Usually when I travel out there I’m doing data center work up off Mira Mesa. So I’ve been to the big brewery with the small tasting room. This trip I was in Little Italy in San Diego and we went to the local tasting room there, it was great! We also went to Bolt, Coronado, and a few others. San Diego is one of my beer meccas.
Picked up a single of “1: Song of Myself” (drinking it right now, in fact). Not sure what a “German-inspired IPA” is supposed to mean, other than they sourced the malt and hops from Germany - but it is quite a lovely little IPA. Not outlandishly bitter, but a nice citrus tang. Will buy again.
I am not much a of a beer drinker, and I mostly buy Yuengling Lager.
Anyone by chance try this?
I have. I love Yuengling. It was one of the first beers I had when I moved to New York many years ago. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it wasn’t an Asian beer, but was rather from Pennsylvania. Being from Pennsylvania, I found this surprising.
-xtien
Yeah this new Pilsner is their first new permanent beer added to their lineup in 17 years, so I am gonna have to give it a go this weekend, local distributor has 12 packs for $11. I’ll report back with my findings.
I am pretty sure from age 5 I was aware Yuengling was a PA beer.
Where in PA did you live that you didn’t grow up drinking lager (which is what everyone in PA calls Yuengling lager)?
It strikes me as weird, because it’s a fairly dominant beer in both the Philly and the Pittsburgh markets. Somewhat less so in Pittsburgh, because they had Iron City, but still, when I went somewhere in Pittsburgh and ordered a lager, Yuengling is what came up.
I was born in Indiana, PA. My parents met at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. My mom’s folks lived in Pittsburgh but weren’t beer people. My dad’s folks lived in Morann, PA. It’s a sad little coal mining area near Altoona, and they all drank Genesee, which they all just referred to as Genny.
My dad got drafted and so we left PA when I was very young.
-xtien
Ah, Genesee definitely was a big beer in i
PA but before my time… Probably back in the 70s and 80s? Do they even make it anymore?
I like Yuengling. But I don’t drink it anymore.
In 2016, Dick Yuengling endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Chaos ensued.
In 2018, Yuengling hosted Eric Trump on a media-accompanied tour of the brewery. On the tour, he allegedly said to Eric Trump, “Our guys are behind your father. We need him in there.” Yikes.
Eh, whatever. It’s fucking beer. Not everything has to be about politics.
Yuengling is pretty nasty and generic but I’m just being a beer snob, so there!
That opinion I can respect.
Although, I would tend to say that Yuengling needs to be measured with the proper yardstick.
It’s not comparable with top tier microbrews. It’s a large scale commercial beer, with a fairly wide distribution. (basically the entire eastern US at this point… think it may have made it to the west coast now.)
It’s cheap, and pricewise, compares to a beer like coors or budweiser.
And on that comparison, it holds up exceptionally well. I would tend to prefer it over those beers.
Also, it’s worth noting that Yuengling makes some other beers beyond it’s lager. While that pilsner is new (and I’ve not had it), they’ve always had a number of other offerings, including a black and tan, which is quite good.
I remember when I was back in college in the 90’s, you could go the Panther Hollow Inn near CMU’s campus in Pittsburgh and get a pitcher of lager for $1.25, which was crazy.
It hasn’t even made it to Chicago. Distribution basically stops at Dayton from what I can tell.
It used to be only sold in Pennsylvania, then they expanded to neighboring states. Then in the early 2000’s they bought an old Stroh’s plant in Florida, and started distributing along the entire East coast (quality also send to go down at this time, but that may be in my head).
I think it’s okay, but similarly I’m an ale fan. The depth and wide amount of different flavors in ales these days just dwarfs most lagers, Yuengling included. To me it tastes of a pretty light malt and really gets to be tired as it starts to heat up. It’s way, way above Budweiser fare though, so there’s that.
I might try their pilsner, but as mentioned, I’m just not a fan of lager yeast (which pilsner uses as well,) nor of ultra clear and too lightly flavored beers. It’s all personal preference.
Living in NC, I’d never even heard of Yuengling until about 10-12 years ago when it must have taken off in distribution here. I’m glad to see a few former Miller/Bud fans drinking it, but it’s just not my thing.
I must say, I’ve only tried Yuengling once, but it struck me as the same sort of “piss in a bottle” as Coors or Bud. Not even up to Rolling Rock standards.
Yeah, as someone who would much rather drink nothing than drink a mass-produced American lager, fine-scale distinctions between them don’t mean anything.
But I don’t worry about what other people drink (unless they try to hand me one). If they like it, that’s great.
I haven’t had a Rolling Rock since college, but I’d put Yuengling comfortably above it.
I’ve been watching the Fast and Furious movies all week–podcast prep–and find myself foolishly craving a Corona.
-xtien
As part of some corporate promo thing, they gave away a bunch of Bud Light at work today. When I left the office at 6pm, there were still two nearly full crates left. Of free beer. In an office of journalists. Nuff said.