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

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2026-01-02
- Length: 32m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company
- Listen: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=55) Introduction: Alex Gonzalez and Pittsburgh Brewing Company
- [5:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=317) Repurposing the PPG Glass Plant History
- [12:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=766) Designing the Most Automated Brewery East of the Mississippi
- [19:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=1152) Achieving 0.1% Scrap Rates and Hybrid Packaging Lines
- [24:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=1455) Pilot Brewing System and New Product Innovation
- [26:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=1576) Expanding into Distilling Rye Whiskey and Bourbon
- [29:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company#t=1793) The Brewery as a Community Event Space

## Topics

- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Pittsburgh Brewing Company (company)
- Iron City Beer (product)
- PPG (company)
- Tesla (company)
- Mo's Bach (company)
- Carnegie Mellon (company)

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- [#040 - Beer as you don’t know it - a startup bringing you the freshest craft beer possible, with Jong-Wook Shin of HOPii, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-10-25-040-beer-as-you-dont-know-it-a-startup-bringing-you-the-freshest-craft-beer-poss) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
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- [Bonus: Raising the bar in the alcoholic beverage category with G’s Dry Hard Ginger Beer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-02-07-bonus-raising-the-bar-in-the-alcoholic-beverage-category-with-gs-dry-hard-ginger) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-02-bonus-more-than-iron-city-beer-a-look-inside-pittsburgh-brewing-company. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Manufacturing Happy Hour.