After 165 years brewing and distributing some of Pittsburgh’s most iconic beers, Pittsburgh Brewing Co. has reemphasized the first word of its name by pouring its heart into a taproom experiment in the heart of Downtown.
With the first of its taprooms located at its 42-acre brewing and distilling campus in Creighton, company leadership hopes the for now temporary opening of the intimate (just under 1,000-square-foot) taproom in the Alcoa Building at 611 William Penn Place on Wednesday will find the company behind Iron City and IC Light meeting the moment presented by the NFL Draft next week.
“Our roots are in Pittsburgh, just a great opportunity to get back here obviously with the NFL Draft coming up,” said company President Todd Zwicker. “We definitely wanted to be part of it. This is six months we’ll be here. It could be longer. We’re just going to see how it goes, see what the response is and then let that guide us.”
Zwicker indicated there is no hard-and-fast sales number that the location, employing about 15, would have to reach to be continued beyond the six-month mark, but he said seeing engagement would be key.
At Wednesday’s grand opening, the new spot sported dark gray walls, deep brown floors, ample branding — including a few vintage signs — a dark countertop featuring modern-looking intersecting swirls, a modest two-level chandelier, a sign reading “It’s a Burgh thing!” and music by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“Being a consumable product, you always want to be in front of the customer or have the opportunity to be in front of the customer … to let people see it and try it,” Zwicker said. “There’s a lot of people who live in Pittsburgh that maybe don’t drink us on a regular basis. Beer is very social. It brings people together, and, obviously, with the couple hotels right here, a lot of people live in this building, hopefully they come down and have a couple beers.
”It’s exposure for the brands. And in today’s world, in the beer industry, which is extremely challenged right now, exposure is a key component.”
The move to open the new taproom follows a series of changes — the establishment of concert venue Iron City Stage in Creighton in 2024, the breaking of ground for brewing operations at the original 1883 PPG Glass Plant No. 1 in Creighton in 2020 and a recent Iron City brand refresh — that local entrepreneur-owner Cliff Forrest has undertaken since he purchased PBC in 2018. He sought to resurrect the firm that, in 1978, saw its still best-selling brand, IC Light, outsell national brands 8-1 in the Pittsburgh market, per the company.
In 2009, PBC hit a low moment when it moved to a contract-brewing setup out of Latrobe. But since the late summer of 2022, it has brewed in-house at its 170,000-square-foot Creighton footprint. It utilizes its original brewery location on Sassafras Street in Lawrenceville — once considered for renewed brewing operations — as a warehouse.
The idea for the Downtown taproom came together quickly.
“This space was just really an opportunity as a team,” said Zwicker. “We had two of our team members put a lot of time into this, and it was a very quick turnaround — about three weeks. So that’s the great piece about it.”
And fans of PBC can expect additional developments in the coming years.
“With our new owner, nothing is really totally out of the question,” said Zwicker, noting he didn’t know of anything specific on the immediate horizon beyond focusing on reinvigorating its concert series for next year, but saying, “We’re still looking to expand on our property in Creighton.”
Additionally, in two weeks, he said, the company will launch its new IC Light Berry product.
The company sold 92,000 barrels of beer in a somewhat down 2025, per Zwicker, but is tracking upward of that number so far through spring 2026.
Hours for the taproom are 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 3 to 9 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.