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- Thread starter Guy Incognito
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i'm a steelers fan, and i've drank it a few times. its a great beer when you are already drunk and thats all you have.
Rolling Rock is better
Rolling Rock is better
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It would be a shame if the brewery closed... on the other hand, even if it did, the brand will get picked up by a mega brewery and live on....
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LoKyBuckeye
I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
I remember getting plastered on IC Light in high school. I had a friend who worked in Pittsburg and he would come home for the weekends and he would bring home cases of IC. That is the reason I don't drink a lot of beer to this day.
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tsteele316
Mr. Such and Such
there was a dive bar by ysu's campus that had $1 pitcher night every thursday night. the beer was IC and IC Light. I'm pretty sure I single handedly financed their operations from 2000-2001.
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tsteele316
Mr. Such and Such
steel city reserve messes up a lot of folks. that's probably because it's nothing but ether and soda water.
that being said, i used to buy 40's of it for 99 cents.
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DaytonBuck
I've always liked them
Steel doesn't have a "refined" taste but several of those 24oz cans and you're feeling good. IC was low quality but it got the job done. I've always leaned beaste lite direction as far as low quaility beers go.
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GoBucks89
Straight Shooting
Guy, I couldn't get your link to work. So I did a google search and came up with this story.
********************************************************
Crying in their beer
Struggling Iron City offloads pensions
By Daniel Lovering
Associated Press
<!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE class=sidebar_table cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=300 border=0><!-- MAIN PHOTO --><TBODY><TR><TD class=photosidebar align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=100 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs...egory=BIZ&ArtNo=512080339&Ref=AR&Profile=1001</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc colSpan=2>
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=36>http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs...egory=BIZ&ArtNo=512080339&Ref=AR&Profile=1001</TD><TD class=photosidebar_body align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- OTHER FEED PHOTOS --><!--RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES--><!-- RELATED MULTIMEDIA ASSETS --><!-- MAIN FACT BOX --><!-- 300x250 AD --><TR><TD class=sidebar_ad></TD></TR><!-- RELATED ARTICLES --><!-- RELATED EXTERNAL LINKS --><!-- ADDITIONAL PHOTOS --></TBODY></TABLE><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->
PITTSBURGH - More than 140 years after the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. opened for business, its massive steel kettles are still churning with malted barley, corn and hops.
And the company's current owners hope to keep it that way.
But the maker of Iron City Beer has struggled to survive amid a declining beer market and ever tougher competition. Now it's taking an unusual have-cake-and-eat-it-too approach to an increasingly common problem: it's trying to rid itself of pension obligations without first seeking a bankruptcy court reorganization that likely would have wiped out the equity of its owners.
In April, the company asked the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to take over one of its two pension funds, saying it had lost $1.2 million from operations since 2002 and would be forced to close unless it was relieved of obligations to more than 500 former and current employees.
The agency said it was unclear when a decision would be reached, but Pittsburgh Brewing executives say they hope to have an answer by the end of the year.
But such requests are extremely rare and can take years to process. And, with the PBGC's own finances stretched, observers say it's unlikely they will become a trend.
"The vast majority of the pension plans we take are from bankrupt companies," said Jeffrey Speicher, a PBGC spokesman. A company that can show it won't stay in business unless it terminates its plan may apply to turn it in to the PBGC, but it's "really, really, really rare," he said.
Researchers at the agency found just one company that won approval outside of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent years: Murray & Trettel, Inc., a Palatine, Ill.-based weather forecasting and environmental consulting company that was allowed to terminate a pension plan covering 27 mostly former employees that was frozen in 1984.
Tom Piazza, the company's president, said the process took nearly two years. Murray & Trettel, which was founded in 1946 and currently has just 20 employees, "is struggling still," he said.
Meanwhile, the PGBC is facing problems of its own.
Earlier this month, the agency announced it had liabilities of $22.8 billion and its future financial situation was clouded by the prospects of more bankruptcies among major corporations. Bankrupt steel and airline companies have been major contributors to its mounting debts.
Pittsburgh Brewing executives were concerned their application may be delayed by the bankruptcies of large corporations such as Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., which both filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14. But they're willing to wait if it means saving the brewery.
"I think I owe it to everyone here and the families and the city and the customers," said Joseph R. Piccirilli, who bought the company out of bankruptcy with a group of investors a decade ago. "The easiest way would have been a bankruptcy, no doubt. But we said, 'No, we want to give this a shot."'
Despite financial troubles that started about five years ago, the company has continued to invest in its 220-employee facility, and the efforts have borne results, according to Piccirilli, 43.
He acknowledged the company has lost money in recent years, but says it's less than in the past. The faltering pension plan, he added, was inherited from previous owners.
"Do you protect the jobs of everyone here? Or do you fund - not an albatross, but something that doesn't really pertain 100 percent to the current employees?" Piccirilli said. "You only have so many dollars."
Whether the company succeeds or not, it's unlikely more companies will start taking such measures, said Douglas Elliott, head of the Center on Federal Financial Institutions, a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan group.
"The PBGC in practice wants companies to have to go through the pain and turmoil of bankruptcy as a deterrent to have them just dump the pension plan," he said. "If you remove that as a practical limit, you can anticipate a whole lot more pension terminations. And I don't think Congress or the administration are in the mood for that."
********************************************************
Crying in their beer
Struggling Iron City offloads pensions
By Daniel Lovering
Associated Press
<!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE class=sidebar_table cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=300 border=0><!-- MAIN PHOTO --><TBODY><TR><TD class=photosidebar align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=100 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs...egory=BIZ&ArtNo=512080339&Ref=AR&Profile=1001</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc colSpan=2>
PITTSBURGH - More than 140 years after the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. opened for business, its massive steel kettles are still churning with malted barley, corn and hops.
And the company's current owners hope to keep it that way.
But the maker of Iron City Beer has struggled to survive amid a declining beer market and ever tougher competition. Now it's taking an unusual have-cake-and-eat-it-too approach to an increasingly common problem: it's trying to rid itself of pension obligations without first seeking a bankruptcy court reorganization that likely would have wiped out the equity of its owners.
In April, the company asked the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to take over one of its two pension funds, saying it had lost $1.2 million from operations since 2002 and would be forced to close unless it was relieved of obligations to more than 500 former and current employees.
The agency said it was unclear when a decision would be reached, but Pittsburgh Brewing executives say they hope to have an answer by the end of the year.
But such requests are extremely rare and can take years to process. And, with the PBGC's own finances stretched, observers say it's unlikely they will become a trend.
"The vast majority of the pension plans we take are from bankrupt companies," said Jeffrey Speicher, a PBGC spokesman. A company that can show it won't stay in business unless it terminates its plan may apply to turn it in to the PBGC, but it's "really, really, really rare," he said.
Researchers at the agency found just one company that won approval outside of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent years: Murray & Trettel, Inc., a Palatine, Ill.-based weather forecasting and environmental consulting company that was allowed to terminate a pension plan covering 27 mostly former employees that was frozen in 1984.
Tom Piazza, the company's president, said the process took nearly two years. Murray & Trettel, which was founded in 1946 and currently has just 20 employees, "is struggling still," he said.
Meanwhile, the PGBC is facing problems of its own.
Earlier this month, the agency announced it had liabilities of $22.8 billion and its future financial situation was clouded by the prospects of more bankruptcies among major corporations. Bankrupt steel and airline companies have been major contributors to its mounting debts.
Pittsburgh Brewing executives were concerned their application may be delayed by the bankruptcies of large corporations such as Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., which both filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14. But they're willing to wait if it means saving the brewery.
"I think I owe it to everyone here and the families and the city and the customers," said Joseph R. Piccirilli, who bought the company out of bankruptcy with a group of investors a decade ago. "The easiest way would have been a bankruptcy, no doubt. But we said, 'No, we want to give this a shot."'
Despite financial troubles that started about five years ago, the company has continued to invest in its 220-employee facility, and the efforts have borne results, according to Piccirilli, 43.
He acknowledged the company has lost money in recent years, but says it's less than in the past. The faltering pension plan, he added, was inherited from previous owners.
"Do you protect the jobs of everyone here? Or do you fund - not an albatross, but something that doesn't really pertain 100 percent to the current employees?" Piccirilli said. "You only have so many dollars."
Whether the company succeeds or not, it's unlikely more companies will start taking such measures, said Douglas Elliott, head of the Center on Federal Financial Institutions, a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan group.
"The PBGC in practice wants companies to have to go through the pain and turmoil of bankruptcy as a deterrent to have them just dump the pension plan," he said. "If you remove that as a practical limit, you can anticipate a whole lot more pension terminations. And I don't think Congress or the administration are in the mood for that."
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StooGrimson
He drives around, all over the town...
Ugh...Iron City beer...Pittsburgh's crappy answer to another shitty beer, Hudy Delight.
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