Yuengling Beer from early 90's.

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by bubseymour, Dec 21, 2013.

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  1. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,656) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
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    For some reason my recollection of Yuengling beer back in college was that it was a cheap discount beer like Busch, Strohs, Papst, Natty Bo, Milwalkee's Best, Olympia etc. A notch cheaper than your BMC products. Was my recollection true on this or was it always a slight notch above the BMC's in price and taste like it is today? Just wondering, I rarely drank it but didn't think too highly of it from my recollection and. I'm fine with it today however.
     
  2. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    Well, what is now called "Yuengling Premium" was Yuengling's flagship beer, a typical American adjunct lager and usually sold in the discount/popular price range. Today, their flagship is Yuengling Traditional Lager, a beer created in the late 1980s.

    Yuengling Premium isn't nearly as well distributed as Yuengling Traditional Lager, but where it is, it is still sold at "below premium" prices - in NJ a case goes for $12-14 vs. $18-20 for "Lager".
     
    #2 jesskidden, Dec 21, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2013
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  3. unclekeith

    unclekeith Pooh-Bah (1,602) Sep 4, 2012 Alaska
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    I went to school in PA from 92-96. Yuengling Premium was in that discount category - cheap kegs ($20?). Yuengling Lager / Black & Tan was a step up and you could get this on draft at most bars and nice restaurants in the area. Lord Chesterfield was somewhere in between.
     
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  4. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
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    I don't think the kegs were that cheap- or maybe that was just a PA price. I remember paying like $40 for a half-barrel of Lord Chesterfield in NY in the 80s- which was still cheaper than Bud, etc. at the time.
     
  5. TheNightwatchman

    TheNightwatchman Initiate (0) Mar 28, 2009 Pennsylvania


    That's accurate in PA as well, though those prices are a bit cheaper than they are here.
     
  6. Blueribbon666

    Blueribbon666 Pooh-Bah (1,645) Jul 4, 2008 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I have to say since expanding to Ohio there seems to be a feeling among beer drinking friends of mine that the traditional lager has changed since the days of bringing it in from PA. I definitely see their point but can't put my finger on if it's actually changed for the macro worse or if it's simply which plant it is brewed and shipped from say the TN location. I still find it better than the main flagship BMC stuff, though I prefer Lord Chesterfield & the Porter if I have the choice depending on locale.
     
  7. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    There's no "TN location" - just the original brewery in Pottsville, the newer one outside of town in Mt. Carbon and the Schlitz-built brewery in Tampa, FL.

    Yuengling does take advantage of the TTB "loophole" for labeling a brewery's city for multi-site companies, so that all their labels say only "Pottsville, PA" - their corporate headquarters. As also required, their bottle/canning coding no doubt designates which brewery the beer is from.

    A deal to purchase the Memphis Schlitz brewery that Coors ran in the 80-90's fell through, and City Brewing Co. of La Crosse, WI bought it instead. They run it under the dba of "Blues City Brewing Co." doing contract brewing.
     
    #7 jesskidden, Dec 21, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2013
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  8. Blueribbon666

    Blueribbon666 Pooh-Bah (1,645) Jul 4, 2008 Ohio
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    Thanks for the clarification, you are the man. I said that only because I had heard that their entry into Ohio was based on their buying another brewery that would help w/the push & heard it was in TN. Thanks again.
     
  9. Uniobrew31

    Uniobrew31 Pooh-Bah (1,567) Jan 16, 2012 Pennsylvania
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    You are spot on. I remember when it was cheap as hell. Then it crept up in price. Still tastes the same though.
     
  10. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,656) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
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    Maybe this was it...it was the Premium. In 1990 I really don't remember the other offerings by Yuengling, just the cheap "premium" in a can that was considered at the time to be one of the cheap adjunct beers you suck it up a buy when you couldn't afford Bud /Miller / or Coors.
     
  11. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    Yeah, talking about pricing from 20-30 years ago is always difficult - lots of misremembered "deals" combined with a large range of pricing from region to region, type of retailer to retailer, etc. And keg prices are tougher to find in old ads.

    But here's pricing for two "discount" brand kegs in PA (Altoona, 1986), both brewed in-state by Stroh in Allentown at the time.
    [​IMG]
     
  12. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    Funny thing was, in the period before they released "Black & Tan" and "Traditional Lager" in the mid/late-80s and went slightly upscale, as cheap as Yuengling Premium was, it wasn't their cheapest beer. They also brewed the discount Old German brand* and Yuengling had also picked up the local "Bavarian" brand after the Mt. Carbon Brewing Co. closed. (Bonus savings- they could use the same labels, since it they said "Pottsville, PA").
    [​IMG]

    * One of 3 "Old Germans" one could find in NJ at the same time, along with Eastern's and Pittsburgh's - we didn't get Peter Hand's Old German here.
     
  13. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,656) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
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    Yes I remember Old German and that was horrible stuff. On par with Cousin Eddie's favorite, Meister Brau.

    I really didn't recall seeing the Black & Tan and Traditional Lager (current flagship/most well known today) on store shelves in MD until mid/late 90's or I wasn't noticing them. Definitely wasn't noticed while I was at college in early 90's.
     
  14. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,656) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
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    Piels....there's one I forgot all about. Another classic low-budget gem!
     
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