Turner's Dairy Farm | April 2021

If you’re a Yinzer like me, you know spring and summer are right around the corner when you can hear the crack of the bat at PNC Park, smell wafts of chlorine from one of Pittsburgh’s 18 city pools, or taste the sweet tea out of an iconic Turner’s paper pint. As Creative Director here at Steel City, I wanted to capture the nostalgic feeling those iced tea cartons bring. From the iconic orange and yellow color scheme to the pinstripe logo, my first sip always brings me back to my childhood, riding my bike to Little League games and quenching my thirst on the bench.

Since 1930, Turner’s Dairy Farms has been producing craft dairy products for the greater Pittsburgh region, winning national awards annually for taste and quality. But it wasn’t until 1972 that they began selling sweet tea in their iconic paper cartons. Originally marketed to steel mill workers who needed a refreshing drink on the job, the appeal spread and soon more and more Pittsburghers got word of the beverage. In their first year of production, Turner’s brewed 1,200 gallons. Today, they produce 20,000 gallons of the stuff every day. Using special water filtration and a proprietary blend of sugars, the recipe hasn’t changed since 1972.

Now that I’m older and my cleats hang on the wall, I still reach for Turner’s on hot summer days after mowing the lawn – but now I’ve upgraded from a pint to a gallon jug! A friend once called it the “Champagne of Pittsburgh” and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe the way us Yinzers feel about Turner’s tea. So, raise a glass and celebrate an iconic part of Pittsburgh with us.