Move over, I.C. Light Mango: Pittsburgh has a new summer beer in IC’d Tea

When it comes to naming Pittsburgh’s greatest duos, the mind leaps to the Inclines, Sidney Crosby and Evengi Malkin, Rick Sebak and his mustache, Mark Madden and being wrong online. So, when the collaboration was announced, there was one question on every Pittsburgher’s mind: would Turner’s and Iron City be next?

Finally, after weeks of anticipation and hype, we can definitively say that IC’d Tea, the new beer from the local giants of iced tea and lager is … perfectly fine.

This beer ends up being especially average, but will, understandably, be a massive hit locally due to good branding and the city’s inability to turn down anything that even vaguely reminds them that they do, in fact, live in Pittsburgh.

If there are any doubts about its inevitable popularity, I went to purchase some IC’d Tea on April 12, mere hours after it was released, and the distributor was already down to two cases that were actually cold. Multiple friends said they couldn’t even get it.

The beer marks a new chapter for Pittsburgh Brewing Company, the local company behind Iron City and other brands. As explained in a release, IC’d Tea is the first new product out of PBC's recently opened, 170,000-square-foot production facility in Creighton, Pa., which is where all the company's products are now being made and distributed.
The first thing you come to realize is that the beer aims to please both sides of the two brands, and ends up a dulled-down version of each. The ideal collaboration would have been something akin to a spiked Arnold Palmer: sweet, heavy on the tea, with maybe a little malt to make you still feel like you’re still drinking a beer. Instead, IC’d Tea starts off with a semi-sweet kick, and then the carbonation and flavors (or lack thereof) of the Iron City hit you on the back end, making for a disconnected drinking experience.

All this being said, I needed to experience this beer in its natural habitat. I went to my men’s league baseball practice and consumed a few more cans outside with friends in the sun (for research purposes, obviously). And I do get it. This beer is going to be wildly popular in the heat of summer, an easy drinking 4.2% ABV perfect for poolside enjoyment or at a Pirates game. Or, more accurately, it’s a beer you don’t think about until the next day when you have a massive headache from the copious amounts of sugar you just consumed.

Anyway, I’m taking up a lot of pretentious words to say what could be said so beautifully, so succinctly, by a fellow Pittsburgh City Paper employee with whom I shared a can: “It tastes like the piss of a true Yinzer." Put that on a billboard.