The masses – at least those of legal drinking age – are giddy with excitement as an elusive beast of a brew prepares to rear its head in the local market. The long-awaited Yuengling finally hits shelves in the Buckeye state on October 3rd.

It’s been a vexing love affair for admirers of the beer, with years spent driving across the state line to get some. The venerable D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc. has been brewing right next door in Pennsylvania since 1829, making it the oldest brewery in the U.S. and, thanks to international mergers, it is now the second largest American brewery behind the Boston Beer Company of Sam Adams fame. 

After watching Yuengling expand its reach to more than a dozen states, Ohio will finally get a taste of three of the brand’s top sellers: Yuengling Lager, Yuengling Light Lager and Yuengling Black and Tan.

If you’re a hop-scented beer geek who lives for IPAs or smoked porters, Yuengling isn’t going to do much for you – but you probably know this already. However, Yuengling is a damn fine beer.  Reviewers on Beer Advocate have deemed it “worthy,” and most are able to keep Yuengling in the proper context. As American lagers go, it’s hard to beat. Its caramel malts give the beer a deeper amber hue and Cascade hops are used to balance out the sweetness. The light version weighs in at 99 calories and brings more body and flavor to the table than most light beers.

Reviewers are universally underwhelmed with the hop presence in Yuengling, but they give it credit for being a crisp, clean and refreshing straight-forward American lager brewed in the traditional way without adjuncts and filler grains. The thing to remember is that Yuengling is not positioned as an alternative to craft beers; it’s going to compete head-to-head with Budweiser, Coors, Miller and – hold onto your hats, hipsters – PBR. In that arena, Yuengling really shines because the brewery is still family-owned. Just don’t hold your breath for hilarious, sexy, and/or compelling Super Bowl commercials. They don’t even sponsor a stock car. At Yuengling, quality is more important than popularity.

That alone should be enough reason to tip your glass for this new arrival. In case you were wondering, it’s pronounced “ying-ling.” That’s straight from the company website, so when some know-it-all tries to tell you otherwise, you can bet the next round on it before you fire up the iPhone.

Check out www.yuengling.com for local distributors and more.

The Taste You've Been Missing

LAGER: An old school American lager. Amber color, sweet and nutty malts with just enough hop bite to keep it honest. This is what beer was like before prohibition.

LIGHT: Lighter in color and a bit drier than the flagship, but not watery or metallic like other light beers. At 99 calories, it isn’t the lightest beer on the market, but this is not near-beer with a snazzy ad campaign. 64 calories = 2.5 % ABV, sucker. 

BLACK AND TAN: This is a mixture of Yuengling’s porter (which will not be in Ohio on its own for a while) and their premium lager. The result is something in between a stout and an amber bock. Don’t expect the dark beer to float atop the amber lager in the bottle; that’s a nifty parlor trick you can only pull off with a nitrogen tap.