Pittsburgh Brewing's IC’d Tea returns to shelves after selling out

The new combination of two beloved Pittsburgh beverages — Turner’s iced tea and Iron City Beer — is back on the shelves.

Pittsburgh Brewing Company’s new creation, IC’d Tea, hit shelves across Southwestern Pennsylvania in mid-April. Demand was strong and about a week later it had completely sold out, said company President Todd Zwicker.

“Our wholesaler received and released the Turner’s IC’d Tea on April 10th,” said Zwicker. “And as of April 17th, they were all sold out.”

Zwicker said IC’d Tea has returned to Pittsburgh shelves this week. He said the East Deer-based brewery expects supply to improve this time, but cautioned that it could be a “bit choppy” because company officials are dealing with record-breaking demand for the new product.

“We got the beer into the market and it was selling out within hours,” he said.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co.’s local distributor for Pittsburgh, Fuhrer Wholesale, purchased 32,000 15-packs during the first distribution run in April, which Zwicker said was a record purchase for a new product for the wholesaler.

None of Pittsburgh Brewing Company’s new products had ever seen an initial shipment that large.

And the new beverages sold more quickly than anticipated.

Zwicker said the company believed the first large order would last two weeks. The quick sales caught the company a bit off guard.

“We already had the materials ordered, but we figured we had two weeks. It turns out that we didn’t have any,” he said. “We have never had a product pull like this.”

Zwicker has worked in breweries for years and he mentioned how when he returned to Pittsburgh Brewing Company in 2020, the company had to deal with the costs and fallout of failed brands like IC Pumped Mango and IC Light Twist.

“Those were mistakes,” he said. “Innovation is great, but those cost a lot to clean up.”

With that in mind, Zwicker said Pittsburgh Brewing is responding to the initial demand for IC’d Tea by increasing production, but not overloading it.

He said another 32,000 15-packs are on the shelves now, and then starting next week, another 22,000 packs will be distributed, as well as a large number of 24-oz cans of IC’d Tea.

Zwicker said 24-oz cans will be available at PNC Park and Stage AE starting sometime next week.

Then, starting the third week of May, Zwicker said an order “significantly more” than previous orders will be distributed.

He said he believed IC’d Tea would be popular because of the legacy of the brands involved, but Pittsburgh Brewing has been surprised by the scale of the demand for IC’d Tea. He believes the beverage hit a sweet spot with consumers — but not too sweet.

Zwicker said IC’d Tea is a unique product in that it diverges from other alcoholic teas on the market because it is carbonated and isn’t sugary sweet. Pittsburgh Brewing worked on fine-tuning the beverage for three years, with a goal of having IC’d Tea behave like a beer but also have a strong Turner’s tea flavor. Zwicker said IC’d Tea’s carbonization also allows it to be served on draft at local bars and restaurants.

“Our goal is to represent both companies, the maltiness of Iron City beer and the classic flavor of Turner’s Iced Tea,” Zwicker said. “It is hard to make something that is balanced all the way through.”

He said he suspects the dedication to these two longtime Pittsburgh brands has resonated with customers, and he is hopeful that IC’d Tea’s balanced flavor will gain even more popularity as the summer months start to warm up.

“Our hope is that it has staying power,” said Zwicker. “I have heard people call it their next lawnmower beer.”

Zwicker said the goal is to have IC’d Tea become a year-round offering.

He mentioned how another beer-hybrid beverage under Pittsburgh Brewing, IC Light Mango, was seasonal for over a decade, but became year-round starting last year.

Zwicker said there’s no guarantee IC’d Tea will follow suit, but the initial demand could be a positive sign.

“We anticipated that it would be well-received, but did not expect to this magnitude,” he said.