Yuengling: What says you?

I'll tell you again - "Good" is relative to style. Yuengling lager is a good AAL. That's all people are trying to say. Even the people who drink it all the time and proclaim it the best beer in the world, because to them, AALs ARE the beer world. Some people might be saying it for sentimental reasons, but this is effing BeerAdvocate. Most of the opinions on this site about beer are at least partly based on stuff other than the beer.

 

Yuengling lager is indeed a good AAL.

Cheers!

Edit: Below is something I posted a month ago:

I am not a regular consumer of AAL beers but my list of inexpensive beers would be:

1. Genny Bock

2. Schlitz 1960s Formula

3. Yuengling Lord Chesterfield Ale (yes, it is a lager)

4. Yuengling Lager

5. Shiner Bock

Happy 4th of July everybody!

 

Well, typically I am a skeptic when it comes to the explosion of "beer styles" but while all of those beers are "American", brewed with an "adjunct", and fermented with "lager" yeast, I'd say that only Schlitz is an "AAL", and Yuengling's "AAL" entry being the beer they now label "Yuengling Premium".

The two bocks being classic examples of the "AAB" (American Adjunct Bock), and Lord Chesterfield Ale an "ABA" (American Bastard Ale) - higher abv and ibu than US AAL, brewed with lager yeast but fermented at higher than normal temps.

Making Yuengling Lager (have they dropped the "Traditional" part of the name?) an "AAAL" (American Amber Adjunct Lager) - a style also brewed currently by Schell (Nordeast), Straub (the recently renamed "Straub American Amber") and MillerCoors' Third Shift, etc.

Not sure, does the now-contract brewed Pittsburgh still market their amber? It used to be named "A-----"* something or 'nother- a German-sounding brand they picked up from an Ohio brewery in the '60s...

*EDIT- Augustiner! - once the flagship brand of August Wagner Brewing Co., Columbus, OH.

 

I liked the porter somewhat, but they can have the lager, I could not stand it....

 

And I'm stating my opinion like everyone else.

Your claim that "good" is relative to style(AAL's) doesn't hold up for those of us who don't consider anything in that style "good" beer. Some people may make a quality distinction between the kind of mass produced wall "art" found in Walmart and a cheesy, black velvet Elvis wall hanging, but those who appreciate what the world considers fine art have no respect for any of that crap.

 

I think they still use traditional on bottles and cans

 

If you've ever lived next to an open sewage canal (no, not in this country), you'd know that some of them are less foul than others. But does that make the "less foul" ones "good", because they are the best in the category? Paraphrasing the old Lite beer commercials, does "less stench" equate with "smells great"?

 

Fine, then don't drink it, just kindly stop misrepresenting the majority of opinions stated in this thread, as you did here:

Almost no one claimed the latter, you just keep arguing as if everyone did. I've probably drank less than a dozen Yuenglings this year and bought none of them. It's still an easy decision if I open a cooler at a barbecue and discover a choice between Yuengling or Budweiser.

This is hardly the first thread in which someone felt there was a time and place for a cheap AAL. If you never find that time and place, more power to you. If you do, we'd suggest Yuengling over BMC. That's all.

 

JK, I recognize what you are saying here.

From my perspective if a beer is an American Lager that utilizes Adjuncts then it is essentially an AAL. In past threads I coined the terminology of AAAL (American Amber Adjunct Lager) but I seem to be the only one that utilizes AAAL in posts so I am very much considering just going with the AAL moniker (regardless of beer color).

Cheers!

Jack

 

Yuengling is a brand that I would drink if I were to ever go into a place that only has BMC. It's usually the same price and definitely better than most BMC stuff. Don't think it is really fair to compare it to Sam Adams or other craft offerings because it is priced to compare with BMC and usually a buck or two cheaper than most Sam Adams products per pint.

 

I'm from California but used to work summers out in DC and Yuengling was often available on tap.

I have a special place for it in my heart and wish it was available out here. There are a ton of great dive bars around here that would benefit from it being there. It's head and shoulders above BMC beers and I prefer it to a Stella or Heineken and sometimes even a Newcastle. I don't want to be drinking a BCBS in a hot sweaty dive bar where people are dancing and their is a rock n' roll cover band playing. I want something like a Yuengling and we don't have anything like that. Plus it's a great option to have when you get home from work and just want to turn your brain off, have a pizza and a couple beers and watch a ball game. I don't need to crack open a couple Sculpins that will be twice as expensive and may overwhelm the flavor of my dinner.

I think Yuengling would kill it out here and I wish it were available for when I want to session cheap beers.

 

It wasn't "banned" in Ohio. It just wasn't legally distributed. When it debuted in Ohio a couple years ago, people camped out at grocery stores for the release, like it was "black friday" at Wal-mart or like BA's line up for one of the whale releases.

 

The context of the comparison is between BMC and Yeungling. Not craft beer and Yeungling.

 

You're welcome to your own opinions but you really need to understand that the word "good" is ALWAYS relative. You drinking expensive beer doesn't give you the authority to categorize other beers as objectively "good" or "bad." Yuengling is "good" compared to other mass-market adjunct lagers. It's good for college students who want to drink something with an iota of color or flavor. It's good for a guy in rural Pennsylvania making $7.25 an hour working at the hardware store and wants to relax with an inexpensive beer that isn't marketed towards 21 year olds on spring break.

Yuengling may not be an award winning microbrew, but that doesn't excuse your snobbery.

 

Have you tried a Blue Moon lately? I hear you share an opinion with its brewer.

 

I was never a big fan of the Amber Lager, even when I was a BMC drinker way back when. Nowadays I'd take it over most BMC beers. Its not bad but not all that great either.

I tried the Black n Tan once a few years ago and it was ok. Never tried any of their other offerings as they aren't as easy to get in lower NY.

 

That reference is incredibly irrelevant. He's lashing out because Blue Moon isn't considered a "craft beer" and he doesn't like being blackballed. It has nothing to do with the subjective or objective quality of his beer.

 

George Takei would say, "Oh my!"

 

I honestly believe that part of the reason craft beer is so popular in Pennsylvania is because Pennsylvanians are already very accustomed to drinking a beer that doesn't have a nation-wide ad campaign on TV, radio, billboards, etc., and it has a little flavor to it to boot! After Yuengling, making the jump to craft beer is little less of a leap for consumers. If you haven't spent some time in PA, it might be difficult to understand how ubiquitous Yuengling Lager is. For example most people will order it at a bar, by simply saying "Lager". Once I was even teased [nicely] by a bartender because I specified Yuengling Lager. Regardless of anyone's opinion about the taste, it's a little amazing how hugely popular Yuengling Lager is in PA.

 

A lot to support your thought here. Based on data I found on the Budweiser web site a few years back, courtesy of a pointer from Jesskidden, at that time, and possibly still now, only one state in the 50 sold less Budweiser than PA, and that was Alaska.