The Bitter Buffalo

I bought a six-pack of Pittsburgh's Iron City Beer in aluminum bottles over the weekend, and tasted the first one last night. Could this be an example of packaging influencing my sense of taste?

The Iron City version of the aluminum bottle looks a bit like a munitions casing, sleek and steely and dangerous -- the perfect image for a beer from Pittsburgh. The beer feels light in the hand, though, since I'm so used to beer in twice-as-heavy glass bottles. The aluminum bottles are much stiffer than cans -- crushing them afterwards is a chore for only those most manly among us. And these babies aren't twist-off, either. Gotta have a churchkey to get at the sweet nectar inside.

I've always thought Iron City had a "blue collar" taste -- i.e., malty and sharp, with a slight burnt flavor (similar to Yuengling Premium Beer, a rather harsh tasting regional brew not to be confused with the widely distributed and much tastier Yeungling Lager). But whatever I had last night was much more like a maltier Yeungling Lager -- clean and almost fruity, with a light hop finish. Very very nice.

According to Iron City, the bottle chills the contents more quickly and keeps them cooler, longer. I'm sure it also serves to revive a tired old brand, too.

The aluminum beer bottle will almost certainly not be a novelty for much longer. Still, so long as Iron City continues to taste better coming from it, it has a home in my fridge.

You said nectar!