-Courtesy of the Post Gazette

A federal judge approved a plan for resuscitating bankrupt Pittsburgh Brewing yesterday, setting the stage for what could be the ultimate test of its battered Iron City brand. Creditors holding 99 percent of the $31.6 million in claims against the Lawrenceville brewer accepted terms offered by the proposed new owner, an investment group led by Connecticut business man John N. Milne. The new owners, who will call the company Iron City Brewing LLC, is expected to officially take control of the 146-year-old company July 7. "I don't know how long this will last, but I want to thank everyone who worked on it so hard," said U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge M. Bruce McCullough, who had raised doubts in October about whether the company could survive. The new owners face an uphill struggle to win back customers, a challenge complicated by more than a decade of troubled ownership and the flagging loyalties and shifting tastes of consumers. Their main advantage is the strength of the Iron City brand. "The Iron City brand is iconic, particularly in Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, which are two huge beer markets," said Rhonda Kallman, chief executive officer of New Century Brewing of Boston. "The brand is remarkably strong in the right areas." The brand had been damaged by the imprisonment of its two former owners when former trash company executive Joseph Piccirilli purchased Pittsburgh Brewing at a bankruptcy auction in 1995. Mr. Piccirilli's tenure was plagued by further declines in sales, debilitated equipment, labor problems and troubled relations with suppliers. The company sought bankruptcy protection Dec. 7, 2005, after the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority threatened to terminate service over more than $2 million in unpaid bills.