I want to take a minute to shout the praises of a regional beer you may have never heard of outside of the East Coast called Yuengling Traditional Lager.
I discovered it on a business trip to Charlotte. The first time I heard someone say the name (pronounced Ying-Ling) I thought it was some sort of Chinese beer. Actually, the name is German and the brewery is in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Yuengling is the oldest brewery in America, since 1829. Budweiser actually sued them over this claim and lost in court.
Yuengling is currently run by Dick Yuengling, who believes in slow and steady growth. They've been expanding distribution state by state very slowly. Unfortunately for me here in Texas that means I probably won't see Yuengling for sale here anytime soon. Currently Yuengling is only sold on the east coast, and there are currently no distributors west of Tennessee.
So why all the fuss anyway? Because this beer is awesome. I don't care what the beer snobs say, this reasonably priced beer is the smoothest I've ever had. There's nothing else here locally that even comes close, and there's nothing better than washing a great meal down with this stuff.
I'll do anything to get Yuengling. I've driven 8 hours to Memphis to buy it. I've smuggled it in my airplane luggage from New York City. I've had friends and business contacts bring it to me from Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Yes, it's that good.
So Dick if you're reading this please bring Yuengling to Texas... or at least send me over a few cases.
