging was a bit more than the regular bottles. What the heck, give it a try, you can always use ’em for little bowling pins.

UPDATED: JUL 19, 2003 It's always hard to describe American Standards. They all taste more or less the same. They taste like beer. No hints of coffee, no mild maltiness, no floral hop finish. It's all just personal prefrence and I prefer Iron City over almost every other beer of this style. Maybe it's because it's not as watery as other Americans maybe it's because my family is from Pittsburgh. I don't know but I like it.

This is a decent lager, kind of light and barleyish - kind of tastes crisp and refreshing, actually. It’s of course not great, but it *is* underrated. From Pennsylvania! My dad’s friend brought it down.

A steel bottle of beer? Really? Great idea, average pale lager. I have to admit, seeing a bottle made of metal was the main selling point. That and the fact that a single cost about a buck. Overall points for that originality.