Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The case for Iron City


Ever since my grandfather's kitchen was redone and I was able to take his 20+ year old fridge into my basement as my designated beer fridge, my monthly beer buying routine is to stock up on beer once a month. Each time, I buy a random microbrew case or sampler pack to try to expand my beer drinking horizons. I also buy a 30 pack of Iron City. While I'm planning on starting to share my experiences with the microbrews, I want to start my beer reviewing career with a look at Iron City.

My purpose here isn't to judge Iron City, because all of us know exactly what it is, a macro-produced pilsner style beer along the lines of Budweiser, Miller and Coors, but instead to make a case for why it is every Pittsburgher's duty to support our local brew.

The reality is that in a blind taste test, there is almost no chance any of you are going to be able to tell the difference between the Big Three and Iron City. You just aren't. So why do so many people claim that "Bud Light is my favorite beer."? Marketing. Marketing is the only thing that differentiates these different beers. The entire mass-produced corporate conglomerate beer market is designed to appeal to as many people as possible, thus the indistinguishableness between their products. It doesn't pay to be bold in that market.

So why Iron City? Because it encourages greater diversity in choice. Recently I watched the documentary Beer Wars, which takes a hard look at the beer industry's dirty tricks. The Big Three (actually, Big Two now that Miller-Coors have merged) do everything in their power to increase their market share, which includes taking over shelf space from competitors, limiting distribution channels, creating inferior "craft brew" competitors to price smaller breweries out of the market, file frivolous lawsuits that independent businesses can't afford to defend, etc. So when you choose Iron City over the alternatives, you are, at the least, making a statement that commercials won't dictate your buying habits and, at best, eating into some of their market share and encouraging suppliers to provide more diversity.

So the next time you're at the distributor (or, God forbid, the grocery store if you're outside of Pennsylvania) and you find yourself faced with the decision on which mainstream beer to purchase, do yourself and everyone else who wants more flavors to choose from a favor and buy local. If you're in Pittsburgh, buy Iron City. If you're in Maryland, buy Natty Boh. And so on.

Up next on the Blast Furnace beer tours: Craft Brew Night at Rock Bottom in Homestead on Thursday where we'll be sampling the local winners of the home brew contest.

15 comments:

  1. As a small addendum to this piece, I'd like to point out that I do realize that a lot of Iron City's problems are of their own making. From their inability to have a strong presence in local bars, their inconsistent marketing, disputes with the city, unstable ownership, moving outside the city limits, etc., they haven't made it easy to be a supporter.

    However, my point still stands that it is typically good for the market, for quality and for diversity to buy local, not just beer, but most products.

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  2. I'll also relay the Cantor story as an aside to this post. When I brought Iron City to softball a few weeks ago, Cantor ridiculed my choice and volunteered to bring beer the next week so that he could make sure it'd be anything but Iron City. I thought to myself, "Oh, cool, maybe he'll bring something fancy." What does he bring? Bud Light.

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  3. I totally agree. I love getting the local flavor even if that means just seeing the different can or bottle. I think the local beer names and symbols say a lot about the city in which they are or once were brewed. Beer drinkers must think globally and drink locally.

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  4. Ben Cantor brought Bud Light after ridiculing Iron City? I had a whole other comment lined up until I read that!! He prides himself in being a beer snob and then brings BUD LIGHT? I cant get over that hahaha.... I am going to give him hell! Cantor -- you've been flagged

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  5. I agree, nobody can say they can tell the difference between the tastes when blindfolded. Also, I love how big companies say they care all about the flavor and the tradition when all they care about is making money. There is nothing wrong with making money, just don't say one thing and immediately do the other.

    Case in point -- CNBC did a documentary on Anheuser Busch. At the end of the program, inBev offers to buy AB, but the CEO says that they don't want to because they pride themselves as an American company and want to hold true to being an American brewery. A bunch of crap about being loyal to the consumer or something....

    At the end of the documentary, they note that three weeks after completing the shooting of the doc, AB sold to Belgium based inBev. So much for what they just said.

    Anyways, I'm all about diversity in the industry, the competition brings out more and better tasting beers!

    I'll definitely check out Beer Wars, I see you can stream it instantly on Netflix.

    Cantor and I did a paper on inBev while at Katz, it emphasized everything you said in paragraph 4. Market share is everything.

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  6. yes, I always try buying a local beer like Penn Brewery, Duquesne Beer, IC, and maybe even East End once I get to try all of the different flavors. Even when I am in another city I go for that citys beer (ie Baltimore & Natty Boh or that bar in Fells Point). Its a shame that the national brands take over Pittsburgh bars and offer that junk at low prices so everyone buys it. Spend an extra $0.50 and go with something unique

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  7. @stellar: yeah, the Cantor thing was hilarious. I wouldn't buy anything fancy for softball either, but then, I wouldn't criticize what someone else brought to share.

    I also remember that right after inBev bought AB, they started their ad campaign focusing on just how American their product is. The ones where they compared Bud to American women.

    The market share thing is just awful. Basically they invent new beers, different types of bottles and cans, sizes, etc., just so that they can take over more shelf space from the competitors.

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  8. I drank Shiner when I was in Houston. Never forget how I found out about it either: I walked up to the bar, asked the bartender what they had, and the guy next to me (who was wearing a Cowboy hat and cowboy boots) stammered out, "grab a Shiner." How could I turn down those words of wisdom? I had the brown ale, it was pretty good.

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  9. correction - it was shiner bock, not brown ale.

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  10. I was just in San Antonio last week and had lots of Shiner Bock. I've had it a few times before as well. The hotel I was at also had a selection of beers from Alamo Beer Company and one from the Saint Arnold Brewing Company, both Texas beers. I wasn't crazy about Saint Arnold's Lawnmower, but the Alamo Golden Ale was fantastic. I'm not usually a fan of Golden Ale's, but theirs may have been the best I've ever had. We also had Fat Tire Ale at one of our cocktail receptions.

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  11. Alamo Beer is what Hank Hill and the gand drink. I am sure it is good just based off of King of the Hill. I only wish I could drink Duff or Fudd.

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  12. Post-Gazette has another Craft Beer Week feature today: http://post-gazette.com/pg/11139/1147408-389.stm

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  13. I had that full pint from North Versailles they talk about in the article Ben State just posted... it is delicious. I had the IPA and some other seasonal beer they made. The IPA was on tap at Fuel & Fuddle for about 2 weeks. The guy who worked at fuel said they bring an independent local beer in every time the keg before it runs out. He said they will normally last about a month but the Full Pint ran out in 2 weeks. I havent seen it since then but am looking forward to drinking it again.

    I just checked their website and it looks like Full Pint has growler hours too. Looks like we will have to visit this brewery as well as East End. They also are on fb and twitter.

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  14. I wasn't going to comment until discussion of shiner bock came up. That is far and away my favorite beer since about 2005. Like steller, my connection started with a unique experience in texas. I was in corpus christi for my brother's winging - shiner is so common there that the establishment had a keg of it off to the side of the bar for anyone to drink free of charge. I was hooked and have been seeking it out in store shelves in MD and VA ever since. Great stuff.

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  15. @oechsleins: Let me know if you are still having trouble finding shiner bock, they sell six packs of it at the Giant Eagle in Cranberry. I can pick you up some when you come up for Memorial Day.

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