Last call put off for Pittsburgh Brewing

Hearing postponement could let in other industry veterans

Wednesday, November 08, 2006
By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bankrupt Pittsburgh Brewing dodged another bullet yesterday when what
was anticipated to be a do-or-die court hearing on the fate of the
145-year-old Lawrenceville brewery was postponed.

Instead, Pittsburgh Brewing co-owner and President Joseph R.
Piccirilli, his attorney and creditors' attorneys attended a closed
door meeting with U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge M. Bruce
McCullough, who two weeks ago declared Mr. Piccirilli's plan for saving
the brewery dead on arrival.

The conference occurred after the judge held a hearing on the brewery's
unpaid federal excise taxes.

An attorney representing the U.S. Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau
told Judge McCullough the federal agency won't shut down the brewery as
long as it complies with the judge's Oct. 24 order requiring timely
payment of its excise tax obligations. The brewery is delinquent in
payment and has been unable to obtain a bond ensuring payment of the
taxes, normally cause for the federal agency to insist either on daily
payments or closing the brewery.

"We are not here to force the bond issue today," assistant U.S.
Attorney Paul E. Skirtich said.

Mr. Skirtich said Pittsburgh Brewing is the largest brewer in the
country not in compliance with the regulations.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Piccirilli declined comment on the meeting with
the judge, saying participants agreed to keep the discussion
confidential.

The latest delay came exactly 11 months after Pittsburgh Brewing sought
bankruptcy protection. The filing was sparked by the Pittsburgh Water &
Sewer Authority's threat to terminate service over more than $2 million
in unpaid bills.

Meanwhile, creditors and other industry officials say efforts to find
someone other than Mr. Piccirilli to rescue the brewery are focused on
two high-profile beer industry figures: David Fuhrer, son of South Side
beer wholesaler Frank B. Fuhrer Jr., and former Pittsburgh Brewing
President Jack Isherwood. The sources said both are considering taking
over the Iron City and IC Light brands if they can convince Pittsburgh
Brewing's creditors to back their plan instead of Mr. Piccirilli's.

Neither Mr. Fuhrer nor Mr. Isherwood returned calls yesterday seeking
comment.

Tracy Taylor Perles, Mr. Piccirilli's spokeswoman, said talk of Mr.
Fuhrer's involvement is only speculation.

"Joe Piccirilli's intent is to pull the company out of bankruptcy and
operate it himself," she said.

The hearing postponed yesterday was on the brewery's request for
$500,000 in interim financing from Craig Newbold, an East Liverpool,
Ohio, financier. The loan must be approved by the judge. Creditors
object to the conditions of the financing, saying it will put them even
farther back in the lengthy line of people and businesses who are owed
money by Pittsburgh Brewing.

The $500,000 loan would tide the cash-strapped company over until the
brewery raises $7 million in equity and debt from unnamed investors.
The brewery plan's lack of detail infuriated Judge McCullough at a
hearing two weeks ago.

"The plan you've got ain't gonna work. That plan doesn't fly," he said
at the time.

tomkanpa wrote:
> Last call put off for Pittsburgh Brewing
>
> Meanwhile, creditors and other industry officials say efforts to find
> someone other than Mr. Piccirilli to rescue the brewery are focused on
> two high-profile beer industry figures: David Fuhrer, son of South Side
> beer wholesaler Frank B. Fuhrer Jr., and former Pittsburgh Brewing
> President Jack Isherwood. The sources said both are considering taking
> over the Iron City and IC Light brands if they can convince Pittsburgh
> Brewing's creditors to back their plan instead of Mr. Piccirilli's.

That gives me an idea of where this is going. The court is going to separate the
brands from the brewery. I expect the brewery will be closed and the beers will
be brewed under contract to another company.

Tom W

Gee, you'd think Jim Koch, whose "Boston" Beer Company is thinking of
building a brand new brewery, since it's contract with Miller in going
to end in 2008...

http://www.brewblog.com/brew/2006/11..._beer_pos.html

....would purchase the brewery- since it WAS the brewery that put him on
the map in the beginning.

"I went to a few breweries in the northeast. I had this old recipe [from
his grandfather] with a few intricacies in it-krausening, decoction
mash-so you needed a certain brewery configuration. Not every brewery
could make it, but there were a few who could. I settled on Pittsburgh
Brewing.

I needed the best brewing mind that I could get, which was Joe Owades.
>snip<

At Pittsburgh Brewing, it was very valuable to go with Joe. Four or five
years earlier, he'd basically saved that brewery by developing IC Light.
They thought he was a god. So if I would ask them to do something, they
would question it. Then Joe would say "He's right," and they'd do it."


from http://www.allaboutbeer.com/pullupastool/koch.html


AND it's closer to Boston than Cincinnati! (Maybe it's time to rename
the company Samual Adams Brewing Company, anyway...).

wrote:
> Gee, you'd think Jim Koch, whose "Boston" Beer Company is thinking of
> building a brand new brewery, since it's contract with Miller in going
> to end in 2008...

Updating the story:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06313/736805-28.stm

Excerpt:

David Fuhrer said yesterday he is not interested in investing in Pittsburgh
Brewing, deciding it would be too expensive to rehabilitate the bankrupt
Lawrenceville brewer's plant.

"I am out," Mr. Fuhrer said. "I just determined it was going to take way too
much money to fix that place up to get it efficient."

In article .com>,
"tomkanpa" > wrote:

> Neither Mr. Fuhrer nor Mr. Isherwood returned calls yesterday seeking
> comment.

Am I the only one who can't stop laughing at the idea of someone being
called, "Mr. Fuhrer"?

dave