Michael About 40 years ago, America had nothing but insipid beer, but for around 20 years now, every supermarket has stocked specialty brews that sometimes relegate German brewers to second place. Nothing new there! But every now and then, we travel through previously unexplored territory—such as rural northwestern Florida recently—and the selection thins out noticeably.
While searching the supermarket refrigerator, I noticed the old-fashioned lettering on the label of a lager I had sampled some time ago during a conference in Pennsylvania and awarded my "surprisingly good" seal of approval. It is the lager made by Yuengling (pronounced "yingling") of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, reputedly "America's oldest brewery" (197 years old).
At 4.5% alcohol, the brew does not hit as hard as the generally more potent hop bombs known as IPAs. The amber-colored "Yuengling Traditional Lager" is finely balanced and full-bodied, and its flavor almost reminds me a little of Augustiner Edelstoff. Yuengling produced this type of beer even before Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933) and did not bring it back to the market until 1987.
The Yuengling brewery was founded in 1829 by an immigrant from Swabia named David Gottlieb Jüngling. Since no American can pronounce the umlaut "ü" correctly, he renamed the company "Yuengling," which Americans pronounce similarly, if we are being very generous. An outstanding beer—when nothing else is available!