Summertime 2011 Part 3: Yuengling Brewery

When we were planning our summer vacation to Philadelphia I insisted on going to Pottsville to take the Yuengling tour. I'm glad I did, it was a classic old brewery. This is a very small hilly community in coal country, and while the beer is sold in many eastern states, this brewery is rather quaint and hometown-ey. I was first introduced to their beer by Pittsburgh friends, who wanted me to know that there was beer in Pennsylvania that wasn't Rolling Rock or Iron City.
Yuengling is America's oldest brewery, but I can't buy it here in Illinois since it has a rather limited distributorship. I usually only get it when someone is traveling to the states that do sell it, or if I am on vacation there. The good news is that it is spreading west, and will be available in Ohio soon, so at least it is a little bit closer. Everything is very old and looks like it can't support a ton of brewing, which is why there is another brewery nearby and another one in Tampa to support all its customers.
The tour was informative, they took us through the old kegging area where we were given our own bung to keep, and to the caves, like in the Miller Valley, that beer was kept cool year long in the old days. The brewery is spread out over a few buildings, to include all the warehousing and bottling and canning. The end of the tour leads us to the little tavern where we were given 2 samples. Specifically two samples only. They were very precise about that.
Since I have had many of their beers already I tried two that I hadn't yet had, the Porter and their Premium Lager. They sell a classic lager that is an amber and delicious and is really their flagship brew. But they also sell one that they call their Premium but it sells for less and is not considered a top of the line beer by many, plus it isn't available everywhere like the Classic Lager. They brew a Black and Tan, which is a mix of the lager and the porter, which I have had (have some in my home fridge as we speak), that is really good too, so I wanted to try the porter to see for myself. Here are the reviews:
Yuengling Premium Lager: crisp, no bitterness, smooth and served very cold: 3.
Porter: Thicker and maltier, slightly bitter and rich: 4.
Can't wait to go back.