BONUS: More Than Iron City Beer: A Look Inside Pittsburgh Brewing Company

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 2 Jan 2026 · 32m

What this episode covers

Alex Gonzalez, Plant Manager at Pittsburgh Brewing Company, explains how the company revived the iconic Iron City Beer brand by building a state-of-the-art, fully automated brewery inside a repurposed 1883 PPG glass plant. Gonzalez details the strategic decision to invest in high-end, hybrid bottling and canning equipment to achieve 0.1% scrap rates and rapid changeovers, prioritizing long-term efficiency over lower upfront costs. The episode highlights the facility's role as a community hub, featuring a taproom, concert venue, and expansion into distilling rye whiskey and bourbon to drive growth for the small, 50-person team.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies: Pittsburgh Brewing Company, PPG, Tesla, Mo's Bach, Carnegie Mellon
Products: Iron City Beer

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BONUS: More Than Iron City Beer: A Look Inside Pittsburgh Brewing Company

What this episode covers

Most relevant to

Topics

Mentioned

Related episodes from other shows

74 - They make and fill aluminum cans! Talking can packaging disruption with Eric at Vobev

#040 - Beer as you don’t know it - a startup bringing you the freshest craft beer possible, with Jong-Wook Shin of HOPii, USA

327 - The best soda you haven't heard about (probably)!

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery: Sam and Mariah Calagione

Bonus: Raising the bar in the alcoholic beverage category with G’s Dry Hard Ginger Beer