Pittsburgh Brewing teams with Turner's Iced Tea for new beer — IC'd Tea

You can’t spell iconic without the letters IC.

So when the makers of the iconic Iron City Beer were looking to create a new drink, it seemed only natural to collaborate with another iconic local brand, Turner’s Iced Tea.

On April 12 — 412 Day for Yinzers — Pittsburgh Brewing Co. will launch a special edition of Iron City Beer dubbed “IC’d Tea,” which blends the flavors of Iron City Beer and Turner’s Iced Tea.

Pittsburgh Brewing President Todd Zwicker said the drink has been in development since 2019, but producing it wasn’t possible until the company completed its new facility in East Deer.

“We were still using the old Rolling Rock production facility in Latrobe, but I felt that this new facility was the best place to produce this new drink, so we could really control the process to get what we wanted,” he said.

Zwicker said producing the new drink is more than just mixing beer and iced tea together.

“It’s a completely new beverage,” he said. “You can’t just mix beer and iced tea to get this. It’s a complicated process that involves a great deal of chemistry to create. I think it’s going to be a popular addition for our customers.”

The new drink will be sold in 15 packs of 12-ounce cans as well as on tap at a number of locations.

Zwicker said IC’d Tea is expected to do well alongside the company’s flagship brands, Iron City and IC Light, which are growing in popularity among younger drinkers.

“A lot of people might think of Iron City as appealing to an older demographic,” he said. “But if you look at our sales at venues such as Stage AE on the North Side, it is the No. 1 beer sold there. And that’s generally a very young audience.”

The 170,000-square-foot brewery is on the site of PPG’s former Pittsburgh Glass Works along Ferry Street in the township’s Creighton neighborhood. The PPG plant closed in 2018.

The facility opened in August and is outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment designed and made in Germany.

The boiler building on the site has been converted into a distillery. It will take about two more years for liquor being produced there to age in wooden barrels before it is ready for sale.

Plans also are in the works to add a restaurant and music venue with access to the Allegheny River.

“People will be able to come down to the brewery and sample the products we create, have a nice meal and enjoy some music,” Zwicker said.

The plant in Creighton is the brewing company’s first independent operation since its facility in Lawrenceville was shut down in 2009.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. was established in 1861 and is one of the oldest breweries in the United States and one of Pittsburgh’s longest operating companies.

Turner Dairy in Penn Hills began producing its popular iced tea in 1972.