Yuengling Traditional Lager Review

On our way to a vacation in Maine two years ago, we stopped for the night in Jessup, Maryland, and visited historic Savage Mill in nearby Savage. There, we had dinner in the Ram's Head Pub, accompanied by a lager we'd never tried before: Yuengling. On the spot, it became far and away our favorite.

For the record, it's produced at the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania -- the oldest brewery in America, founded in 1829. Yuengling also has a manufacturing plant in Tampa, but the products are distributed only over a 10-state area alolng the eastern seacoast. There are seven varieties that include the Traditional Lager, Premium, Light, Porter, Ale, Black & Tan and Light, but our favorite is the Traditional Lager.

Our home state of Ohio, unfortunatey, is not among the states where Yuengling is sold -- at least not yet; reportedly, the brewery is looking at opening new distribution territories. But since we live less than 20 minutes from the Pennsylvania border, we pop over as needed to pick up a case or two to bring home and enjoy.

Yuengling is a German word for "young man," but I can assure you women will enjoy it too. I'm not a fan of dark beer; Killian's Irish Red is about as dark as I'm willing to go, and even then, downing just one is plenty at one sitting. Yuengling Lager is slightly dark, but barely; but the typical hint of bitterness is ever so slight and there's virtually no unpleasant aftertaste.

In addition to Pennsylvania, Yuengling currently is distributed in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama. The bewery itself was placed on the National and state registers as America's oldest brewery iin 1976 during our nation's Bicentennial. The Traditional Lager was introduced in 1987 and is now the company's flagship brand.

If you live in one of these states and haven't tried Yuengling yet, I recommend that you try it. If not, watch for it when you're on the road. It's a real treat that's great with a meal or to sip ice cold on a hot summer day.