June 1st, 2006
Good American Lager
Posted by
The Home Bartender in
Beer
I was down in Philadelphia this last weekend. Among the charms of the city was Yuengling, a local, ubiquitous beer that’s synonymous with “lager” in many of the city’s establishments. I can see why; it’s great. At least it’s the only American lager I’ve tried that actually seems like a true lager. I hear word that the beer may be branching slowly out of its regional distribution niche. If so, let’s hope we start seeing it in Boston.
Chris, I’ve found sixes of Yuengling bottles in both Florida and Alabama–Florida I get, since they’re marketing to transplants and vacationers, but Alabama?
Anyway, it’s available on tap in many NY bars, too, so if you’re ever down here, keep an eye open. In most places, it’s 3 or 4 bucks a pint. Yuengling and Stella seem to be the “down-market” choices for a lot of NY drinkers who’ve long since moved on from Bud and Coors.
I’ve yet to see it in Boston, though I keep on hearing its praises. One new thing that I’ve been hearing is Rolling Rock devotees have started switching to Yuengling now that Anheuser-Busch bought RR and are closing the Latrobe brewery. Yuengling’s still family-owned and has quite a history.
Having grown up on Yuengling living in Pennsylvania, I feel confident in saying that it’s just an average lager. I’m not a beer aficionado by any means, but it’s copper penny taste definitely drops it down on my list of beers to stock. I don’t dislike it though, it was the first beer that I actually remember enjoying many years ago. There’s just something about it that’s… boring.
While Yuengling’s Lager is one of my favorite cheap beers, after a night of too many, my mornings resemble mornings after too many PBRs. For some reason, the Yuengling Black & Tan offers better morning effects.
I completely agree on the “one of my favorite cheap beers” comment. It’s a great supplement to crappy American food (e.g. wings, fries, burgers, etc.)