Who owns IRON CITY BEER?

IRON CITY BEER is owned by

PITTSBURGH BREWING CO

Website

Iron City Brewing Company was founded in 1861 by Edward Frauenheim in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1866, Leopold Vilsack became a partner, and the company was renamed Frauenheim & Vilsack Company. In 1899, the brewery joined with twenty other breweries in Pittsburgh to form a trust called Pittsburgh Brewing Company, which at the time was the third largest brewery in the country. The company survived Prohibition, and in 1974, it purchased Queen City Brewing Company. By 1977, it was one of only 49 breweries in the country. The brewery helped retain some relevance by introducing IC Light, a new lower calorie beer that was marketed heavily towards younger drinkers. Soon, over 80% of the light beer market in Pennsylvania was held by the brand.

By 1986, Pittsburgh was failing, and was acquired by Bond Brewing Holdings based out of Perth, Australia. That company also owned G. Heileman Brewing Company, and in 1988 the two were merged. However, the marriage was short lived, as Bond sold Heileman in 1991, and sold Pittsburgh separately the following year to entrepreneur Michael Carlow’s Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company. Carlow was under investigation for fraud, however, and when he was imprisoned in 1995, Pittsburgh was sold to Keystone Brewing Company (unrelated to the Molson Coors Keystone Beer) in bankruptcy court.

When Keystone itself went bankrupt in 2005, it was purchased again by Unified Growth Partners, who renamed it Iron City Brewing, the company’s original name. It was finally sold again in 2018 to Clifford Forrest III, the owner of Rosebud Mining, a coal mining company which had faced criticism for its chemical spill in 2014 which left 300,000 people without drinking water. Forrest renamed the company back to Pittsburgh Brewing.

Popular Beers by this Brand

• IC Light
• Iron City
• IC Light Mango
• Premium Lager
• Pumped Mango

Like what we’re doing here? Donate to help keep the site alive!