It’s funny. I don’t remember ever having Yeungling or even hearing about it when I was a teenage alcoholic growing up in Maryland during the 80’s. When I moved back East in 2000 everyone was drinking it. I thought it must be some strange new Chinese beer and wondered if it was rice-based. It’s not bad, but I won’t be drinking it anymore now that I know the CEO is a bigot.
Exactly. Barring evidence to the contrary, I assume pretty much every rich asshole is an asshole. I don’t change my shopping habits until they go out of their way to tell me about it.
What’s the Maya Angelou quote? " When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
In Yuengling wants to be the beer for the marching with nazis crowd, that’s good information for me to know.
I’ve rolled through Michelob Dark, Molsons, LaBatt’s Blue, Killian’s (pre-Coors buy out), Bass (back around 1995) before Yuengling became my go to. Lager on tap at bars and mostly Porter when I buy 6 packs & cases. This started around the time In-Bev screwed up the Bass distribution. Maybe around 2014. Now In-Bev is actually brewing Bass in the US and it isn’t the same.
Smithwick’s is excellent but pricey, Newcastle Brown was completely destroyed in the US. It isn’t even a Brown Ale anymore but some weird IPA. I try to pick up interesting Porters, Ales & Stouts when I go to the liquor stores, but Yuengling Porters are very tasty for the price. $6.29 to $7.99 versus $9.99 and up for most of the microbrews or Sam Adams.
I thought you meant Yanjing, one of the cheapo beers in China. I don’t drink at all anymore, but when I lived in China, Yanjing was up there with Qingdao.
Yuengling is in that tier of mass-produced lager that’s not quite Bud/Miller/Coors/Busch/Natty Light/etc… but not quite craft lager either. Good stuff, but not quite worthy of the cult following that expat Northeasterners have for it. (like In 'N Out with expat Californians).
It strikes me as filling the same niche in the NE that Spoetzl(Shiner) does in Texas.
That’s a cool idea.
That’s fair. Shiner is pretty good. Better than the mass brews & not too pricey.
It’s that middle ground between cheap beers & mass brews and pricey microbrews.
Oh, I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Yuengling! It is a good beer, there’s no denying that.
I was just being a bit persnickety because it’s another one of those expat things that isn’t nearly as good to the locals as it is to you, because they don’t have the history with it.
I don’t doubt that there are expat Texans bothering people about Shiner and Whataburger at this very second. 
That’s pretty much my feeling as well. I don’t necessarily want to know who CEOs of companies support, but if they go out of their way I figure they don’t mind if they alienate a good chunk of their potential customers. While we’re at it, I’m fine with fundamentalists boycotting Disney as well. If I know the owner of the diner down the street is a staunch Republican I’m still likely to eat there, though.
I think some folks from other regions assume we’re madly in love with Yuengling or something, when it’s really more that it’s just a staple around these parts, and folks miss having it around when they move away.
If you’re at a bar and just want a beer and you don’t feel like thinking about what you want to order, you just ask for a Yuengling. If you’re bringing beer to a party or putting a six in your fridge for random guests, and you don’t have any particular reason to choose something else, you just grab some Yuengling. It’s a great price, it’s good quality, it’s not too dark, it’s not too light, it’s not a lowest-common-denominator mass-produced swill, but it’s also not some sort of persnickety craft beer with weird characteristics that only a minority of people would like. And it’s available just about everywhere so it makes a good all-purpose beer. It’s just easy.
So yeah, I’d miss it if I moved away. Haven’t read the articles about the political stuff yet…unfortunately I believe in voting with my dollars. 
Let’s assume you handed me a bottle of Budweiser and a bottle of Yuengling. What would be the differences I would notice?
Yuengling is maltier. Slightly toastier and maybe a touch sweeter. If you’ve had a amber beer before you’ll have any idea of what to expect, but Yuengling is what I would call a very mild amber in that it’s not hoppy and it’s not woody tasting the way many craft ambers taste. The closest macro I can think of to it is either Killians, but somewhat milder, or the since discontinued Budweiser American Ale. Some might compare it to a mild version of Bass Ale based on appearance, but I don’t think that’s right. If you’ll been to Chicago you may have had a Goose Island Honker Ale, which too is in the ballpark but being an ale it’s a fair bit different.
I disagree:
Had this last week for the first time. Deep golden color. Wonderful nose, a really nice aroma. Pours a thick, rich, creamy head. A truely beautiful beer. Then you taste it! VERY DISAPPOINTING! Little flavor. Drinks like a light beer. Only slight hoppyness. Almost no after-taste. Watery. If this beer tasted as good as it looked it’d be the greatest American beer ever. It’s not."
However, taste is subjective. What I like others may hate and vice versa. And the more beer available nationwide the more choices we have and that is a very good thing.
As far as cheap beer goes, I wish I could get Stag here in the Milwaukee area. We used to be able to get Narragansett but not anymore. Their Cream Ale was the best out there and very inexpensive.
Yuengling is certified a craft brewer by the Brewer’s Association - it is in fact the largest craft brewer in the US.
An American craft brewer is a small and independent brewer. Small: annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3% of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Independent: less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. Brewer: has a TTB brewer’s notice and makes beer.
Kind of an arbitrary distinction, since some of my favorite breweries such as Founder’s are no longer certified because of large ownership stakes by larger breweries.
Yep, and I lived in PA, where they were/are a very popular and recognizable brand. I normally don’t go out of my way to be a politically conscious shopper, but Yuengling made it easy. I ditched Yuengling, and I’ve similarly ditched Samuel Adams and Papa John’s Pizza.
Of course I have personally known some who now love the beer because it’s a MAGA brand.
It is reminiscent of Bass Ale mostly in color and being mild but tasty. Also it seems to have been the choice to replace Bass on the local taps in Central Jersey.
Yuengling Lager is a beer not an ale like Bass & Killians.
It is not hoppy, if you want hoppy you don’t want Yuengling or any of the big mass brews beers.
If you like low IBU ales & porters and want to spend $6-$8 per six instead of $10+, I cannot possibly recommend their Porter more. It is a tasty, slightly sweet American Porter they have brewed for almost 2 centuries now. Oh, nice bonus, taste great at 40°, 50° & even 60° and doesn’t go flat and tasteless like a lager. In other words you can drink it slowly. Open a bottle with dinner, put part of it back in the fridge, go for 40 minutes walk and finish the porter when you return and still tasty.
Agree with many folks above that the stuff’s not magic; it’s just a decent go-to standard order whenever you’re in their distribution area and want “A beer”. As a frequent traveler who eats / drinks in new places all the time, having a no-brainer choice is handy sometimes.
Interesting about the politics. And not in a good way. Sort alike Hobby Lobby. I expect owners of privately held mega-successful businesses to be pretty turdly; it’s when they haughtily announce their turdliness that I need to take action. Leona Helmsley comes to mind as well.
I’m more interested in the business deal. Did Fatcat Yuengling sell all or part of the brewery to Molson/Coors? Is MC going to begin co-production in their own facilities to bump the supply enough to serve the other half of the country? Can we expect, like when pre-InBev AB bought Goose Island, that very quickly the recipes will change to cheapen the product?
It sounds like the Yuengling Family will still own Yuengling but the brewing and distribution for the West will be a 50/50 split between Yuengling & Molson Coors. Hopefully that means Yuengling will keep control over production.
I grew up in Philadelphia so I knew about it before I was old enough to drink it. In 1984 I shot a movie in a town nearby called Pine Grove. The day after we wrapped we took the tour of the brewery. It is an astonishing place. At the end of the tour we went into a bar on site for our one free beer. The man behind the bar was old man Yuengling.