Iron City. Oh hell yeah!

Hmmm. Let’s see. Were I to suddenly stop drinking any beer produced east of the common border of Colorado and Kansas, and I had to sample one last meaningful example of a beer from the eastern United States, what beer would that be? Hmm. Probably not something as common and low as Iron City.

Uh, too late.

Blatantly bland in it’s blandness.

The label touts this stuff as the official beer of the Pittsburgh Nation. I’ve heard of the Republic of Texas (I love their sheet cakes.) but I’m completely in the dark when it comes to this Pittsburgh Nation. I’m pretty sure it’s a football thing and since I’m more a NASCAR fan most of the time, I’ll stay out of that social milieu. (I said “milieu.”)

But enough! This stuff smells grainy and plastic-like, pours with no discernible head (but with very active and lively beading) and tastes vaguely sour and plastic.

On the plus side, it’s probably an eastern/Midwest/rustbelt version of a retro beer much on the order of a Pabst Blue Ribbon or a Schlitz. Another plus: I think the label is cool.

I actually bought this beer because the label states it’s brewed in Latrobe. Now back in the day, I drank me a few gallons of another Latrobe product known as Rolling Rock (or Rolling Boulder in my circle). Sadly, Rolling Rock has evidently moved out of Latrobe, having been swallowed up by the Bud monster. But alas, all is not lost for the good union working folk of Latrobe, because according to this Wickety Whacked Wikipedia Entry, Iron City has moved in to fill the void left by the Rolling Rock. (I wonder if Iron City now springs forth from those glass-lined tanks that used to produce Rolling Rock?) While I’m happy for the folks who might otherwise have been left jobless by the departure of Rolling Rock, this Iron City ain’t no Rolling Rock; a statement that strikes me as funny, since it’s akin to saying that turd there tastes better’n this turd here. (The departure of Iron City from it’s home in a Pittsburgh suburb to Latrobe apparently wasn’t without some rancor, but I’ll let you Google all that on your own if you’re interested in the dirt.)

But in the end, and in keeping with my philosophy about good and bad beers, I would not turn up my nose at a cold bottle of Iron City proffered by an old friend or a potential new friend. I think when I have another Iron City beer, I’ll likely drink it straight from the bottle and I’ll drink it while watching a sporting event in person or on television, and I’ll plan on having lots of greasy food on hand. Setting and circumstance? You bet!

Here’s the Iron City Brewing website. Maybe I should submit a picture of me drinking this beer for their photo contest. (Maybe I should send them a dry cleaning bill as a result of having violently ejected said beer onto my Sunday church clothes.)

Tick, Tick, Tick

I’ve got about 3 more days until I’ll have to decide about acting on the results of the 2009 year end Gimmick Poll. If trends continue, I’ll likely be limiting my beer blogging to beers brewed in the western United States. Meanwhile I think there may be one or two more “eastern” beers hiding in the garage that I should try to get at before time runs out.

By the way, if I elect to honor the results of the 2009 Gimmick Poll, and should my vast readership of roughly two dozen vote that I’ll only blog beers from the United States’ western region, you can rest assured that I’ll still try beers from the eastern U.S. I just won’t be bragging about it here!