The first time I tried Yuengling Lager was in 2004. I was on a business trip (I am in the Military) to Virginia and at the hotel bar happy hour they had Yuengling on draft. I had been a Michelob Light drinker for my previous twenty some odd years.
Pulling up a stool and looking behind the bar I noticed the tap handle and read the words “Americas Oldest Brewery”--who knew? The name certainly wasn’t familiar at all. Call me a late bloomer I guess but Yuengling may just as well have been from China...the name certainly sounded like it did.
It was Happy Hour and two for one so I ordered one and got two. Yay me! After a sip or two, I looked at my glass, the tap handle, again at the glass, again at the tap handle, and said "hmmmmmmm"--I took another sip. Man, this is good, I say to myself. “Man, this is good”, I say to my boss, who had ordered the same. He concurred. A couple more sips and I knew by all that was holy and righteous that I had a new beer. Happy hour had been true to its word. And now a toast to my new found traditional lager. A classic, and America's oldest, which suited my red white and blue patriotic self to a "T".
I got back to Georgia---true to what I had suspected it was not to be found (The distinctive Yuengling Label I would have remembered).
I went online and researched. I found out all I ever wanted to know about Yuengling and then some. What an awesome story! But NOT a happy ending for there was NO Yuengling in Georgia. I sent an email to the Yuengling folks to inquire as to why--had Georgia offended them in some way? I was prepared to apologize on behalf of the entire state if necessary. What I found out was there were distributorship "issues".
Issue, schmissue, I wanted my Yuengling Lager.
I wanted to find out who exactly was the root cause for there not being any Yuengling in Georgia and punch them square in the nose.
Lamenting to friends and co-workers I quickly discovered THEY too thought Yuengling was awesome and they wanted it here in Georgia as well--evidently a lot of folks did, and about the same time as the fires were lit for an uprising of biblical proportions I found a website dedicated solely to getting Yuengling Lager in our home state. This website confirmed that I wasn’t crazy, that I had good taste, and Yuengling was the "deal". The Yuengling Revolution was underway in Georgia and I surely supported the cause!
In the meantime, I had to resort to shady and perhaps unethical methods in order to acquire my newfound love. On vacation to Florida we found Yuengling in abundance so naturally I filled up the back of the Yukon with a couple of cases to bring back over the line when I came home--reassigning the luggage to the rack on the roof of the vehicle. My brother in law (and beer connoisseur) made weekly treks to South Carolina in his job so we began "smuggling" Yuengling Lager into Georgia as if it were illegal narcotics. We smuggled for our friends, co workers, and spread the Yuengling Love to all who simply wanted to taste the best.
We converted, baptized, and shown the light to dozens of folks. A Baptism of sorts. We were merely disciples spreading the good word. Normally it only took one sip. We told ‘em the first one was free.
Fast Forward to the present day. Yuengling is served in most of the stores and restaurants in my hometown. The neon signs and displays always bring comfort and a sense of contentment. The Revolution worked. The people have spoken. America, and Americas oldest. All is right with the world!
No other beer goes so good with buffalo wings, good friends and good times. Whether it's ball games and tailgating, listening to the band, chilling in the Man cave, or just plain relaxing on the back porch….. Yuengling goes with everything!
None other has the classic design of its bottle and label. It was served at my Daughter’s wedding. It is now and will forever be my beer of choice.
Yuengling then. Yuengling now. Yuengling FOREVER!
